Who was truly better in 2014? Bron or Durant?

[Young X]

Durant had a better regular season but Bron was much better in the playoffs. Who was really better overall?

[Cocaine80s]

Curry

[BlakFrankWhite]

How was Bron "much better" in the playoffs?..when he had to go through that absolute joke of a conference.

Did you not watch Durant torch the Clippers? In which he averaged 30/10/5 on 63% TS....crushng Chris Paul and Blake

Or his legendary 36/11 @ Memphis in an elimination game...

KD in 2014 was the best in the world...no one came close

[stalkerforlife]

East.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Statistically, and regular season? KD.

In their matchups? LeBron.

In the Playoffs and ability? LeBron. Comparable scorer, much better defender. So ... overall:

LeBron. I don't even think it's debatable. Even in that particular season. James was coasting most of the regular season gearing for a 4th consecutive Finals run. With a Heat team that had a declining Wade, and Bosh.

At that point, once Westbrook came back, KD had the superior help talent wise.

[ArbitraryWater]

How was Bron "much better" in the playoffs?..when he had to go through that absolute joke of a conference.

Did you not watch Durant torch the Clippers? In which he averaged 30/10/5 on 63% TS....crushng Chris Paul and Blake

Or his legendary 36/11 @ Memphis in an elimination game...

KD in 2014 was the best in the world...no one came close

cringe

KD had 2 of the worst Superstar playoff games ever in 2014, @ MEM game 4 and vs LAC game 5, and he somehow came away with 2 victories, changing both series', only due to Reggie Jackson and Russell Westbrook :oldlol: I dont want that to be what my 'best player' did..

And this is his 'legendary' game 6:

1R G6 OKC @ MEM through 3 Quarters (when the game was over):
Durant with 26 points on 8-19 42% and 10-11 FT's.

4th Quarter: Proceeded to stat-pad by scoring 10 in a 20 point 4th quarter blowout when the game was already over (on 3-4 FG's and 4-4 FT's). Final tally: 36 on 11-23 FG's and 14-15 FT's.

Game 7 was legitemately his first good game of the series.. pathetic.


And who doesn't remember Bron coming into Oklahoma and clobbering shit up? KD once again with a GOAT level stat padding performance in that one. Meanwhile Bron was nearing 40 until he stuck one into Ibaka's grill and was bloodied.

[Young X]

How was Bron "much better" in the playoffs?..when he had to go through that absolute joke of a conference.

Did you not watch Durant torch the Clippers? In which he averaged 30/10/5 on 63% TS....crushng Chris Paul and Blake

Or his legendary 36/11 @ Memphis in an elimination game...

KD in 2014 was the best in the world...no one came closeHe killed the Clippers but he was very underwhelming in the Grizzlies and Spurs series.

He averaged more turnovers than assists in both series and his scoring efficiency plummeted.

He didn't even look like the best player on his team in alot of the games.

His postseason was solid overall but it was clearly inferior to what Lebron was doing.

HOWEVER you bring up good point about their competition. The west in 2014 might've been the toughest conference the league has ever seen meanwhile Lebron was facing far inferior teams on his way to the finals.

[ArbitraryWater]

1R G6 OKC @ MEM through 3 Quarters (when the game was over):
Durant with 26 points on 8-19 42% and 10-11 FT's.

4th Quarter: Proceeded to stat-pad by scoring 10 in a 20 point 4th quarter blowout when the game was already over (on 3-4 FG's and 4-4 FT's). Final tally: 36 on 11-23 FG's and 14-15 FT's.

the more I look at this the more I shake my head :oldlol:

People in the future will look at the box score and think KD was good.. hell, some clowns are already doing it.

[Naero]

Easily Kevin Durant.

He averaged more points per game despite how he couldn't luxuriate his shot selection in Erik Spoelstra's well-structured spread-the-floor offense, which allowed LeBron to cherry-pick his way en route to his career-best field-goal percentages, and he narrowed the stark discrepancies between him and LeBron.

Moreover, most do not contextualize that LeBron steepened his decline on the defensive end that season; it isn't even a stretch to say that Durant eclipsed him on that end that year. Durant never had the superlative reputation LeBron had on that end of the floor, nor is he bound to ever tote it regardless of how much his impact continuantly improves; but to anyone who administers the eye test on that end, they know very well how it factored into Durant out-contributing LeBron that season.

It is indisputable that Durant deserved that MVP, and it's not just due to the customary rule of being a superstar on one of the league-bests teams; it's because he was the league-best player with a proven impact of that caliber. The stage was set for Durant to finally seize the torch as the reputed BITW, but many fell asleep on him during his injury-derailed season and have been mostly waiting to see him pick up where he left off before re-examining that perspective.

[Lebronxrings]

lebron. Durant was the consensus 2nd best in 2014 though.

[Rocketswin2013]

Easily Kevin Durant.

He averaged more points per game despite how he couldn't luxuriate his shot selection in Erik Spoelstra's well-structured spread-the-floor offense, which allowed LeBron to cherry-pick his way en route to his career-best field-goal percentages, and he narrowed the stark discrepancies between him and LeBron.

Moreover, most do not contextualize that LeBron steepened his decline on the defensive end that season; it isn't even a stretch to say that Durant eclipsed him on that end that year. Durant never had the superlative reputation LeBron had on that end of the floor, nor is he bound to ever tote it regardless of how much his impact continuantly improves; but to anyone who administers the eye test on that end, they know very well how it factored into Durant out-contributing LeBron that season.

It is indisputable that Durant deserved that MVP, and it's not just due to the customary rule of being a superstar on one of the league-bests teams; it's because he was the league-best player with a proven impact of that caliber. The stage was set for Durant to finally seize the torch as the reputed BITW, but many fell asleep on him during his injury-derailed season and have been mostly waiting to see him pick up where he left off before re-examining that perspective.
Are you saying LeBron only dominated because he had a structured offense around him? Would you say the same for Jordan in all his title years, or Curry these past two?

On the topic, LeBron. The gap in postseason play was huge. The regular season gap between the two wasn't close to as big. Quality of opponent isn't an argument because he faced 3 elite defense out of his 4 and utterly destroyed them all. Better against the Spurs than Durant was, specifically.

[DaOldLion]

what exactly did Lebron do in the 2014 playoffs that puts him over Durant?

does anybody not think that Durant could get through that shitty east and then lead his team to the worst finals loss of all time like Lebron did?

The east was so bad that all lebron had to do was averaged 22/6/5 in the ecf and his team still easily advanced

Durant would have made the finals if he was out east, and would have put up a better fight against the Spurs, which wouldn't be hard considering the HEAT got destroyed in historically bad fashion

[SwishSquared]

what exactly did Lebron do in the 2014 playoffs that puts him over Durant?

does anybody not think that Durant could get through that shitty east and then lead his team to the worst finals loss of all time like Lebron did?

The east was so bad that all lebron had to do was averaged 22/6/5 in the ecf and his team still easily advanced

Durant would have made the finals if he was out east, and would have put up a better fight against the Spurs, which wouldn't be hard considering the HEAT got destroyed in historically bad fashionTo be fair, Durant played at a level that was below his RS in 2/3 rounds of the playoffs. Only time he went off consistently was vs. the Clippers, who had struggling Matt Barnes and Dudley (fresh off a knee fracture) trying to check him. The fact that CP3 got extended time guarding KD is a joke.

KD played at an astounding level in the regular season. Like historically great. That consistently high level was his norm in the RS. It wasn't the norm in the playoffs.

LBJ played weaker teams but he clearly stepped up in the playoffs.

That's one way of looking at it, though it oversimplifies it imo.

[tmacattack33]

One round of the playoffs is worth more than the entire regular season.

[Real14]

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/L5ZYKN5Ctew/hqdefault.jpg

[dhsilv]

Advanced stats are GREAT for the regular season and they have meaning in the post season, but the huge imbalances in competition in the playoffs make these things hard to use and a 20 game playoff run against 3 VERY good teams certainly isn't enough to really draw radical conclusions.

He wasn't nearly as good in the most season.

As for the question, I think it's a fair debate. The problem I always have is how much better the west really is in the playoffs. It's better, but that "how much" is difficult to figure out.

[DaOldLion]

To be fair, Durant played at a level that was below his RS in 2/3 rounds of the playoffs. Only time he went off consistently was vs. the Clippers, who had struggling Matt Barnes and Dudley (fresh off a knee fracture) trying to check him. The fact that CP3 got extended time guarding KD is a joke.

KD played at an astounding level in the regular season. Like historically great. That consistently high level was his norm in the RS. It wasn't the norm in the playoffs.

LBJ played weaker teams but he clearly stepped up in the playoffs.

That's one way of looking at it, though it oversimplifies it imo.

The Clippers were an elite team who Durant torched to the tune of 33/10/5 on 61% TS which is better than his regular season numbers and better than any series lebron had that same year..

I don't agree that Lebron "clearly stepped up in the playoffs" he played two joke teams in the Nets & Bobcats, averaged 22ppg in the eastern conference finals and didn't put up a fight against the Spurs..

His assist numbers went down in the playoffs, his scoring remained the same... that's not clearly stepping up from his regular season..

Durant was better in the regular season, and if you compare their best series from the 14 playoffs, KD's series was better and against much stronger competition.

[chazzy]

the more I look at this the more I shake my head :oldlol:

People in the future will look at the box score and think KD was good.. hell, some clowns are already doing it.
The same way Bron's '14 finals will get overrated with time

[SwishSquared]

The Clippers were an elite team who Durant torched to the tune of 33/10/5 on 61% TS which is better than his regular season numbers and better than any series lebron had that same year..

I don't agree that Lebron "clearly stepped up in the playoffs" he played two joke teams in the Nets & Bobcats, averaged 22ppg in the eastern conference finals and didn't put up a fight against the Spurs..

His assist numbers went down in the playoffs, his scoring remained the same... that's not clearly stepping up from his regular season..

Durant was better in the regular season, and if you compare their best series from the 14 playoffs, KD's series was better and against much stronger competition.Their best defender against KD was 5'11" CP3- I'm sorry but you are *really* discounting that imo. KD struggled vs. Tony Allen & Kawhi. He went OFF against a Clippers team with no real wing defender options. I'm a bigger fan of Matt Barnes than most people but that dude can't be your main wing defender on a legit team, even in the 2014 playoffs. Let 2014 LBJ get 6 games against Barnes/Dudley/CP3 and I'd be shocked if he didn't put up good #s.

LeBron did a lot of scoring once the games were out of reach in the Finals, but it's not like he played like garbage. I think we can reasonably think that the way the Thunder (when healthy) played the Spurs was much more impressive than the way the Heat played. LBJ faced worse competition and had a worse supporting cast. OKC was clearly better imo until Ibaka had the calf injury. Westbrook and Ibaka outplayed Wade & Bosh, unless I'm mixing that up (going off memory here, so please correct if wrong).

Also your assists will drop if your teammates stop knocking down shots...he clearly created wide open looks. There's a reason why Battier, Allen, and Rashard Lewis aren't in the league anymore...

If you don't think LBJ turned it up in the playoffs, that's fine. I just disagree. His team was falling apart as he dragged them through a weak conference.

[HenryGarfunkle]

I don't think there's many guys if any at all in history that match Kd's 2014 season..

LeBron in 2012 and 2013 does, but he wasn't quite as good in 2014... gotta go kd here

he was statistically the best iso player in the history of the sport, carried scrubs to 60 wins, averaged 32/7/6 on ridiculous efficiency and was one of the best defenders at his position that year

[ArbitraryWater]

The same way Bron's '14 finals will get overrated with time

This was debunked aswell, LeBron hardly if at all scored in the 4th quarters of the blowouts.. a whopping 6 pts from game's 3-5 in the 4th quarters, yay saying stupid shit is fun!

[Young X]

Bump.

[Cocaine80s]

Durant was

[tmacattack33]

How was Bron "much better" in the playoffs?..when he had to go through that absolute joke of a conference.

Did you not watch Durant torch the Clippers? In which he averaged 30/10/5 on 63% TS....crushng Chris Paul and Blake

Or his legendary 36/11 @ Memphis in an elimination game...

KD in 2014 was the best in the world...no one came close

:biggums:

How you gonna mention that one game and not talk about the others where Tony Allen made him his b*tch. LOL.

[PsychoBe]

why are you bumping this? it was clearly durant :wtf: