Kevin Durant & Kyrie Irving- 21-22 Thread

[HeartBreakKid]

It's clear the Celtics don't have what it takes.
At the end of the day, they don't have the will and mentality of a proven champion.
Defense is good and all in the regular season, but offense is king in the postseason.
When all the chips are on the line, you need a go-to scorer to close out games. That's a fact.

When KD and Kyrie that's bad it was still really close. Doesn't it bother you for the future of the series ?

KD and Kyrie just happened to play badly huh.

KD+ Irving 3 rings. Horford got beat up by Tristian Thompson! This series was a wrap, I dont even know why they have to play.

[feyki]

How's that Srs looking now

Kd and Kyrie legacy on the line now.... Not only their Nets legacy but their basketball legacies. Can they even win one game?

When KD and Kyrie that's bad it was still really close. Doesn't it bother you for the future of the series ?

No b/c Jays were bad offensively most of the game too until Jaylens 4th quarter explosion. We have a far better coaching staff, make adjustments, chemistry, and heart. There's a reason 7/8 seed will never win **** you need to build continuity if you have injury issues can't just scrap up a rotation in the last 15 games and think you're gonna beat a well oiled TEAM like us.

If anything this should be extremely worrying for Brooklyn b/c their role players played extremely well and they still choked and lost. Role players RARELY play as well as they did in a road game like that. They're not getting a road performance from their role players like that again where Goran, Seth and Brown couldn't miss a shot and we already know Kd can't dribble the ball against us or get to his spots and Kyrie was great game 1 but he isn't shooting like that again

Game consistency possesion by possesion is really important as we've seen the first two games long. Nets losing their rythm too easily even in the 4Q's. In the game 1, maybe they lost totally of lacking concentration they were leading by 5 till the 2 min left.

No doubt both Kyrie and Durant choked(or struggled too much) in the 4Q. But I disagree with saying Brown,Dragic or Seth playing better than usual. They're NBA starter level of players and you're defending KD and Kyrie with almost three players, of course they do much better usual. Nets rotation are better than Celt's, maybe leave off bigs. Horford is being key factor in the series, on the both ends.

You're and many Celt fans taking too much care on 2/7 match stuff. Almost an entire decade long, Mavs-Spurs killed each other in the wild west from 2/7 match. This is the playoffs.

[sp6r=underrated]

Go Boston. 2 more wins and this loathsome Nets team can go away.

[sp6r=underrated]

Felt par for the course for how KD has played against elite defenses like this pre Golden State.

He played fairly well against San Antonio who had strong defensive teams. Same with Memphis and against Golden State in 2016. Nothing like the last 2 games.

[LukaTheGOAT]

I would like to believe that KD improved offensively during his GSW tenure and up until now compared to his OKC days. But KD certainly did have a historic level drop-off if we look solely at his OKC days

Watch on YouTube

"Durant’s postseasons haven’t been quite as stellar. During his peak years in Oklahoma City (2013-16), his postseason scoring efficiency trailed way off, down to +2 percent, orders of magnitude below his regular season average of +10 percent. His creation suffered in the playoffs as well, dropping from around 10 per 100 to 7 per 100 in 48 postseason games during those years. As discussed throughout this series, most players dip slightly in the playoffs, but this falloff during the heart of his prime is somewhat worrisome, and suggests he forced more and created less. (His rate of assisted field goals also dropped in the postseason during this stretch)."

https://backpicks.com/2018/03/05/backpicks-goat-26-kevin-durant/

I've done a bit of a deep dive into the numbers, and there is a legitimate argument that Russell Westbrook was more of a co-captain, than a 2nd option to Durant from 13-16 in the PS.

Once again though, that is just talking about him with the Thunder. His passing has continued to grow since then, as well as his midrange shooting.

[feyki]

He still triples(2,5x, actually) Lebron in rTS against 4+ SRS teams in the Playoffs as I said in the other thread. Even in that Grizz series he was with +1,5 or +2 rTS, it was as good as Peak Lebron(13) in the Finals.

[The High Cyde]

If Kyrie and KD alternate Invisible Man costumes every game, they’re getting swept.

[70sFan]

He still triples(2,5x, actually) Lebron in rTS against 4+ SRS teams in the Playoffs as I said in the other thread. Even in that Grizz series he was with +1,5 or +2 rTS, it was as good as Peak Lebron(13) in the Finals.

I don't know about great teams, but against good defenses KD was actually less efficient than James:

vs -2.0 or better defenses:

2008-18 LeBron James: 28.8 ppg on +3.42 rTS% (57.5 TS%) along with 7.1 apg and 3.7 tov
2010-21 Kevin Durant: 28.0 ppg on +3.27 rTS% (57.4 rTS%) along with 3.4 apg and 3.4 tov

[MartinToVaught]

He still triples(2,5x, actually) Lebron in rTS against 4+ SRS teams in the Playoffs as I said in the other thread. Even in that Grizz series he was with +1,5 or +2 rTS, it was as good as Peak Lebron(13) in the Finals.

Give LeBron the rosters that Durant's had most of his career and he'd be threatening Russell's ring count and dominating the record book like Gretzky. Not impressed with KD's results by comparison.

[TroubleS0me]

Read on Twitter

[TroubleS0me]

Read on Twitter

[Heej]

He still triples(2,5x, actually) Lebron in rTS against 4+ SRS teams in the Playoffs as I said in the other thread. Even in that Grizz series he was with +1,5 or +2 rTS, it was as good as Peak Lebron(13) in the Finals.

Give LeBron the rosters that Durant's had most of his career and he'd be threatening Russell's ring count and dominating the record book like Gretzky. Not impressed with KD's results by comparison.

Lol honestly man KD has probably had the best aggregate supporting cast in NBA history throughout his career. LeBron would've killed with those teams

[The High Cyde]

Read on Twitter

Watch on YouTube

Let’s get some visuals for this prison

[TheGOATRises007]

Game 3 is probably a legacy defining game for KD.

He can't serve up another poor performance with a loss.

[TroubleS0me]

Read on Twitter

Watch on YouTube

Let’s get some visuals for this prison

yes a very good breakdown of what the Celtics are doing to him.

[falcolombardi]

Game 3 is probably a legacy defining game for KD.

He can't serve up another poor performance with a loss.

you are probably right but man, "legacy defining" is so used these days that is a bit hard to take seriously now
lol

[migya]

He still triples(2,5x, actually) Lebron in rTS against 4+ SRS teams in the Playoffs as I said in the other thread. Even in that Grizz series he was with +1,5 or +2 rTS, it was as good as Peak Lebron(13) in the Finals.

Give LeBron the rosters that Durant's had most of his career and he'd be threatening Russell's ring count and dominating the record book like Gretzky. Not impressed with KD's results by comparison.

Lol honestly man KD has probably had the best aggregate supporting cast in NBA history throughout his career. LeBron would've killed with those teams

So Westbrook plays offball all those years? He wins some championships but not a heap.

[ardee]

Give LeBron the rosters that Durant's had most of his career and he'd be threatening Russell's ring count and dominating the record book like Gretzky. Not impressed with KD's results by comparison.

Lol honestly man KD has probably had the best aggregate supporting cast in NBA history throughout his career. LeBron would've killed with those teams

So Westbrook plays offball all those years? He wins some championships but not a heap.

LeBron was plenty effective with Wade even when Wade was still Wade, and then had his own peak years playing alongside Kyrie taking 18-20 shots a game.

If you switch LeBron and Durant's teams say from '11 onward, you're looking at:

'11: Mavs still win
'12: LeBron title
'13: Spurs title, assuming Russ still gets hurt
'14: LeBron title
'15: LeBron title (he almost beat GSW with Dellavedova at PG for crying out loud)
'16: LeBron title (IRL, OKC was up 3-1 on GSW and lost because Durant wet the bed the last 3 games... that ain't happening with LeBron. Then a LeBron led OKC easily beats Durant/Kyrie/Love in the Finals)
'17: LeBron title (this team probably wins 75 games)
'18: LeBron title
'19: LeBron title (despite all the Warriors' injuries, I can't see the Raptors beating LeBron/Curry together)
'20: Heat title (Kyrie was injured)
'21: LeBron title (Kyrie/Harden/LeBron would annihilate the Bucks)
'22: probably LeBron title (LeBron would have never let the Harden situation get to the point it did in the first place and they finish a top 3 seed, but let's not count this one yet)

Looking at 8 titles in 10 years from '12 to '21.

[ardee]

Durant is overrated both historically and in a competorary sense, and I'm looking forward to seeing it being realized by the people who give him plaudits he doesn't deserve.

Bill Simmons is especially guilty of this. He thinks Durant is a top 2 player in the league right now and arguably top 10 all time. What a joke honestly.

So many casual fans have acted like he's LeBron's direct rival simply because he played on a loaded team and got easy shots when he's really not even in the same galaxy.

[Heej]

Give LeBron the rosters that Durant's had most of his career and he'd be threatening Russell's ring count and dominating the record book like Gretzky. Not impressed with KD's results by comparison.

Lol honestly man KD has probably had the best aggregate supporting cast in NBA history throughout his career. LeBron would've killed with those teams

So Westbrook plays offball all those years? He wins some championships but not a heap.

Imagine still thinking in 2022 that LeBron couldn't play off-ball during his career