Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are having the most miserable time playing the Boston Celtics right now.
Durant, in particular, has been struggling mightily with the Celtics’ defense. At least for his standards, anyway. He looks nothing like the Kevin Durant we’re used to right now.
As we all sat and watched on Wednesday as shot after shot clanked off the rim for Durant, I kept seeing tweets about this being the best defensive performance anyone has ever put on against him.
So, of course, I asked myself “is it?” And thought of a couple other good ones that came to mind. There was Memphis in 2014 aka the “Mr. Unreliable” series. There was also Dallas back in 2011 where he scored a lot but didn’t really hit shots.
But there was only one real way to find out where this performance stacked up for Durant. It was time to go digging in some through old box scores.
Using the NBA’s game finder tool, it was pretty clear that this was in fact one of the best jobs anyone has ever done defensively on Kevin Durant — particularly in the postseason. There aren’t too many others like it.
Durant has only shot worse than 25% on at least 15 field goal attempts five times in his playoff career including Wednesday’s game.
The last time it happened was 6 years ago in 2016 against the Mavericks where he shot 7-33 (!!!!!!) from the field. That might actually be the worst shooting performance of his career.
His 0-10 second half sealed the deal on one of his worst games ever. We’ve never seen him miss every shot he’s taken in the second half.
KD 0-10 FG in 2nd half.
First time in KD's career he's taken at least 10 field goal attempts in the second half and made zero of them. https://t.co/JGZlBMbhXd pic.twitter.com/T2c0bBubND
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) April 21, 2022
What we saw on Wednesday was absolutely one of the worst shooting performances of his career. But the question is how? How are the Celtics doing this?
Durant actually explained how himself. It all starts with the Celtics’ physicality. Not only are they defending his shots well, but they’re bodying him up and denying him the ball so he doesn’t even get to take shots in the flow of things.
Kevin Durant: "They're playing me with 2, 3 guys sometimes when I'm off the ball, mucking up actions when I run off stuff. I see Horford leaving this man and come over to hit me sometime. They're just playing two or three guys hitting me wherever I go." #nets #celtics
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) April 21, 2022
This is where it all starts for Boston. That physicality with Durant is how they’re stopping him. And fouls? The Celtics don’t care about them. It’s why he shot 20 free throws for the first time in his playoff career on Wednesday.
It’s the price of admission to keeping Durant uncomfortable for Boston. If they put him on the line? Cool. Just don’t let him make any shots — even if it makes Wanda Durant mad.
Kevin Durant's mom was NOT happy with the official
pic.twitter.com/u1mVvfnNru
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) April 21, 2022
There’s also the fact that Durant might also be a bit gassed. Just take a look at his minutes totals from the last 11 games.
KD minutes in his last 11 games:
42
41
42
41
41
42
37
42
45
39
42It’s catching up to him. pic.twitter.com/pXBcgaNo55
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 21, 2022
That’s…a bit much, for sure. Add that to the Celtics’ physicality and, yeah, you can definitely see how he may not have had the best legs in the 2nd half of Game 2.
Things feel hopeless for the Nets right now after such a poor performance from Durant. But all isn’t lost here. The Nets can beat the Celtics. They lost game 1 on a last-second shot and blew a lead in game 2.
The fact of the matter is Durant has to find his rhythm for the Nets to be able to put Boston away.
But if it’s up to the Celtics? He never will.
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