Suns Defensive Missteps in Game 2- Durant in Particular

[bdonovan]

First, I'd say Durant improved his defense from game one. He actually guarded his man during much of the game.

He however made a number of lapses which cost the Suns. Especially in the 2nd half, he refused to guard anyone, allowing Gordon and those he was supposed to switch on make easy baskets.

https://youtu.be/cycugxNDzOQ?t=396

Notice Durant is guarding No one. He should be on #5 Caldwell Pope (every other Nugget is being guarded). Caldwell Pope is WIDE open for an easy 3. You win by making it hard on your opponents, not giving them wide open looks.

https://youtu.be/e6Jf2U0ggIs?t=316

Durant lets Gordon get position right under the hoop for an easy two. You have to stay between the ball and your man to deny them the ball, especially when they're that close to the hoop. Far too easy.

https://youtu.be/cycugxNDzOQ?t=250

Durant playing off Gordon, gives Gordon wide open shot. Durant's lazy defense on Gordon allowed him to score 16 on high efficiency (5-8), whereas Durant scored 24 on low efficiency (10-27). As mentioned earlier, guarding players always lowers their shooting %. Suns need Durant to outscore his opponent by a wide margin and with High efficiency.

https://youtu.be/cycugxNDzOQ?t=102

Durant gives up on defense too soon, refuses to guard Gordon; Nuggets get offensive board and Gordon dunks the ball with Durant 15 feet away, spectating. Durant wasn't the only Sun who gave up on the play, over-prioritizing the possible fast break over guarding their basket.

These are just a few examples. I somehow doubt the Suns will be able to stop the Nuggets without 100% commitment on defense.

[Manny98]

KD had one good defensive season playing next to Draymond that's about it

He's been below average on that end for the bulk of his career

[WhiteKyrie]

KD had one good defensive season playing next to Draymond that's about it

He's been below average on that end for the bulk of his career

Agreed.

[Carbine]

Suns defense held the Nuggets to almost 20 below their regular average.

They didn't lose this game because of Durant or anyone's defense. They lost because of offense.

[SouBeachTalents]

Game 1 it made sense to make this thread, last night the Suns defense actually played well. Jokic had a monster game but it was a struggle most of the night. This was on KD's bad offensive showing and the teams comically bad bench production.

[RRR3]

Game 1 it made sense to make this thread, last night the Suns defense actually played well. Jokic had a monster game but it was a struggle most of the night. This was on KD's bad offensive showing and the teams comically bad bench production.

OP is a Curry stan weirdly desperate to “prove” Durant isn’t a great player. Good luck with that.

[warriorfan]

Game 1 it made sense to make this thread, last night the Suns defense actually played well. Jokic had a monster game but it was a struggle most of the night. This was on KD's bad offensive showing and the teams comically bad bench production.

It still doesn’t mean KD’s poor defensive play never happened.

You should be encouraging quality posting. I’ve seen you complain about all the garbage troll threads here. A guy makes a legit one and then you complain too.

Some people just like to complain I suppose.

[tpols]

Game 1 it made sense to make this thread, last night the Suns defense actually played well. Jokic had a monster game but it was a struggle most of the night. This was on KD's bad offensive showing and the teams comically bad bench production.

It kind of proves OPs point that when KD actually plays defense and doesn't just conserve energy, his offense goes to shit because he runs out of juice.

[SouBeachTalents]

It still doesn’t mean KD’s poor defensive play never happened.

You should be encouraging quality posting. I’ve seen you complain about all the garbage troll threads here. A guy makes a legit one and then you complain too.

Some people just like to complain I suppose.

I'm not complaining about it, I just disagree with pinning last night's loss on KD's defense. If he has a good offensive showing the Suns probably win last night. And the Suns team depth is legitimately all-time bad, playing Booker & KD 40+ minutes a night needing them to score 30 each is simply not sustainable.

[Kblaze8855]

OP is a Curry stan weirdly desperate to “prove” Durant isn’t a great player. Good luck with that.

An impossible argument to make but if it’s his goal he’s certainly going about it with basketball reasons and unusual effort to back up his feelings so I have nothing to say.

[RRR3]

An impossible argument to make but if it’s his goal he’s certainly going about it with basketball reasons and unusual effort to back up his feelings so I have nothing to say.

3ball backs up his hate with “basketball reasons” too. It doesn’t make it any less ridiculous. Same with OP he’s just less obsessive so you’re not aware of him.

[Kblaze8855]

3ball doesn’t actually believe anything though. He thinks Steph is the most overrated ever…then top 5. That AD and Kareem are always worse than Lebron and Magic because playmakers run the game…then the exact opposite. That Giannis is terrible…then top 15 or whatever all time…

He thinks whatever he must at the moment to make an anti Lebron argument.

Far as I know this guy isn’t that. Maybe I’ll soon realize he is but you’re right in that I barely notice him.

[CurryOverLebron]

I can explain why Durant does that.

He's a follower and not a leader. If he sees his team leaders trying hard and playing with intensity. He'll put on effort.

If he sees opposite, he'll play lazy and lackadaisical.

Warriors are like Miami Heat. They play with effort and energy because they have team leaders like Draymond and Curry who have great motors and never get tired. So players known for being lazy and not putting effort like Andrew Wiggins or Kevin Durant play harder on Warriors.

Notice Westbrook played defense on Clippers but not on Lakers. It's because their leaders Kawhi and George are two way players and put effort on defense. So Westbrook sees that and does same thing. But when his leaders are mentally soft dudes who only try hard in playoffs like Lebron and AD, he doesn't try hard at all.

[FKAri]

I can explain why Durant does that.

He's a follower and not a leader. If he sees his team leaders trying hard and playing with intensity. He'll put on effort.

If he sees opposite, he'll play lazy and lackadaisical.

Warriors are like Miami Heat. They play with effort and energy because they have leaders like Draymond and Curry who have great motors and never get tired. So players known for being lazy and not putting effort like Andrew Wiggins and Kevin Durant play harder on Warriors.

Notice Westbrook played defense on Clippers but not on Lakers or Thunder. It's because of leaders like Kawhi who put in effort on defense. When Westbrook sees his leader be defensive oriented, he copies him. When he sees mentally soft dudes like Lebron and Davis leading pack, he doesn't try at all.

KD has poor leadership skills imo but not because he's a follower. Kawhi's the same way. You can say "they lead by example". But that's just coded language for they go out there and put in the work but aren't great at rallying a team around them or understanding team dynamics.

[ArbitraryWater]