Kevin Durant. NBA Champion. NBA Most Valuable Player. NBA Finals MVP. 8x NBA All-Star. 2012 All-Star Game MVP. 5x All-NBA First Team. 4x Scoring Champion. 50-40-90 club member. 3 time USA Basketball Gold medalist (2010 World Championships, 2012 & 2016 Olympics). KD has myriad more accomplishments, but today is a celebration of his defense. The thing that can, and does get lost in the shuffle of the greatness of a team that went 16-1 is their ability to play both ends. Everyone can see three of the greatest shooters in the league today, maybe even ever, playing together. Everyone knows that the 2014 MVP is alongside the 2015 & 2016 MVP, but what they don’t seem to understand is that GSW led the league in opponent field goal percentage (43.5%), ahead of Utah, Memphis, and San Antonio (44.3) and that number improved further in the playoffs (42.9). Yes, the Cleveland series was about who could manufacture more buckets, but as Steve Kerr pointed out on Zach Lowe’s podcast, Cleveland’s offense was the best that he’s ever faced in the Finals, but that shouldn’t detract from what has otherwise been a masterclass in team defense by the Dubs. Durant is a 7 footer (let’s not argue about this, he definitely is a 7 footer) with a reported 7’5” wingspan. He’s long, he’s fast, and he’s very athletic. It’s a problem.
KD’s defensive prowess was really but on display during the Thunder-Spurs series last year. His length, intelligence, and instincts were all LOCKED in. That aggressiveness on both ends results in dismantling the best Spurs team (record-wise) in the history of their franchise, and pushed Oklahoma City to within ONE win from the NBA Finals. When he made the move to Golden State, suddenly the Warriors, winners of an NBA record 73 games, and one win away from repeating as NBA champions, became even more dangerous. The critics said that the lack of depth and rim protection would be their undoing, but rim protection was never a problem; those in the know understood that if KD played up to his potential on defense (as he did in the 2016 playoffs), the Warriors would be fine. Ron Adams, the Dubs’ defensive guru, has served as an assistant to George Karl, Scott Skiles, Scott Brooks, Tom Thibodeau, and Brad Stevens. It was in Steve Kerr and Adams’ hands that KD evolved further, and helped the Warriors reach ever greater heights, even after losing their defensive anchor in Andrew Bogut, and a Death lineup linchpin in Harrison Barnes. Durant seems to have learned and absorbed a lot of what makes Draymond Green, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year runner-up, a nightmare for opposing offenses. The ability of that duo to guard literally every position on the floor at an elite level is just…unfair.
I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say that with this team behind him, KD can continue to become a greater danger on the defensive end. His ability, coupled with the complex and often jaw dropping adjustments the Warriors make on the fly, more than compensate for the rare occasions when the Dubs do make a mistake. A blown rotation isn’t as detrimental when you have Draymond or KD at the rim, snuffing out anything that gets put up. It’s not smash mouth basketball like the East in the mid 2000’s, because the Warriors are always on the verge of an offensive onslaught, but if you really bother to watch the defensive end, the Warriors are a wonder.
One thing that I REALLY enjoyed from this video is the scrambling switch the Warriors seem to do a lot of, where a “small” (so a guard, sometimes even Klay) is being pushed into the paint by an opposing big due to a switch. The Warriors sniff these out by rotating KD or Draymond or Iguodala even and then having the guard take the player they were guarding. In this case (7:17), it’s LeBron trying to post up Steph Curry. By the time the Cavs have entered the ball into LeBron in the mid post, KD has shifted over to LeBron, and Steph has slid over to KD’s man, Richard Jefferson. It’s definitely something that is in the Warriors’ scheme. Zak Boisvert has an excellent video on this exact concept and you should definitely give it a watch ( • Emergency Post Switch / Scram Switch ... ). If you’re interested, I also made a video on KD’s defense last year ( • Kevin Durant - Lockdown ).
*These clips are only from the regular season.
https://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/...
https://www.si.com/nba/2017/06/06/ron...
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