If OKC loses, does KD get a pass? Should he?

[KirbyPls]

Memphis is not a true 7-seed, I think we can all agree on that. Obviously the West playoff teams, top to bottom, are stronger than the East teams. I think we can also all agree on that. Tony Allen is perhaps an all-time great perimeter defender as well. Brooks is certainly no Jackson, Popovich, or even Spoelstra, so there's that. That being said...

Lebron is still eviscerated by many on this board for his Orlando series, where he averaged ~ 38-8-8 in the ECF against the number 1 defense in the league that year;

Likewise, Kobe (as much as I can't stand that rat-faced snitch), is still reamed by some on the board for both the 2008 Finals and the 2010 Game 7, a series, which the Lakers won, btw.

All season long, I read thread after thread about KD surpassing Bron; KD better than Kobe ever was; KD best scorer since MJ; KD the Kareem of SFs, and on and on, not just from known trolls either. Every player has bad series from Kareem to Magic to Bird, Kone, Shaq, Lebron, and even MJ. Obviously No one thinks that KD is impervious to a bad series, but if KD is approaching (or in) that group of players, as many have claimed, he should absolutely draw heat for this series, especially if OKC loses. If Kobe still draws heat for 2010 and Lebron for the 2013 Finals, KD doesn't get a pass here, IMO. Thoughts?

[Black and White]

No, Durant does not deserve a pass, he has a fully healthy team, he was balling all season long, he just hasn't hit his shots, credit to the Grizz, however we do have to put it into context and understand just how good the Grizz are, they are a top 4 calibre team as a 7th seed.

[navy]

Durant has no excuses for losing to any seed. MVP and new best player in the world. You are expected to win. Or at least play well in defeat.

[LONGTIME]

**** no he shouldn't get a pass. Especially with the way he has been playing in this series.

[KirbyPls]

No, Durant does not deserve a pass, he has a fully healthy team, he was balling all season long, he just hasn't hit his shots, credit to the Grizz, however we do have to put it into context and understand just how good the Grizz are, they are a top 4 calibre team as a 7th seed.

Agree completely, but the others I listed would not get a pass against this grizzly team.

[KirbyPls]

Durant has no excuses for losing to any seed. MVP and new best player in the world. You are expected to win. Or at least play well in defeat.

Allegedly.

[DuMa]

dude should at least be averaging more than his Regular season PPG

[Milbuck]

Of course he shouldn't get a pass, there's no question about that.

But if we ignored Lebron's first 3 games of last year's finals and waited till the result of the series to judge, we should do the same here.

Reserve your judgement until the series has finished. He's played like shit for his standards so far, but he still has 2 games to make it right. If he ****s that up, THEN we can rip him apart like we did Kobe, Lebron, other great perimeter players when they failed. But as of right now we have no idea how the series will play out - he could rise to the occasion like a true all-time great and go off for 45-60 the next two games and dominate the Grizzlies, or he could shrink like in game 4 and lose game 6. We have to wait.

[Thunderfan86]

No, he shouldn't get a pass. He's playing like a straight up shook, mentally weak, bitch. Talking about "I'm the decoy and I'm fine with that" what type of bitch ass n*gga shit is that? F*cking fakkit :mad:

[KirbyPls]

Of course he shouldn't get a pass, there's no question about that.

But if we ignored Lebron's first 3 games of last year's finals and waited till the result of the series to judge, we should do the same here.

Reserve your judgement until the series has finished. He's played like shit for his standards so far, but he still has 2 games to make it right. If he ****s that up, THEN we can rip him apart like we did Kobe, Lebron, other great perimeter players when they failed. But as of right now we have no idea how the series will play out - he could rise to the occasion like a true all-time great and go off for 45-60 the next two games and dominate the Grizzlies, or he could shrink like in game 4 and lose game 6. We have to wait.

Good point.

[KirbyPls]

No, he shouldn't get a pass. He's playing like a straight up shook, mentally weak, bitch. Talking about "I'm the decoy and I'm fine with that" what type of bitch ass n*gga shit is that? F*cking fakkit :mad:

Keep heart bro, in 2012, I was convinced that Lebron was not actually the player he would become when the Heat fell behind 3-2 to the Celtics, I was shook badly before game 6, expected Lebron to choke and chose not to watch it live. My lack of faith precluded me from watching my favorite player's greatest performance to date. I think KD has a great game in him this series, so have a bit of faith.

[Solefade]

no he shouldn't get a pass but can everyone just stop overrating the grizzlies? there's no reason the best scorer in the league shouldn't be able to light up a team that struggles to score 80ppg

[Thunderfan86]

Keep heart bro, in 2012, I was convinced that Lebron was not actually the player he would become when the Heat fell behind 3-2 to the Celtics, I was shook badly before game 6, expected Lebron to choke and chose not to watch it live. My lack of faith precluded me from watching my favorite player's greatest performance to date. I think KD has a great game in him this series, so have a bit of faith.
That's funny because I told myself I wasn't going to watch the game tomorrow. So you know exactly how I'm feeling right now.

[KirbyPls]

That's funny because I told myself I wasn't going to watch the game tomorrow. So you know exactly how I'm feeling right now.

Watch it, whatever happens. You don't want to potentially miss a legacy-altering game (in a good way of course).

[Bandito]

No. He should be scrutinized as Dirk was in 08.

[bballnoob1192]

No. He should be scrutinized as Dirk was in 08.
you mean 07

[Marlo_Stanfield]

Of course he shouldn't get a pass, there's no question about that.

But if we ignored Lebron's first 3 games of last year's finals and waited till the result of the series to judge, we should do the same here.

Reserve your judgement until the series has finished. He's played like shit for his standards so far, but he still has 2 games to make it right. If he ****s that up, THEN we can rip him apart like we did Kobe, Lebron, other great perimeter players when they failed. But as of right now we have no idea how the series will play out - he could rise to the occasion like a true all-time great and go off for 45-60 the next two games and dominate the Grizzlies, or he could shrink like in game 4 and lose game 6. We have to wait.
LeBron had a triple double in game one or two( dont remember anymore)
Durant been shit all series

[MellowYellow]

LeBron had a triple double in game one or two( dont remember anymore)
Durant been shit all series
outside of that 4-point play.

[KG215]

Absolutely not. He was really good in game one but has been absolute shit in games 2-5. He deserves every bit of criticism that will come his way if OKC loses the series.

[Milbuck]

LeBron had a triple double in game one or two( dont remember anymore)
Durant been shit all series
Durant had 33-8-7 in game 1, and 36-11-4 in game 2.

[JT123]

He shouldn't get a pass, but we all know he will. :rolleyes:
I can already hear Stephen A and the rest of ESPN ripping Westbrook apart for not getting others involved. :facepalm

[Kingwillball]

Durant had 33-8-7 in game 1, and 36-11-4 in game 2.

On a lot of Shots and OT with extra minutes.. Those are empty stats.

[Smoke117]

They need a new coach so they can implement an offensive scheme that doesn't revolve around having their two best scorers iso and chuck the ball at will. Either way, why should Durant take more of the blame than Westbrook? At least Durant is averaging more shots than points...lol. Durant is launching of 25 shots for 28 points and Westbrook is launching up 25.6 shots for 25.4 points...you aren't going to do anything with two guys launching that amount of shots who are completely ineffective.

[pauk]

This is a team game and the better team will very much likely win in a 7 game series (no matter what you do)... so as an individual all you can do/control is how you play, as long as you perform up to your standards there is absolutely nothing to worry about, the rest is completely out of your hands (how well the rest of your teammates defend, shoot, rebound, pass etc).... with that being said, KD should not get a pass, KD averages in this series 21-7-3 per 36 min on 40-28-71 compared to regular season 30-7-5 on 50-39-87... he aint really performing up to his standards so to say.... and if he would then i believe he/OKC would have been waiting for their 2nd round matchup by now....

[AussieG]

This is a team game and the better team will very much likely win in a 7 game series (no matter what you do)... so as an individual all you can do/control is how you play, as long as you perform up to your standards there is absolutely nothing to worry about, the rest is completely out of your hands (how well the rest of your teammates defend, shoot, rebound, pass etc).... with that being said, KD should not get a pass, KD averages in this series 21-7-3 per 36 min on 40-28-71 compared to regular season 30-7-5 on 50-39-87... he aint really performing up to his standards so to say.... and if he would then i believe he/OKC would have been waiting for their 2nd round matchup by now....

How many weak East teams inflate those numbers? Or teams like LA Lakers tanking for picks?

It's not like he plays Grizzlies 82 times in the regular season. And the intensity isn't as high.

If Thunder escape the Grizzlies and go on to play the Clippers, his numbers will be back to normal.

[DMAVS41]

It depends on who you are comparing it to.

With Lebron...wait until the series is over.

If it's to a guy like Dirk in 07 or Kobe's 04 finals...etc. You can compare it now...because Durant would be at home right now if not for pure luck at just having a better team than Dirk in 07 did for example in relation to the competition.

What bothers me about this series for Durant is that they have played 4 straight close games....and in the last 3 especially Durant has been terrible. It's one thing if you are getting blown out when your star is struggling...that means you are outmatched as a team...but to lose close games like this...and actually get a free win with your superstar playing like this...it's hard to overlook.

So I'm torn on this. We always need to see as much as possible before concluding and if Durant goes off we have to give him credit for that, but on the other hand, he really should be at home right now if not for his team finding ways to keep this shit close every night and actually win a game in which he was so bad that very few players in playoff history in the modern era have won a game playing that way.

[BigMacAttack]

KD should not get a pass, first round knockout is not good.

[Cold soul]

No not at all. Durant is held to high standards if OKC losses in first round it will hurt his legacy somewhat even though Durant is relatively young.

[AintNoSunshine]

For as much as I want him to fail so the servant stan can stfu, I still believe he can explode any given game and the series can easily flip the script.

But if this is how he goes down then we should look at him differently

[houston]

yup he should get 100% blame

[poido123]

I'd like to see Durant playing with a better coach and Westbrook on another team.

I want to see if he plays better under a different system with actual plays run and a non ball dominant PG.

[red1]

He will bounce back.

[Milbuck]

On a lot of Shots and OT with extra minutes.. Those are empty stats.
So Lebron's shooting 43% and 20% from 3PT in his 18 point triple double was full? What about his 17 points on 41% shooting the next game? Or his 15 points on 33% shooting the game after that?

If you want to criticize them on equal levels, cut them slack on equal levels as well. Lebron's first 3 games of that series were piss poor for "best in the world" standards, whichever way you slice it. As are Durant's first 5 (not all 5, but we'll say they were). But if we gave Lebron a chance to come back and reserved our judgment until we had a result, we have to do the same for Durant.

If he ****s up tomorrow night, then we can tear him apart the way we did Lebron and Kobe.

[bballnoob1192]

durant will be held accountable by almost any sane fan if the thunders lose this series. only stans and prolly espn that will blame westbrook. westbrook has been chucking this series, but that is because this grizzlies team has a great defense and durant is being a little too passive.

[wally_world]

No, unless the Griz go on to win the whole thing

[Thunderfan86]

Keep heart bro, in 2012, I was convinced that Lebron was not actually the player he would become when the Heat fell behind 3-2 to the Celtics, I was shook badly before game 6, expected Lebron to choke and chose not to watch it live. My lack of faith precluded me from watching my favorite player's greatest performance to date. I think KD has a great game in him this series, so have a bit of faith.


Watch it, whatever happens. You don't want to potentially miss a legacy-altering game (in a good way of course).
Thanks for the inspiration and kind words man. :cheers:

Repped!!!