Why wasn't Kevin Durant able to beat Lebron in 2012?

[keep-itreal]

He had Russell Westbrook and James Harden on the team!

How could he not beat the Heat?

[JohnMax]

Durant is too much like early career Dirk in the playoffs - he got his points but it was well known he could be jammed up and thrown off his game by tough, aggressive defenders.

Lebron has obviously not been a perfect performer in a couple finals but overall hes still far more proven and effective in big games than Durant.

[Spurs m8]

Because it was Miami v Okc....not LeBron v Durant.

Idiot.

[TheMarkMadsen]

because he wasn't aggressive enough and didn't demand the ball during stretches where his team needed his efficient high volume scoring

[Vaniiiia]

LeBron at his peak.

Wade still a better player than Westbrook at that point.

Harden shatting the bed.

Perkins getting significant minutes...

yeah.

[warriorfan]

Wow. 2 top 10 players on his team (Russell Westbrook, James Harden) and he still can't win the championship...Beta Male Durant

AMC won the championship without another top 10 player, BMD couldn't do it with 2...

1/1 > 0/1
AMC > BMD

It's official.

[DMV2]

Because Chris Bosh made OKC frontcourt his bitch.

[AnaheimLakers24]

Kd didnt have it in him. A dissapointment to the western conference

[G0ATbe]

Refs for the most part but also,

Harden pulled a LeBald and Perkins vs Bosh.

[Naero]

What is this myth that Kevin Durant underperformed in the finals? He averaged 30 PPG on 54% field-goal-percentage and outperformed LeBron on an individual level if anything.

Durant simply was under-complemented by his teammates, as the role-players did not step up; if there is any singular person culpable for that, it's Scott Brooks, as the onus is on the coach to systematize an offense and defense to give otherwise-directionless role-players a well-defined role.

It's why I'm pegging the Thunder to win it all this year if KD is healthy and if Billy Donovan is the effectual coaching upgrade needed; OKC likely found the missing cog they need to get over the hump after years of underachieving.

[Vaniiiia]

What is this myth that Kevin Durant underperformed in the finals? He averaged 30 PPG on 54% field-goal-percentage and outperformed LeBron on an individual level if anything.

Durant simply was under-complemented by his teammates, as the role-players did not step up; if there is any singular person culpable for that, it's Scott Brooks, as the onus is on the coach to systematize an offense and defense to give otherwise-directionless role-players a well-defined role.

It's why I'm pegging the Thunder to win it all this year if KD is healthy and if Billy Donovan is the effectual coaching upgrade needed; OKC likely found the missing cog they need to get over the hump after years of underachieving.
:applause:

Good, objective post here.

[WayOfWade]

This would be the reason why...
http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Dwyane+Wade+James+Harden+2012+NBA+Finals+Game+y9fm 0I0Pv1Ul.jpg
Excluding game 1, Wade was a beast that finals. In games 2-5 he averaged 23.8 PPG, all wins for the Heat.

[Rose'sACL]

What is this myth that Kevin Durant underperformed in the finals? He averaged 30 PPG on 54% field-goal-percentage and outperformed LeBron on an individual level if anything.

Durant simply was under-complemented by his teammates, as the role-players did not step up; if there is any singular person culpable for that, it's Scott Brooks, as the onus is on the coach to systematize an offense and defense to give otherwise-directionless role-players a well-defined role.

It's why I'm pegging the Thunder to win it all this year if KD is healthy and if Billy Donovan is the effectual coaching upgrade needed; OKC likely found the missing cog they need to get over the hump after years of underachieving.
lol at outperformed lebron.

[juju151111]

Refs benched him for most of game 2 and various times throughout the series. Harden was horrible. He was missing layups on facebreaks wide open nobody near him.

[JT123]

What is this myth that Kevin Durant underperformed in the finals? He averaged 30 PPG on 54% field-goal-percentage and outperformed LeBron on an individual level if anything.

Durant simply was under-complemented by his teammates, as the role-players did not step up; if there is any singular person culpable for that, it's Scott Brooks, as the onus is on the coach to systematize an offense and defense to give otherwise-directionless role-players a well-defined role.

It's why I'm pegging the Thunder to win it all this year if KD is healthy and if Billy Donovan is the effectual coaching upgrade needed; OKC likely found the missing cog they need to get over the hump after years of underachieving.
:facepalm Outscoring someone does not equal outperforming them. KD was invisible during crunch time, didn't rebound, and played shitty defense. It's excusable cause he was still young, but lets try to avoid rewriting history. :no:

[Marchesk]

If it had been 1 on 1, OP might have had a point. But the reasons the Miami Heat beat the OKC Thunder included the Heat being at their peak while the Thunder were very young, Brooks being stubborn and not making needed adjustments, and Harden had a poor series.

[GrapeApe]

This would be the reason why...
http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Dwyane+Wade+James+Harden+2012+NBA+Finals+Game+y9fm 0I0Pv1Ul.jpg
Excluding game 1, Wade was a beast that finals. In games 2-5 he averaged 23.8 PPG, all wins for the Heat.

I've always felt it was / is a very underrated performance by Wade.

23/6/5 with 1.5 steals, 1.2 blocks, and outstanding defense.

That would often be good enough for FMVP. (Lebron deserved it of course, I'm just saying that Wade was damn good too)

[gilalizard]

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1188305/touch1_1.jpg

[Lebronxrings]

because lebron went scary mode. Seriously when you watch those games it was scary how good lebron was. He singlehandedly destroyed durant, westbrook, harden. He locked kd during the crunch time and defended harden to the point where harden looked terrible. Durant faced a man on a mission, one clearly above the rest.