Kawhi Leonard vs Kevin Durant

[BdeRegt]

I'd say Kawhi had better regular season most because of Durant injuries (when Durant went down, he was in MVP talk with Russ/Harden, not Kawhi) but I'd take Durant for Playoffs so far (multiple big games, Kawhi injury issues) and definitely Durant going forward. Durant is still in his prime, maybe one of the best scorers of all-time, and probably going to end up as a top 3 SF of all-time when he is done. Kawhi has never reached that type of level. I don't see Durant falling off at all the next few years.

[GSP]

Funny how Durant's "inferior" team ripped the Warriors to shreds and were up 3-1 while Durant himself was playing mediocre basketball at best.

Did u not watch the series? Saying Kd played mediocre ball when they were up 3-1 is such a blatant lie. His defense was incredible

After game 1 VS Spurs where he essentially destroyed Kawhi in on one one situations (outscored him 17-0 in one 4th quarter and locked him down) he was playing elite D. The reason the Warriors were even up 3-1 was b/c of Kd moving to the 4 and their small lineup after that adjustment running the Warriors out of the gym including destroying their Death lineup.

Kd was arguably playing the best defense in a series with Draymond (who he shut down and made completely useless offensively stifling Warriors ball movement and killed his scoring game), Bogut, Roberson, Adams, Iggy and Ibaka.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Up to game 4 VS Gs

"Durant Warriors series defensive dashboard:
DFGA: 12.5
DFG%: 36%
Diff%: -12.5

Since the Spurs series:
DFGA: 12
DFG%: 36.4%
Diff%: -10.5"

Read on Twitter

In 2017 i felt Kd was the better defensive player and better offensively. But he missed those games (tho its not like the Spurs werent playing great without Kawhi and theyre a better defensive team without Kawhi this season).

Playoffs its Kawhi for sure

Going forward...........depends how many seasons youre talking about. 3-5 years? Kd
Anything further prolly Kawhi

[RCM88x]

I dont think Durant has been the same player since his injuries in '14-'15. He's clearly been a level below his play from '12 to '14.

I think Kawhi has been better this year than Durant and considering his playoff performance I'd probably feel safe putting him on top now and going forward.

[Dr Spaceman]

Leonard comfortably. Durant has been pretty good, but he has a lot more help, so Kawhi's numbers are more impressive (they are more impressive on its own, but especially considering the context).

This logic makes absolutely 0 sense. Durant's numbers got worse when he went to a better team, so saying that his teammates improve his numbers is quite strange.

I'll continue to rail against this until the day I die. Every single star scorer who has ever lived had his best statistical season when his supporting cast was the worst. It makes 0 sense to double credit for people like you're doing here.

[Woodsanity]

Funny how Durant's "inferior" team ripped the Warriors to shreds and were up 3-1 while Durant himself was playing mediocre basketball at best.

Did u not watch the series? Saying Kd played mediocre ball when they were up 3-1 is such a blatant lie. His defense was incredible

After game 1 VS Spurs where he essentially destroyed Kawhi in on one one situations (outscored him 17-0 in one 4th quarter and locked him down) he was playing elite D. The reason the Warriors were even up 3-1 was b/c of Kd moving to the 4 and their small lineup after that adjustment running the Warriors out of the gym including destroying their Death lineup.

Kd was arguably playing the best defense in a series with Draymond (who he shut down and made completely useless offensively stifling Warriors ball movement and killed his scoring game), Bogut, Roberson, Adams, Iggy and Ibaka.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Up to game 4 VS Gs

"Durant Warriors series defensive dashboard:
DFGA: 12.5
DFG%: 36%
Diff%: -12.5

Since the Spurs series:
DFGA: 12
DFG%: 36.4%
Diff%: -10.5"

Read on Twitter

In 2017 i felt Kd was the better defensive player and better offensively. But he missed those games (tho its not like the Spurs werent playing great without Kawhi and theyre a better defensive team without Kawhi this season).

Playoffs its Kawhi for sure

Going forward...........depends how many seasons youre talking about. 3-5 years? Kd
Anything further prolly Kawhi

You aren't wrong that KD played excellent defense but thats not what I am discussing here. Whenever I say a player plays poor I mean relative to their normal level of play.

By no means did KD have a good game 1 or 2. He was quite bad. He had an excellent game 3 and a decent game 4 (despite mediocre scoring he contributed a lot in other areas).

One good game, one decent game and two bad games is not good for someone of KD's caliber. Great defense be damned. This is a top 2/3 player were talking about here you better have way higher expectations that just that.

[Ambrose]

I still think Kevin Durant is the better player but in terms of these four questions I think Kawhi takes them all.

[Gus Fring]

Small sample size but, Kawhi Leoanrd was the best player on the court in game 1... when he was on the court at least.

[GSP]

Funny how Durant's "inferior" team ripped the Warriors to shreds and were up 3-1 while Durant himself was playing mediocre basketball at best.

Did u not watch the series? Saying Kd played mediocre ball when they were up 3-1 is such a blatant lie. His defense was incredible

After game 1 VS Spurs where he essentially destroyed Kawhi in on one one situations (outscored him 17-0 in one 4th quarter and locked him down) he was playing elite D. The reason the Warriors were even up 3-1 was b/c of Kd moving to the 4 and their small lineup after that adjustment running the Warriors out of the gym including destroying their Death lineup.

Kd was arguably playing the best defense in a series with Draymond (who he shut down and made completely useless offensively stifling Warriors ball movement and killed his scoring game), Bogut, Roberson, Adams, Iggy and Ibaka.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Up to game 4 VS Gs

"Durant Warriors series defensive dashboard:
DFGA: 12.5
DFG%: 36%
Diff%: -12.5

Since the Spurs series:
DFGA: 12
DFG%: 36.4%
Diff%: -10.5"

Read on Twitter

In 2017 i felt Kd was the better defensive player and better offensively. But he missed those games (tho its not like the Spurs werent playing great without Kawhi and theyre a better defensive team without Kawhi this season).

Playoffs its Kawhi for sure

Going forward...........depends how many seasons youre talking about. 3-5 years? Kd
Anything further prolly Kawhi

You aren't wrong that KD played excellent defense but thats not what I am discussing here. Whenever I say a player plays poor I mean relative to their normal level of play.

By no means did KD have a good game 1 or 2. He was quite bad. He had an excellent game 3 and a decent game 4 (despite mediocre scoring he contributed a lot in other areas).

One good game, one decent game and two bad games is not good for someone of KD's caliber. Great defense be damned. This is a top 2/3 player were talking about here you better have way higher expectations that just that.

That level of defense was not normal for Kd or almost any perimeter player ever. Only reason the series was 3-1 was because of his elite D. If he played to his standards offensively while playing that level of defense it would've been over in 5 but I'm not gonna penalise him too much for not having the motor/conditioning that only 2 perimeter players ever did in playing elite on both sides of the ball for 40 minutes in Lebron and Jordan (and I'm not sure if Lebron or Jordan had a defensive series clearly better Kds VS Spurs or Warriors). We've even seen Kawhis defense dropping off drastically since assuming a much larger offensive load

They embarrassed Warriors twice at home including their death lineup that got outscored like 91-33 or something when Kd moved to the 4

[mischievous]

Did u not watch the series? Saying Kd played mediocre ball when they were up 3-1 is such a blatant lie. His defense was incredible

After game 1 VS Spurs where he essentially destroyed Kawhi in on one one situations (outscored him 17-0 in one 4th quarter and locked him down) he was playing elite D. The reason the Warriors were even up 3-1 was b/c of Kd moving to the 4 and their small lineup after that adjustment running the Warriors out of the gym including destroying their Death lineup.

Kd was arguably playing the best defense in a series with Draymond (who he shut down and made completely useless offensively stifling Warriors ball movement and killed his scoring game), Bogut, Roberson, Adams, Iggy and Ibaka.

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Up to game 4 VS Gs

"Durant Warriors series defensive dashboard:
DFGA: 12.5
DFG%: 36%
Diff%: -12.5

Since the Spurs series:
DFGA: 12
DFG%: 36.4%
Diff%: -10.5"

Read on Twitter

In 2017 i felt Kd was the better defensive player and better offensively. But he missed those games (tho its not like the Spurs werent playing great without Kawhi and theyre a better defensive team without Kawhi this season).

Playoffs its Kawhi for sure

Going forward...........depends how many seasons youre talking about. 3-5 years? Kd
Anything further prolly Kawhi

You aren't wrong that KD played excellent defense but thats not what I am discussing here. Whenever I say a player plays poor I mean relative to their normal level of play.

By no means did KD have a good game 1 or 2. He was quite bad. He had an excellent game 3 and a decent game 4 (despite mediocre scoring he contributed a lot in other areas).

One good game, one decent game and two bad games is not good for someone of KD's caliber. Great defense be damned. This is a top 2/3 player were talking about here you better have way higher expectations that just that.

That level of defense was not normal for Kd or almost any perimeter player ever. Only reason the series was 3-1 was because of his elite D. If he played to his standards offensively while playing that level of defense it would've been over in 5 but I'm not gonna penalise him too much for not having the motor/conditioning that only 2 perimeter players ever did in playing elite on both sides of the ball for 40 minutes in Lebron and Jordan (and I'm not sure if Lebron or Jordan had a defensive series clearly better Kds VS Spurs or Warriors). We've even seen Kawhis defense dropping off drastically since assuming a much larger offensive load

They embarrassed Warriors twice at home including their death lineup that got outscored like 91-33 or something when Kd moved to the 4

I think you are ignoring how valuable Westbrook's playmaking was to them winning, as well as the pressure he just put on the defense in general. Durant deserves credit for his d, but giving him all the credit while ignoring how bad he was in game 6 is just disingenuous.