Kevin Durant Gets a Pass for this One...But Should He?

An interesting thing seems to be happening in the wake of Memphis’ ousting of Oklahoma City from the playoffs: Kevin Durant is getting a pass. Durant, for all intents and purposes, stunk up the joint last night. With his team facing elimination and Russell Westbrook already out for the remainder of the season, KD went the full 48 minutes, but only scored 21 points on 5 for 21 shooting from the field, 0 for 4 on 3-point attempts, and 11 for 15 from the line, putting a sour taste on one of the statistically great shooting seasons of all time. It also should be noted that Durant went 1 for 5 in the 4th quarter with 3 turnovers and missed the potential game-tying shot with time running down (he appeared to have an open lane to the basket if he chose as well, but settled for the jumper).

All that being said, Durant is being allowed a mulligan because of the situation he was thrust into: having to carry his team basically by himself in a playoff series against a rugged, physical, defense-oriented opponent. You know who wouldn’t have been given a pass in the same situation?

That’s who.

The comparisons are always inevitable because LeBron is KD’s only peer in the spectrum of greatness in today’s NBA. Yes, KD is known as the quiet humble superstar. No, Durant never participated in elaborate pregame dances with teammates, had “Chosen One” tattooed on his back, took his “talents to South Beach,” or was brash enough to predict his team would win “not 5, not 6, not 7” titles. But didn’t Durant’s performance this postseason remind you of LeBron’s from a past life in so many ways? I know I often sound like a LeBron-apologist, and I’m not going to lie…I like LeBron, but hear me out at least. Check out Durant’s numbers in the last 3 games of this series compared to LBJ’s for his last 3 games in Cleveland’s infamous series loss to Boston (all 6 games were losses for Durant and James’ teams, respectively, by the way).

Durant: 47.3 mpg, 24.3 ppg (35.8 FG%, 41.1 3FG%, 66.7 FT%), 8.7 rpg, 6 apg
James: 43.7 mpg, 21.3 ppg (34.0 FG%, 15.4 3FG%, 74.3 FT%), 11.3 rpg, 8.3 apg

Interesting notes about the numbers: you would expect Durant’s 3-point shooting to be better than LeBron’s because he is a far superior shooter from the perimeter, but what happened to Durant at the free throw line, where he usually shoots about 90%? Similarly, you would expect LeBron to have better rebound and assist numbers, but it should be noted that LeBron had somewhat of a statistical anomaly in their Game 6 loss at Boston with 19 rebounds, which definitely skewed the rebounding numbers to his favor.

The point is that at the time we crushed LeBron for that playoff performance playing for a team where he had to do everything and carry an immense load every night…all while playing a team that was just that: a team, and a better one at that. James is much better in the clutch today and a much more polished player in general that he was 4 years ago, and he can always fall back on at least having that 1 ring now. But if he for some reason reverted to his old playoff form and struggled in a series, I suspect he would get crushed by everyone once again.

And yet, I dig up the numbers, and I say all that, but I’m willing to give Durant a pass as well (I think). He’s just so damn likeable. And this is a 1st time offense for him in that regard. And it’s not like he had to carry this Thunder team like this all year long. Westbrook only got sidelined a few weeks ago, and KD has had to learn to play this way on the fly against playoff competition no less. Yes, I suppose we can let this one slide…

…for now.