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The Golden State Warriors arguably have the best defensive team in the NBA, and a ton of credit deservingly goes to Draymond Green. On Tuesday, they traveled to Brooklyn to face the Nets. It was one of the Warriors' biggest tests of the season. They had the task of slowing down a high-powered offense led by arguably the best scorer ever to play Kevin Durant.
“When you're playing against a guy like Kevin, you're never just stopping him. You're never locking him down. It's always going to come down to a matter of whether he misses or makes shots, and you just try to make those shots as tough as you can,” Green told ClutchPoints.
Draymond Green on guarding Kevin Durant: pic.twitter.com/dGNoazqsyf
— Mark Haynes (@markhaynesnba) November 17, 2021
Durant started off the game like usual. He scored 16 points in the first half while shooting 6-of-11 from the field and knocking down his two shot attempts from deep. Multiple Warriors players guarded him in the first half, like Gary Payton II, Andrew Wiggins, and Green. As expected, Durant did what he usually does.
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When the second half started, Green became Durant's primary defender. That's when the game changed. Durant went cold and missed all eight of his shot attempts in the third quarter. It wasn't all because of Green's defense, but he did play a part in slowing him down.
The Warriors dominated that quarter while Durant struggled to do what he does best, score. They outscored the Nets 35-18 and completely took control of the game.
Green and the Warriors got the best of Durant's Nets that day. They even stopped the scoring machine from putting the ball in the hoop. But Green won't say he shut him down. It was more of a bad night. A bad night they're happy he had against them.
