Quote:
Originally Posted by KC_Connection
Kevin Durant doesn't do what he did against the Spurs in that series without the major aid of James Harden. That was the point. His great play helped free up Durant and helped elevate that team.
Harden's defense isn't particularly good (at least if you're comparing him to the best players in the league like LeBron and Durant or defensive stoppers like Thabo), but it's not that bad either. When he wants to play hard defensively, he's quite capable. We're not talking about DeMar DeRozan or something here.
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I'm telling you. I watched pretty much every minute he played for 3 years. I'm not saying he's not capable, but he does not bring it on D it a vast majority of the time.
Durant closed 2 of those games when pretty much no one but he or Westbrook touched the ball. Your theory would hold more weight if Brooks would have put more on Harden in clutch situations. They still do the same shit now with Martin. The only exception was game 4 in Dallas when they let him go and he did single handedly win that game. I always wanted to see more of that. This is why the Harden trade isn't as big as people make it. His talents would never be fully utilized in the Thunders offense(not that they really have one) in fact, Martin may fit what they need better being a better spot up shooter than Harden. Both have the same meh defense. Both Westbrook and Durant have become better play makers out of need. Really, it all falls on Scott Brooks. It's not all energy and execution. Sometimes you have to tweak what doesn't work against aome(mainly one) team(s)