It’s not hard to find examples of how well Kevin Durant has fit in with the Warriors. His raw stats of 25.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 blocks per game with incredible efficiency across the board during the regular season are probably the best place to start. Then perhaps his on-off numbers — the Warriors were 8.3 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court compared to him being on the bench — as well as more advanced stats such as offensive win shares (8.0) and defensive win shares (4.0). Either way, it’s clear Durant has made a team fresh off winning an NBA record 73 games a whole lot scarier on both ends of the floor.
However, if there was a single possession to show how Durant makes them totally unstoppable on offense in particular, a sequence involving him, Stephen Curry and Ian Clark against the Spurs in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals does the trick.
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The play begins like a normal Warriors possession: Curry gives up the ball to someone on the wing, makes a cut towards the basket and sets a screen on one of his teammates. While the action gets the defense moving before the Warriors look to score, it’s not until Durant catches the ball at the top of the perimeter with the floor spaced around him that the Spurs are actually vulnerable. Usually Durant would use the opportunity to attack his defender one-on-one for good reason — he scored 11.5 percent of his points in isolation this season and ranked in the 89.2 percentile with 1.05 points per possession — but he instead waits for Curry to make a move towards him before attacking.
That leads to this situation, with Curry setting a screen on him in the pick-and-roll:
There are a couple of things worth noting about this possession. The first is that Curry is the screener and Durant is the ball handler. The Warriors aren't the first team to figure out the mismatches a 3-1 or 4-1 pick-and-roll can create, but it doesn't change the fact that it’s highly unusual for a 6-3 point guard to set a screen on a 7-footer in the pick-and-roll.
The second is the opportunities putting Durant and Curry in a pick-and-roll creates for the Warriors. Durant averaged 0.97 points per possession as the ball handler in the pick-and-roll during the regular season, which was good enough for him to rank in the 85.4 percentile. Curry, who made 46.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3-pointers in the regular season, is in position to pop to the perimeter and Clark, who made 41.5 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, camps out in the corner. No matter how the Spurs decide they’re going to defend the action, they’re going to give up a high percentage look to someone in their sweet spot.
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In this situation, the Spurs choose to trap Durant in the pick-and-roll and send Clark’s defender at Curry to take away an open 3-pointer. Bryn Forbes is successful with the latter — he shows just enough to prevent Curry from rising up — but he slips on his closeout and isn’t able to recover to Clark in time. As a result, the Spurs give up an open 3-pointer to Clark in the corner, which he knocks down with ease.
It might not seem like much, but it’s terrifying how easily the Warriors are able to create an open 3-pointer for one of the best spot-up shooters in the NBA. To put it simply: Durant didn't have to take more than two dribbles to draw a double team beyond the 3-point line because he’s one of the best pick-and-roll scorers in the league, Curry slipped a screen, popped to the 3-point line and drew an additional defender out of fear of his shooting ability while Clark made himself available for a pass in the corner. If teams didn't have to respect Durant and Curry’s scoring abilities as much as they do, it wouldn't have been so easy for them to create such a look.
The Warriors have obviously had players in the past who can take some of the pressure off Curry in similar ways as Durant. Klay Thompson, for example, is one of the best shooters in NBA history, and Draymond Green has revolutionized the power forward position with his combination of defense and playmaking. Harrison Barnes also had success with the Warriors before joining the Mavericks, giving them a forward who could knock down 3-pointers and create some offense by himself. But none of them are anywhere close to being the same threat as Durant. He’s one of the best in the NBA for a reason, and his size as a 7-footer makes him nearly impossible to guard in one-on-one situations.
Putting that alongside Curry was always going to be unfair, but it’s becoming more obvious as they learn how to maximize each other’s scoring ability.
