RealGM

there was some debate over this in the general board

(where i obviously got into it) over whether durant did or did not outplay lebron (and curry) in the 17/18 years, particularly in the finals

the argument for lebron, at least in the finals vs durant is a huge playmaking edge amd facing a tougher defensive front court (green, iguodala and dursnt himself) that focused on him

and that he kept cavs competitive with warriors when starters played vs warriors starters

the argument for durant, at least in the finals is that he outscored lebron with better efficiency and turned the ball over less (in a less passing role)

and of course that warriors clearly beat cavs

defense i am unsure about

curry argument is that he was the focus of cavs attention which allowed durant to feast

who was the best or more impactful player in the finals or in the playoffs overall between those 3?

specifically 2017 and 2018 seasons?

Durant outplayed both in big series.

2017 LeBron
2018 Curry

2018 Finals doesn't even count, Cavs had to strike fast to compensate the huge gap in talent and they got robbed dirty in Game 1.

Jaivl wrote:2017 LeBron
2018 Curry

2018 Finals doesn't even count, Cavs had to strike fast to compensate the huge gap in talent and they got robbed dirty in Game 1.

First Lebron then Durant ruined the NBA. There's huge competition difference between the 2000's and the 2010's Playoffs.

feyki wrote:

Jaivl wrote:2017 LeBron
2018 Curry

2018 Finals doesn't even count, Cavs had to strike fast to compensate the huge gap in talent and they got robbed dirty in Game 1.

First Lebron then Durant ruined the NBA. There's huge competition difference between the 2000's and the 2010's Playoffs.

The 2011-2013 Heat are comparable to the 2013-2014 Spurs and 2015 Warriors.

How is that remotely comparable to the 2017-2019 Warriors?

Lebron basically went against a dynasty by himself that year. Comparing performances isn't even fair.

Colbinii wrote:

feyki wrote:

Jaivl wrote:2017 LeBron
2018 Curry

2018 Finals doesn't even count, Cavs had to strike fast to compensate the huge gap in talent and they got robbed dirty in Game 1.

First Lebron then Durant ruined the NBA. There's huge competition difference between the 2000's and the 2010's Playoffs.

The 2011-2013 Heat are comparable to the 2013-2014 Spurs and 2015 Warriors.

How is that remotely comparable to the 2017-2019 Warriors?

2011 was really a good year to watch. Heat had OKC and Spurs as tough opponents; Warriors had Rockets and Cavs(not after Irving's leave). Don't seperate the two franchise to kill competitiveness of the NBA. 12/14 Heat won just %19,44 of their wins by less than 10 difference a game(7/36), against all the teams they faced in the playoffs besides the OKC and the Spurs.

LeBron. Even if there production was similar their responsibilities were not. Draymond and Steph had more responsibilities than KD even if they had less stats. KD was literally brought on to iso score. Like a worse version but more physically gifted Paul Pierce

why would durant and steph even be over harden? they were on a much more talented team that needed a chris paul injury to possibly save them from losing that series. seems like 2 players on the same team who are way better than the best player on another team should have an easy sweep on their hands, and not need a huge break to squeak by. steph doesn't really have better overall playoff or head to head stats than harden (against a much weaker group of defenders from houston than harden faced from the warriors) from that year. KD has a better argument with less fall off from the regular season compared to either.

but lebron is a pretty clear winner in either case. one of the great conference runs of all time and then an epic game 1 before the series was basically over in the finals.