James > Durant in 2014 - My Case

[ArbitraryWater]

It's crazy how much better Lebron has been in the playoffs and how dominant Westbrook was even superior to Durant.

Lebron: 31.1 PER, 4.3 WS, +63 +/- in 20 games

Durant: 22.6 PER, 2.5 WS, +10 +/- in 19 games

Westbrook: 24.9 PER, 2.5 WS, +38 +/- in 19 games

Lebron's run is 8th all-time in PER and 19th in WS. Only a handful of better runs belong to a player who made it as far as the finals. Just to put things in context.

vs. Spurs
Lebron: 28.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 4.0 apg, 2.0 spg on 57.1 %FG/67.9 %TS with 3.8 topg

Durant: 25.8 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.2 spg on 47.5 %FG/56.0 %TS with 3.3 topg

Westbrook: 26.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 7.3 apg, 3.2 spg on 40.7 %FG/54.4 %TS with 4.0 topg



Story of the Finals:

Lebron is playing by himself vs a team functioning at incomprehensible levels.


And also, let me explain myself how Durant's impact this post-season really felt like...

I won't go to cliches and narratives like "Durant took the Spurs to 6 games" like other posters have... Basketball is a complex, TEAM SPORT, and it makes 0 sense to break it down with a sentence, and some regular season numbers taken at face value.

Durant's Turnover rate was horrible. What makes it worse, he was singled almost the entire playoffs.

I'll be a fan once he stops flopping/ref baiting, but so far, no chance..

Hus numbers are deceiving, one that shows it is the amount of minutes he played...

Come the WCF, Westbrook was once again the dangerous, game changing player... The one the opponent adjusts on.

Spurs switched Kawhi on Russ, and had Danny Green guarding Durant... That can't happen. He should have dropped 40, but it actually worked. He got his shit pushed in by 6 foot guards in Tony Allen and Chris Paul the previous rounds already.
Durant's inability to work single coverage, especially on smaller players, hurts the team. Wasn't capable of making a quick move before help comes, and then his passing out of the double was bad, lackluster and slow.
And to have the luxury of a team mate outperforming you for an entire playoff run, through 18 games? Has that ever happened to an "MVP"?
Durant looked disinterested once the Spurs made runs, and started to panic-chuck. Come playoff time it seems, Westbrook will be THE guy.

His own fans jumped on him like 2-3 times when he blatantly failed to live up to expectations during the first round and against the Clippers as he had a couple of all-time stinkers, yet STILL coming away with W's, somehow.

He hardly penetrated, which would have opened up the floor for his entire team.. instead, played too passive, took long jumpers... especially those irritating 3's he kept taken, even though he converted them at a low rate.
Bad FT shooting, bad 3P shooting, bad turnovers... singled by Danny Green for 2 straight games?
3 series' in a row the opponent put a smaller guard on him... and it worked.
Durant's team is so good, the opponent use their best defender on a teammate of his.
Westbrook took Parker out of the series in his matchup. Durant couldn't dominate Danny Green.

If Durant can't dominate that matchup...it kills all the movement and the role players aren't going to get shots.

That is why Westbrook is worth so much more than people realize. Even Reggie. They can self create, manufacture plays and shots, while Durant is camping in the corner because he once again couldn't get to his spot and got pushed off by a Danny Green. They won't make it anywhere if Durant doesn't bulk up / get stronger.

I haven't said a word about Durant's horrible defense yet, either... while hiding on the least offensive threats. And the amount of ref calls to ref-baiting? Inflated the numbers some more.
Stat-padded in game's 1 and 6 vs Memphis, also. More inflating statistics.

Doesn't seem that anyone cared when he exited, either.

He doesn't seem to have a playoffs switch.
He needs to work on his handles, so that small guys don't bother him. He needs to get stronger, so he doesn't get pushed out of his spots.
And he needs to develop a legit post game. Finish with contact.
Like said by many others here before me, even in the "good", well statistically good games, it just didn't seem like he was dominating...

Durant's 2014 Playoffs:

Stands in the corner for 5 minutes, a layup here, a turnover, a missed 3, another missed 3, defensive lapse, another defensive lapse, go 1 of 2 at the line, get to the line again because the refs call a foul on a jump shot, inable to get open against Allen/Paul/Leonard leading to a late shot clock and teammate bail out, still no playmaking, hit a shot, re-peat...

He topped his 2012 Finals of empty stats... The guy allowed Bosh to grab 15 rebounds, let Chalmers score 25 points, meanwhile Westbrook was the one dropping 40 point games...

MEANWHILE Russell is out there hitting timely big shots, playing with amazing energy and stamina, and BALLING.... KD is one of the best examples of numbers not being everything... You needed to watch it to see how poor he was. The eye test really didnt fail here.

Durant is a poor leader. LeBron's matured a lot, but Durant still doesn't seem to be able to really get in one's face, and make them know about their mistakes. He tries to avoid contact, at the expense of leadership. He's more Melo than Bron. Statistics/Leadership/Dominance TRUE IMPACT ON BASKETBALL, Durant isn't on LeBron's level.


Not to mention, Durant is not a facilitator type player like LeBron who CAN get his players involved and find them easy looks and get them motivated. Durant likes to do more of a hero ball style and that simply doesn't get your "lesser" scorers involved and thus they either don't shoot or don't care to.

Where were the open shots for the role players off of Durant action?
Almost all the good looks the Thunder got came off of Westbrook action.
Durant needs to be held accountable for not really doing anything to make his teammates better.
Here to top it off: LeBron did playmake, LeBron did look to get others involved, and his team mates still didn't produce at the high level of Durant's teammates... so much for help and supporting cast.

Put 2009 & 2010 LeBron on this OKC Team for Durant... They might beat the Spurs.
LeBron and Westbrook would cause unseen havoc. Then add Ibaka while LeBron's playmaking looked to be at its peak? That will be a deadly offense. Westbrook free to make cuts, Ibaka open all day long from the endless penetration. Too much to handle.

There are a lot of big differences between KD and LBJ and LBJ is clearly superior, I just don't think it's fair to hold KD to LBJ's standards. There is a lot wrong about Durant supposedly being superior to LeBron, it all needs to be adressed.

PER isn't perfect, but his 23.1 PER, the lowest since 2010, just shows it's on point again.
A 23.1 PER is way more indicative of his overall play than his 30/9/4 57% TS is.

[Lonely_Sandberg]

[JT123]

Started out great dude, but that post was way too long. Even huge Lebron fans like myself don't have the patience to read all of that.

[ArbitraryWater]

Started out great dude, but that post was way too long. Even huge Lebron fans like myself don't have the patience to read all of that.

Well I guess there's too much to adress then lol... Tried to cover it all.

Please read it, cmon

[NumberSix]

Deuxrant is overrated.

[KyrieTheFuture]

In the playoffs yes, but regular season was still Durant. Are there people who are pretending Durant had a better playoffs?

[BlkMambaGOAT]

MJ>Kobe>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Kawhi>>>>Lebron>KD

[riseagainst]

going full pauk mode there, OP.

[Myth]

In the playoffs yes, but regular season was still Durant. Are there people who are pretending Durant had a better playoffs?

The only case they have is the team beat better competition and went further against the Spurs.

[BlackVVaves]

Durant's Turnover rate was horrible. What makes it worse, he was singled almost the entire playoffs.

Durant's Turnover rate was horrible. What makes it worse, he was singled almost the entire playoffs.

vs. Spurs
Lebron: 28.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 4.0 apg, 2.0 spg on 57.1 %FG/67.9 %TS with 3.8 topg

Durant: 25.8 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.2 spg on 47.5 %FG/56.0 %TS with 3.3 topg

Hmmm

[NumberSix]

MJ>Kobe>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Kawhi>>>>Lebron>KD

It's weird how KD Stans and Kobe tards have an uneasy alliance. KD Stans claim that KD is better than Kobe ever was and kobe'tards throw KD under the bus the second he fails to overtake LeBron.

They will align again next season doe.

[ArbitraryWater]

In the playoffs yes, but regular season was still Durant. Are there people who are pretending Durant had a better playoffs?

Well no, but what I do read is that "the difference was minimal, lebron played wea east, kd took spurts to 6 games" that kind of bullshit... And then I should supposedly factor in the regular season to see KD was superior

No...

My focus was to point out the large discreperancy during the playoffs, which can only lead to the conclusion of LeBron having the better SEASON.

[aj1987]

MJ>LeBron>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Kawhi>>>>Kobe>KD

Fixed for accuracy.

[Fudge]

Durant is the greatest player in da world.

[ArbitraryWater]

Hmmm

You weren't able to process how those TO's were created?

Again, LeBron averaged 3 TO's for the playoffs, Durant 4, on half the pressure...

I probably forgot to add. With LeBron's team struggling to hit shots, the entire defense can focus on James.. They don't need to keep their heads on the other guys, they can always pack up and be ready for LeBron.