The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in Tuesday night's highly anticipated showdown between the two powerhouse teams. Kevin Durant scored 28 points on an ultra-efficient 11-of-13 shooting from the field. Kawhi Leonard scored 33 for the Clippers on 12-of-24 from the field.

The contest unsurprisingly featured a lot of back-and-forths between Leonard, Durant, Kyrie Irving, Paul George, and James Harden, but it was a 21-6 fourth-quarter run for Brooklyn that was the game-changer.

After the game, Kevin Durant spoke with members of the media and was asked particularly about how to defend a star like Leonard.

ā€œHe's just a savant,ā€ Durant explained. ā€œHe plays the game at his pace. He is in control out there of the offensive plays. He's a three-level scorer, so you've just gotta be ready for him to do anything out there. I tried to close out, not let him beat me on the drive because he's strong driving to his right, but he also can shoot the 3 and the mid-range so it's tough.

ā€œJust trying to make him shoot over my length and not give him anything easy. But he's a great player, he's a Hall of Fame player, so just gotta make his shots tough.ā€

This isn't the first time Durant has given glowing reviews about the Clippers star. In 2019, Durant went on ā€œEBRO In The Morningā€ and detailed just why Kawhi Leonard is so hard to stop.

ā€œPlayers donā€™t [sleep on him]. Heā€™s got the longest paragraph on the scouting report. We go through an in-depth scouting report before the game. He can pretty much do everything. You canā€™t dribble around him cuz heā€™s gonna steal the ball. Itā€™s still tough for me to pull out all my shit against Kawhi.ā€

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Kevin Durant also went on his Boardroom platform to do a Q&A a few months later, where he mentioned Leonard as one of the top-five toughest players to guard in the NBA.

ā€œI didnā€™t see [his comments], but I appreciate him,ā€ Leonard responded when asked if he'd heard the comments. ā€œIt just shows me how hard Iā€™ve worked. Coming in, playing him in the playoffs my first year, I wasnā€™t a go-to guy at all. Thatā€™s a great honor to hear him say that.ā€

Durant's respect for Leonard, especially publicly, continues to show just how far Kawhi has come over the years, from being a successful player with the San Antonio Spurs because of the ā€œsystemā€ to leading his teams to NBA titles as a bona fide superstar.