Originally Posted by
aztec06jr
Originally Posted by Al3xis
When a guy is playing at a level not seen in well over a decade - you really have to dig deep, I guess.
LeBron is putting up those Wilt/2k12 #s + he guards all 5 positions + he's actually been clutch this year + he had a 45/15 game in Boston (on 19/26 shooting).
And we got dudes rooting for Durant who has a 7'4 wingspan and still gets out-rebounded by his own point guard
(and his own PG is the best rebounding PG in the league)...To make matters worse, the Heat don't even play a true center
...no excuses for Durant to have like 4 rebounds total over his last 2 games, no excuses at all....to make matters worse, he has never earned an All-Defensive vote in his life (he's the worst defensive starter on his own squad, you could never say that about MJ/Kobe/Westbrook
) and he can't even guard LeBron without getting into foul trouble (don't cry about superstar calls, Durant was 3rd in the league in free throw attempts).
I get that Durant is an otherworldly scorer, one of the best to ever put the ball in the basket....but he needs to defer to Russ a bit and focus more on defense/rebounding. Look at Kobe's early career when he had 16 rebounds against the Kings, Game 7 of the Finals in 2010 when he grabbed 15 rebounds when his shot wasn't falling, or shutting down AI in the Finals... The issue obviously isn't Durant's lack of height or athleticism...I think it's just a lack of effort/intensity. Imagine Durant w/ Westbrook's intensity
Since most of you guys will ignore my post anyway I'll just ask this much:
Is it too much to expect Durant to expand his game the way Russ has over the past few years? Russ has cut down on his turnovers, increased his clutch play, and has added a deadly mid-range jumper. Why can't we expect Durant to make similar strides in rebounding, defense, strength (so Battier can't deny ball so easily), etc.