The Golden State Warriors lost Game 3 of the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics Wednesday night. They now trail the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game 4 Friday night in Boston. After the loss, a lot of people started talking about the Warriors and their surprising NBA Finals performances with and without Kevin Durant.
Since the Golden State dynasty began in 2015, the Warriors are just 9-12 in NBA Finals games without Kevin Durant. They were 8-1 in finals game with him. Those are some pretty stark comparisons.
On Tuesday, New Orleans Pelicans All-Star C.J. McCollum joined Stephen A. Smith on First Take. He provided a bold take that is becoming harder and harder to negate.
“There’s no debates about who was the best player on that team. We know it was Kevin Durant. Steph knows it was Kevin Durant. Draymond, deep down, he knows it was Kevin Durant.”
– CJ McCollum on the best player from the Kevin Durant Warriors
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— ProCity Hoops (@ProCityHoops) June 7, 2022
“There’s no debates about who was the best player on that team. We know it was Kevin Durant. Steph knows it was Kevin Durant. Draymond, deep down, he knows it was Kevin Durant,” said McCollum.
Now, McCollum's sentiment is not necessarily even a knock on the Warriors point guard. He's simply saying that KD was the best player on that team.
After watching the Warriors lose Game 3 Wednesday, it only strengthened that argument. I know, on its face, that sounds silly. After all, Curry dropped a game-high 31 points and knocked down six shots from beyond the arc. Curry is clearly the best scorer in this series. It seems that whenever Golden State is on a run, Steph is in the middle of it all.
However, that's only one end of the court. People love to forget about the importance of strong defensive play. Once again, Boston found ways to take advantage of their size. That was particularly true when players had one-on-one matchups against Curry.
Boston shot 75 percent in Game 3 when Curry was the primary defender on the play. Whether it was Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart or Jaylen Brown, whenever they had this matchup up they looked to exploit it. It's not even Curry's fault. It's not that the Warriors guard isn't putting in the effort or moving his feet defensively. He's just smaller than other guys. Tatum easily can go right over the top of him and Smart can push him around in the paint.
Meanwhile, Durant's length makes him automatically a plus defender. He is listed at 6'10” but has a seven foot wingspan.
But not only do the numbers in the NBA Finals appear to back up McCollum's claim, but there is more proof in the pudding. Curry is the greatest shooter of all-time. There is no denying that. Anyone that tries is fooling themselves. But it's not like Durant is really high up that list.
KD is just as capable of coming off screens and pulling up from deep. Because of his size, he can actually get his shot off easier than Curry can. But Durant is far superior defensively. He made a bigger impact on the team while he was in Golden State.
Ultimately, there is a reason why Durant and not Curry was named NBA Finals MVP for both of the Warriors titles together.
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