It was as if he had instructions to intentionally throw the game based on that last set of sequences. Just as bad as Harden's 13 turnovers to end last year.
I actually a few superstars do this including James Harden. It looked like Durant wasn't even trying in the 4th quarter
It hurt me to see how badly he played at the end. No ball movement and they were lucky people were under the rim ready to clean up any misses. You can't play hero ball against the Warriors...you just can't.
Donovan needs to keep his two guns at around 40 minutes instead of 45 minutes if he wants them to perform in the last few minutes. Every little bit helps. I mentioned this in the other thread, but it's my one main criticism of Donovan and where his college coaching is misleading him. These aren't 40-minute games like NCAAs, and there aren't 19-yr-old kids either.
The problem is that Kanter is apparently buried again and if Waiters, Foye and Roberson aren't providing much on offense (and they usually aren't), Donovan is stuck between either overplaying Durant and Westbrook or watching his team die offensively. The Thunder look amazing when their role-players are hot. They look like the very good but not great team they were in the regular season when they're stuck with a two-man team (and a bit of contribution from Adams and Ibaka).
I hear you, but I'm just talking about playing the bench wings for a total of five minutes, maybe when the splash bros are resting.
I don't think they need rest. They just need to concentrate on their shots. Both are essentially unguardable. focus. Make your shots. They win. They did fumble the ball around a bit in the end, but for the most part, it all came down to making shots. Durant had one ill advised three to try and tie it, but most other shots good. Ibaka seemed to tighten up at the end too.
During the course of the game, it just seems like that OKC was playing significantly better-- getting to loose balls, creating easier shots, challenging GS shots, etc.-- and GS was lucky to even be within striking distance, with Klay Thompson making 3s at an unusual rate. I still kind of feel that GS was a bit lucky to have won the game. But with that team you have to factor in the risk of "ungodly shot-making" every few games because it is just what they do.
Harden might be better than Durant at this point. Everybody says WB is better than Durant now, but so is Harden. When Durant can't hit his shots, he doesn't do much else on the floor, not being particularly good passer or defender.
its only one game, im sure 95% of any basketball fan would take Kd over Harden. If he would of just hit a few more shots and not isod so much they would of won. They needed to use Kanter more along with Waiters imo.
It's just not one game, KD hasn't been playing that well in this year's playoffs and WB is the main engine driving OKC's offense currently. When KD's shots are off he doesn't do much else, he's not a playmaker like Harden, nor a good defender.
Durant played great tonight. Even down the stretch and even trusted his teammates a few times. He was horrible in game 6. No lie But overall the difference was the return to high usage but not so high efficiency Westbrook over the last three games... And even more he bigs. Kanter was great the first half. Wtf on being Mia the second?? And Adams was no longer the presence he was previously.
And Harden is a much better passer, ball-handler and playmaker. And Westbrook's defense is worse than both of them. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dbM48NeCyqc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>