Two years ago, Kevin Durant was the NBA MVP, unanimously considered one of the two best players in the world and well on his way to claiming his spot atop that list. Many already believed Durant to be there. Then Durant broke his foot, Stephen Curry happened, LeBron James kept cooking, Durant's own teammate put it all together and a cyborg in San Antonio became sentient. Things change awfully fast in this league.
The Thunder need Kevin Durant to be the best player in the world to beat the Spurs
For the Thunder to have any shot after their Game 1 disaster, the former MVP needs to set the Spurs’ blueprint on fire.
For the Oklahoma City Thunder to have any chance to beat the Spurs in four out of the next six games, Durant is going to need to find his 2014 form again.
Because that aforementioned cyborg, Kawhi Leonard, is suffocating Durant's aforementioned co-star, Russell Westbrook. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made the gutsy call to put the reigning two-time Defensive Player of the Year not on OKC's 6'10 scorer extraordinaire, but on its 6'3 point guard powerhouse.
The Spurs aren’t afraid of Westbrook from deep, so Kawhi, who moves better laterally than just about anyone in the league, mitigates Westbrook’s speed by playing back and denying the lane. That allows Leonard, a small forward who will likely play more power forward as his career goes on, to shut down a point guard. It’s an incredible bit of fortune for the Spurs to have the right type of versatile defender.
But then that leaves Durant with a 6’6 guard in Danny Green defending him. Surely that’s death, right? Not in Game 1. Not at all.
This is the brilliance of the Spurs’ gambit: By shutting down Westbrook with Leonard, San Antonio forced Durant to become a creator. He can do that just fine, but not as well as Westbrook. Once the defense rotates in to help on KD, he has to make plays for teammates. In Game 1, he racked up six assists. He can do this. It’s just not the best use of his considerable talents as a finisher and target for Westbrook.
In the first half of Game 1, the Thunder got nothing going on offense, except the dwindling number of times they got out in transition. (It’s hard to break when you’re always taking the ball out of the net. Even when Westbrook attempted to rush the offense up after a Kawhi dunk -- something that should put Leonard out of position and require a cross-match -- the Spurs were able to recover.) But in the third quarter, the Thunder did find some success on offense. Kawhi played just the first six minutes of period; in that span, he guarded Westbrook on seven of the nine OKC possessions. The Thunder scored 13 points on those plays, most of them due to Durant’s individual brilliance.
Of course, the game was already out of reach and the Thunder couldn't keep Leonard or LaMarcus Aldridge from burying shot after shot. But there was evidence of a path forward: Let Kawhi corral Westbrook and unleash the full Durant. If KD is still one of the three best players in the world, he should be able to cook Danny Green and a help defense that relies on Aldridge and an ancient Tim Duncan. The Spurs' gambit can only fail if Westbrook lights up Kawhi (don't bet on that) or Durant punishes Green. It's on Durant to force Popovich to reconsider. It's on Durant to get the shackles off his partner in crime.
Of course, this is one half of the equation. If Ibaka or Steven Adams can't close out on Aldridge harder and if Durant can't prevent Kawhi from getting downhill with a head of steam, this series is unwinnable. The Spurs' offense has been great this year and the Thunder finished just 12th in team defense in the regular season. That disparity doesn't come close to explaining what happened on that end of the floor in Game 1. There were concentration issues. There were poor help decisions. There was stunningly little ball pressure. The optimist believes OKC will clean that up going forward, but clearly that's a prerequisite to the Thunder getting back into this series.
If that happens, though, all eyes will be on Durant. While one of his new rivals is shutting down an All-NBA point guard and putting up 25-5-5, he needs to be lighting the Spurs’ blueprint ablaze and tap dancing on its ashes. Unless Westbrook can do the unthinkable and roast Kawhi, Durant needs to again convince us he might be the best player in the world.
That’s the only way for the Thunder to win this series.
