Was Durant the first MVP to not be the best player of his team in the playoffs?

[livinglegend]

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...&postcount=118

I just realized you copied this from Budadiii's first post in the thread Dont worry about it

yeah, it was to show him hoow flawed was his idea

[riseagainst]

What's a branstan to do here? Side with the lower percentage shooter (thereby saying shooting percentage doesn't matter) or side with their bitter rival?

[StrongLurk]

Durant was 1A, Westbrook 1B. Just like Lebron was 1A, Wade 1B in 2011.

[Hoopz2332]

Westbrook was beter w/o question. Durants raw stats were slightly fromthe extra mins he was playing but Durants terrible PER @ 22.6 reveals the truth while Westbrooks was @ 24.93



Westbrook also mad most of the clutch plays (before overtime) on off and defense. Durant was basically terrible all playoffs

[K Xerxes]

Westbrook was beter w/o question. Durants raw stats were slightly fromthe extra mins he was playing but Durants terrible PER @ 22.6 reveals the truth while Westbrooks was @ 24.93



Westbrook also mad most of the clutch plays (before overtime) on off and defense. Durant was basically terrible all playoffs

Dejuan Blair and Taj Gibson at #2 and #4

[Hoopz2332]

Dejuan Blair and Taj Gibson at #2 and #4

context my freind. You don't compare players that don't play somewhat similar minutes and duties on the floor.

[Hoopz2332]

It's entertaining watching LeBronytes having nightmares about KD, carry on.

nightmares are what Durant has when he faces lebron

LeBron James Stampedes the Thunder in OKC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tMQsCX0z74&hd=1


LeBron catches fire to end 1st half!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c26cnWlK2Ms&hd=1


Nightly Notable: LeBron Torches the Thunder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0ClVgLKEKk&hd=1

LeBron & Durant battle to close 1st half of season!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaTbGGGm354&hd=1

[j3lademaster]

Fair enough, but how much of that had to do with Durant playing 3,100 minutes in the regular season (more than anyone else in the NBA) and Westbrook being fresh and well-rested after playing about 1,400 minutes in the regular season? I don't know why people keep overlooking this.

Westbrook was great in the playoffs and I really hope and think he will keep up that level of play this coming season. But when people start comparing his 2014 playoffs to Durant's 2014 playoffs, you have to take fatigue into account considering Durant played 1,700 more minutes and 35 more games than Westbrook in the regular season.

of course don't mention wb's 3 surgeries lol. I'm positive I find more guys who play 40 mpg in the reg season and can put up high 20's in the playoffs than do what Russ did.

Kobe, Lebron, MJ, Kidd, hell every star under 30 is expected to play high 30 mpg for the regular season and still expected to perform in the playoffs. Did you see the reg season load your boy KG had to burden in the regs? He was still expected to perform come playoff time. KD is a lean 25 year old who does no almost no dirty work for his team fatigue is a terrible excuse. A very pathetic reach.

[KG215]

of course don't mention wb's 3 surgeries lol. I'm positive I find more guys who play 40 mpg in the reg season and can put up high 20's in the playoffs than do what Russ did.

Kobe, Lebron, MJ, Kidd, hell every star under 30 is expected to play high 30 mpg for the regular season and still expected to perform in the playoffs. Did you see the reg season load your boy KG had to burden in the regs? He was still expected to perform come playoff time. KD is a lean 25 year old who does no almost no dirty work for his team fatigue is a terrible excuse. A very pathetic reach.

Not my point. I should've mentioned Westbrook's surgeries so I apologize for that. I'm not trying to discredit what he did. I'm a Thunder fan. It's just getting annoying seeing the usual suspects (LeBron stans) post the same shit over and over again without looking at the whole picture. But with Westbrook, yes, he had those surgeries but all reports at the time (before the scope and clean in September or October and the second surgery and time missed after Christmas) he wasn't ever really in any pain. It was mostly swelling issues which needed to be addressed. He was playing the best basketball of his career up to and through Christmas day after he shook off the rust. Then, after he came back in February and shook off the rust, he looked just as good in March/April as he did in December. So yes, I do think it should be noted that fatigue played a part in Durant's struggles in the playoffs (although it's getting overblown) while Westbrook being well-rested played a role in the perceived gap in his and Durant's play.

It's never a "pathetic reach" as you so ignorantly put it. Durant carried a significant of work for OKC while Westbrook was out. I'm very aware every player of Durant's caliber had to carry a similar heavy load and play a lot of minutes around the same age, and we saw plenty of those players "fail" to the same extent Durant dd this year. It's just that not very many (if any) had a teammate of Westbrook's caliber so people could dig deeper into their arsenal of hate threads/posts and use the "Is ________ the first MVP to be outplayed by a teammate in the playoffs." OKC is a very fortunate franchise in that they have two high caliber players. Unfortunately, and especially after Ibaka got injured, the rest of the supporting cast didn't do much and we saw them both worn down by the WCF.

[Hoopz2332]

[3ball]

Westbrook was better than Durant in these playoffs.. but imo he's the 3rd best player itl, so it shouldn't be a surprise that he can be better than Durant over small samples.

In reality, when westbrook is playing his best, he's the best player in the league.... like when he became the 2nd player ever to get 40 points and 10 assists in a playoff game or when he scored 43 points against the Heat in the 2012 Finals.

It might sound crazy, but so far, the apex (playoff peak) of Westbrook's game is actually higher than Durant's and this current, older version of Lebron.
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