Kevin Durant is one of the greatest scorers that the NBA has ever seen, and his opponents are well aware of that. We have seen teams desperately try to find ways to slow down Durant over the years, but no one had a lot of success until the Boston Celtics managed to put the clamps on him in the playoffs.
They repeatedly sent double-teams at him and were physical, which led to KD having one of the worst playoff series of his career. Seeing the success that the Celtics had, KD is seeing double teams on a nightly basis these days. While that tactic worked for Boston, it hasn’t particularly worked for anyone this season. Sure, Durant is turning the ball over a lot because teams are going all out to stop him, but his scoring is as good as it has ever been. He is averaging 31.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.9 blocks while shooting 51.8% from the field, 33.3% from beyond the arc, and 93.0% from the line.
Kevin Durant On The Mavericks Double And Triple-Teaming Him
KD has scored over 25 points in every single game this season, and his last game against the Mavericks saw him drop 26 points. He was his usual efficient self, shooting 10-20 from the field, despite constant double teams being sent at him. There was a moment, though, in the fourth quarter where tempers flared, and KD got a technical after fouling Josh Green and then jawing with Theo Pinson, who was on the bench. After the game, Durant revealed what he told the Mavs guard.
The trash talk between Kevin Durant and Theo Pinson was about the Mavs throwing the kitchen sink at him defensively. "I told him he was going to have to be Magic Johnson tonight and pass," Pinson told me.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) November 8, 2022
KD (cont.): "It’s just a simple fact that when you put that much attention on one player when we’re playing a team sport, it just shows how great I am. He understood."
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) November 8, 2022
The trash talk between Kevin Durant and Theo Pinson was about the Mavs throwing the kitchen sink at him defensively. “I told him he was going to have to be Magic Johnson tonight and pass,” Pinson told me.
KD: “Nobody in this league wants to let me go 1-on-1 or want to see me at my spots, so they’re going to throw three or four people at me, play zone up when I get the ball. I was just telling him, ‘This is how great I am.’”
KD (cont.): “It’s just a simple fact that when you put that much attention on one player when we’re playing a team sport, it just shows how great I am. He understood.”
As we said before, everyone knows just how great he is, and there is no one in the league right now who can defend him 1-on-1. Double and triple-teaming is the only way to ensure he won’t cause havoc, and while this tactic still hasn’t slowed him down as a scorer, it is helping teams beat the Nets.
The Mavericks here hung on to win 96-94, but the game could have ended quite differently. With 5 seconds remaining, Durant had a chance to tie the game with 3 free throws, but he missed the second one, and the Nets were unable to score after his intentional miss on the third. Fans destroyed KD for that huge miss, and there is no denying it was a choke, as he had made 62 straight free throws before missing that one.
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