By the end of 2021, there is probably no doubt about saying that the regular season MVP of this season is a dispute between Durant and Curry.
Jokic suffered from the team's record, Giannis's team suffered many injuries and losses at the beginning of the season, and other superstars had their own troubles, not to mention.
In the first week of the year, the situation changed a little.
Today the net met the Bucks, the fourth defeat in the last five games.
The process was not dramatic: the Bucks led 19-9 in the first quarter for 8 minutes; Durant scored 6 points in a row; Harden and Durant teamed up to chase single digits in the second quarter and were thrown out of double digits; Durant scored 9 consecutive points before halftime to chase back, and the Bucks pulled 20 points in the third quarter before the net collapsed.
The Bucks, without Allen, Connaughton, Di Ventenzo, Hill, Holliday and Lopez, still win.
In addition to Giannis's invincibility, the Bucks used only a simple move:
Whenever Harden blocks and dismantles, he immediately clamps hard and empties Clarkston:
Clarkston didn't have range anyway, and the net didn't have much to cut anyway.
Get.
Probably the whole league has formed a consensus, and recently everyone has similar defense methods:
Pinch Harden, don't give the net three-point space; let Durant single out from mid-range; if Durant holds the ball on his back, also pinch: Durant is not LeBron/Luka/Jokic, and he can't always find a three-point line gap when he is back. Let him and Aldridge shoot high difficult mid-range.
Everyone said that the rules of free throws had changed this season, and Harden's free throws had fallen — in fact, he had 8.3 free throws per game so far this season, which was higher than last season; the free throw/shot ratio was 53%, which was higher than in 2018.
His real problem is not that he does not want to take free throws, but that the opponent dares to defend him.
Harden shot 61 percent from the field this season, 3 to 40 percent at 10 feet — 67 percent and 47 percent last season.
Who will say: Although it has fallen, this efficiency is still quite high...
But another problem:
Today I manually counted down, Harden shot 10 goals, and then it:
Harden didn't make a counter-attack layup, and Giannis returned a counter-attack layup.
In the second quarter Harden did not have a counter-attack on the layup, and Portis returned a counter-attack on the layup.
After the net chased the point difference, Harden himself grabbed a rebound a counterattack on the layup did not, raised his hand to complain, Matthews and Middleton ignored him, directly pushed the counterattack, Middleton also a three-pointer: opened up double digits.
At the beginning of the third quarter, Harden did not have a three-pointer, the net was not arranged when he retreated, and Durant had to remind Clarkston to go to Middleton, himself to go to Portis, late:
Middleton made a three-pointer and the two sides pulled away for 16 points.
The net's defense, especially half-court defense, is actually quite good: thanks to their infinite change of defense, although it is easy to be chased by smart teams, it is still relatively stable overall.
But the net retreat is poor, especially whenever Harden loses a layup, basically sending the opponent a counterattack basket or a three-point chase. This makes Harden's breakthrough seem awkward...
This is probably the existing dilemma of the network:
- The countdown to the three-point league; the rotation is worse; there are few empty cuts.
- Once Harden is caught in the middle of the game, he can't get out of the ball, and the offense changes less.
- Had to let Durant play with the ball.
Durant showed a bit of resentment after the game today: "We trailed by 12 points in every first quarter. They (bucks) have so many fewer players! ”
Nash said: "We may have to continue experimenting... It's not easy, and not everyone will be happy all the time..."
From Durant's point of view, he is indeed not very happy. It's not just a matter of four defeats in the last five games.
Not counting today's 29 points, Durant averaged 30 points per game this season.
He's a four-time leading scorer, averaging the third-highest score of his career at 30 points per game — similar to leBron soaring his highest score since 2010.
Durant averaged 7.1 free throws per game and 37.1 minutes per game this season, the highest since 2014.
He averaged 37.1 minutes per game, the highest since 2014.
He averaged 21 shots per game, a career-high.
Four-time scoring champion, what unlimited shots the season has not passed, actually to 33 years old, throwing the highest career.
His mid-range shooting without dead ends this season is a career-best, but you may have noticed: He shot 37 percent from three-point range — a low for him.
It's not that Durant can't vote right, it's...
We all know that Durant is the god of death, and the more accurate he is in the moment of life and death. He played less with injuries last season, but in the fourth quarter he was lethal: 52 percent from the field, 47 percent from three-point range and 60 percent from effective range. The horrors.
This season?
He shot 48 percent from the fourth quarter, 31 percent from three-point range, and 53 percent from effective range.
Not inaccurate, tired.
Has a similar situation happened?
Durant's fourth-quarter shooting percentage/three-point percentage/effective shooting percentage in the first season of the Warriors: 53%, 34%, 58%.
Second season: 50%, 42%, 58%.
The last season: 47%, 35%, 53% — we all remember, that year in the playoffs, he was tired.
Durant's true shooting percentage for each month this season: 66% in October, 63% in November, 60% in December, and 57% since 2022. Gradually lower.
It's not that he's getting worse, it's that the net is playing too much to consume his physical strength. Durant made 21 baskets per game, 12 of them, against opponents — defenders within four feet — and no one else in the league had the same treatment, and DeRozan made seven similar shots per game.
This burden is consuming Durant in other ways.
On the one hand, his scoring and possession of the ball are impacting career highs, on the other hand, his defensive performance is the bottom of his career. It's not that he's not defensive: he can't run.
He's 33 years old, has comeback from an injured Achilles tendon for a full season, and now gives him the same burden as when he was 25 years old, with 60% of his shots per game facing the defense.
Everyone who has lived through the Duku era knows that Durant's strong shot with the ball should be reserved for high-intensity stalemates; for example, the Bulls now have the intention of letting Lavin play back and forth daily points, to holding DeRozan to knock hard.
Like the net, let the life and death divide into daily fights, and use the big move as a flat slash, but is it not to hurt Durant?
On the other side, Curry.
Curry's three-point rate in December was 37 percent, and after entering 2022, the three-point rate was 26 percent. Even the free throws fell to 85 percent.
There are all kinds of reasons, but at the end of the day, there is a slight resemblance to Durant.
As mentioned above, Durant's playing time, points, free throws, etc. are all new highs since 2014.
Coincidence. Curry had 34.7 minutes this season, also the highest since 2014.
In the 2013-14 season, Curry also had 36.5 minutes per game — but he was 26 years old at the time.
What's scarier than the playing time is...
Curry ran 2.56 miles per game this season, the eleventh in the league in total.
It was said that Clay could run, but Clay's highest career run was 2.5 miles per game in 2018-19 — and then he was injured.
Clay was 29 years old.
Curry is 33 years old.
In two MVP seasons, Curry ran 2.4 and 2.46 kilometers per game; the average three-point range was 26 feet 3.
Curry played nearly 35 minutes per game this season, running 2.56 miles, averaging 27 feet 3 per three-pointer, 57 percent of which were online three-pointers (no opponent would easily let him go to the bottom corner and shoot comfortably).
And Curry shot as many three-pointers per game as 13.3 shots, a career-high.
A very cruel fact:
The Warriors' three-point shots and shots this season are in the league's top three, which is beautiful; but in addition to Curry, the chief three-pointer is Pu'er with a 34 percent three-point rate, and again it is Wiggins.
If Curry is replaced by a good shooter like Wiggins, who shoots 2.3 shots per game on 5.3 three-pointers, the Warriors' three-pointers immediately become the third-to-last level in the league.
That is, compared to the three-point artillery barrage like the Jazz, Hornets, and Bucks, the Warriors are more like Curry is holding it all up alone:
He threw his own three-pointer, the league's only one, maintaining the Warriors' space and allowing everyone to play interspersed with empty cuts.
But his current burden is too heavy: he will be 34 years old in two months.
Most of you who often look at the Warriors' running route will notice one thing:
Coaches teach to play basketball and will say that the free throw line is the top priority. After all, it is a personal stop at the free throw line, and there are threats: the passing line is all over the bottom corner of the basket, and there is a basket threat, so the high-level strategy and singles experts love the free throw line and the bull horn position to take the ball, which is convenient for playing various interspersions.
But the Warriors' horn touches and back touches are all league-to-last.
Of course, the Warriors can say extravagantly: because Curry is too threatening, he has room to run outside the three-point line, but just like when the net offense doesn't work, just like "Okay Durant single-handedly solve it!" Curry is using his running to cover up problems with the Warriors' own system.
- This is also what everyone who watches the ball understands:
Give Curry a Jokic, or give Jokic a Curry, and that's the finale. They just lacked each other. Of course, at this stage, it is enough to give Curry a Sabonis: this is not he and Bjelica can play a bunch of tricks...
I've always advocated that Curido run without the ball — after all, the decisive difference between him and the rest of the league is the unprecedented threat of no-ball movement — but at this point, if he doesn't cut his playing time and gives him more rest, Cole should really consider letting him reduce the number of points and run without the ball and hold the ball more to find the feel.
You can't expect a near-34-year-old, injured comeback, continue to run in the league's top ten per game, and take on the NBA's fiercest no-ball defense.
That's it.
The question now is not whether Curry and Durant can continue to compete for this season's MVP, but that they each carry their heaviest burden since 2014, covering up a team system that has a good record but is actually flawed.
A four-time scoring champion is shooting the most and most difficult baskets in his career, a three-point king in history has the most difficult three-point shots in his career, and the longest mileage of his career.
They are still 33 years old, and they have all been injured and missed the entire season.
Now this Fa is really hurting.
Looking back now that Irving started playing away for the net, and Clay is about to return to the Warriors, does it suddenly have a different meaning?