After Boston completed the sweep over Kevin Durant and the Nets on Monday, NBA Twitter was buzzing with reactions from fans and naysayers.
FOX Sports analyst Nick Wright, who aligns himself with the latter group, took the opportunity to compare the 2x Champion to his long-time rival, LeBron James.
In a damning tweet, he shared the following facts:
LeBron's age 33, Year 15 playoff run:
Averaged 34-9-9 on 54%.
8 40 point games.
2 buzzer beaters.
45-8-7-4 in Rd. 1 G7.
46-11-9 & 35-15-9 in Gs 6 & 7 vs BOS in ECF.
51-8-8 in G1 of the Finals.
Durant's age 33, Year 15 playoff run:
Swept in Round 1. Shot 38%. 21 turnovers.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) April 26, 2022
The 2017-18 campaign was one of LeBron’s best. In the regular season, he carried a dysfunctional and subpar Cavs team to the 4th seed in the East while averaging 27.5 points per game.
In the playoffs, he was even better. He averaged a near triple-double as he pushed his squad to an unlikely appearance in the NBA Finals.
Still, it was Kevin Durant and the Warriors who beat James that year — a fact that Mr. Wright left off his tweet.
In the replies, fans made sure to let him know.
You forgot to mention KD swept him that year. Those stats meant nothing
— MoeDotJ (@MoeDotJ) April 26, 2022
KD took two from your king remember that if not you would have 6 but now stuck forever at 4 in 20 or 4 in 21 yrs lmao what a goat
— juancho (@jcantres719) April 26, 2022
Lol u conveniently left out:
Taken to 7 games by Victor Oladipo
Taken to 7 games by a team without it's two best players in the ECF.
Got swept in the Finals and faked a broken hand.
— Ashish N (@ashish_n10) April 26, 2022
And Lebron got destroyed by Durant and the Warriors got swept in embarrassing fashion, cried and punched a wall, and proved he was a weak leader giving up on his team.
— Michael (@Michael23243) April 26, 2022
Neither won the finals. Stop celebrating stats. No one cares when you lose If you ain’t winning the trophy. And why bring up lebron? When you can’t stand when others do lol
— Jason (@Jayday2479) April 26, 2022
KD is 2-1 over lebron in finals tho.
— The Shaman (@Lifeofacheapman) April 26, 2022
It doesn't define KDs career. Still one of the greats. Remember his performance last year with less. All this does series did was prove wrong the hot take narratives media folks had about KD being better than Lebron just because he beat him with a loaded team in 2017 and 2018
— Glenn Satterfield (@bamaglenn79) April 26, 2022
I’m not sure why people in the media keep equating this version of KD to LeBron at 33. While KD can still score he’s lost a step or two. The injuries have taken somewhat of a toll. LBJ avoided major injuries by 33. KD is still great, he just needs a squad around him.
— BC (@realBC27) April 26, 2022
https://twitter.com/nba_essays/status/1518798663698587648
When it comes to longevity, LeBron is King. At 33-years-old, he was putting on one of the best seasons of his career. Now, at 37, he’s still one of the best players in the game.
For Kevin Durant, he has already revealed himself as an All-Time great player and he doesn’t have a whole lot left to prove. He did beat LeBron James twice in the Finals, after all.
Lately, though, things haven’t been so easy for the former MVP. As a basketball veteran whose status was being challenged by the younger generation of stars, he needed a big showing in these playoffs to keep his place as the best player in the league.
Instead, his team got swept and his play was extremely underwhelming for most of the series.
At one point, Stephen A. Smith was even calling Durant a better player than the reigning Champion, Giannis Antetokounmpo — but this series has changed everything.
“Kevin Durant, if he’s wearing a size 12 or 13, Giannis goes home,” said Stephen A. Smith. “You sit up here and bring that up but you just conveniently forget that. Kyrie was out and James Harden was playing on one leg…. you know good and well Giannis ain’t KD! Let’s pump the brakes now! Giannis is great, he’s phenomenal. He ain’t Kevin Durant.”
There is no doubt that this season was a huge failure for KD. In fact, that same word can apply to his entire tenure in Brooklyn so far.
Going forward, nobody really knows what to expect anymore. Hopefully, with a healthy Ben Simmons and full-time Kyrie, the Nets will be primed for a deeper postseason run.
Regardless, they will only go as far as Kevin Durant takes them so it’s a good thing that the D.C. native has a track record of responding well to adversity.
