After being ridiculed by defenders for only breaking the right side, Durant developed his left-side offensive skills in the offseason, and was later praised by Kobe Bryant as "the hardest defender in the NBA." Since that time, Durant's offense has been a dead-end, able to project points from anywhere in the half, calling it an "offensive kaleidoscope." The peak of his personal physical fitness in the 13-14 season, cross-step double change backwards to the box is a flat dunk; and the peak of personal basketball skills, when it belongs to the three years after coming to the Warriors: two consecutive seasons in the G3 of the Finals, each giving a super far three-pointer, "Death" has since become synonymous with Durant.
However, illness is also the biggest natural enemy of the NBA supergiants, and the early fall of superstars is all the same. In his third season with the Warriors, Durant finally couldn't hold on to the 2019 Western Conference semifinals with the Rockets, and his thighs were plagued by illness. But in order for the team to go further, he made a comeback in the finals against the Raptors in G5, and then suffered a career-threatening Achilles tendon tear, knowing that this is a top superstar at the peak.
However, after a season of rest for the Nets, we can still see the all-powerful Durant on the offensive end return: in the G5 of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals, he scored a super triple-double of 49 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists, leading the Nets to fight with the Healthy Bucks in seven games. But only one season later, why was Durant, who was the unparalleled in the attack, crushed by Tatum in the first round and overwhelmed?
First of all, in the lineup alignment, the Celtics just snaked seven inches. Judging from the lineup used by the Nets in these three games, Nash used three guards to fight the opponent's "one DPOY + double front" bayonet, which was almost impossible to compete with in size and strength. So we can see that Tatum and Jaylen Brown scored frequently in the final quarter, and the Nets couldn't find a solution on the defensive end, which was suppressed by physical talent. In addition, Durant has been standing in the fourth position for a long time, and the offensive and defensive ends are infinitely consumed by the opponent, which is in the heart of the Celtics.
Secondly, coach Ukadu was a nets assistant coach and knew himself and knew the other. Ucardo, who once played for the Nets, naturally knows Durant's technical advantages and shortcomings well, and can also understand Nash's way of employing people; so when Nash insists on using a three-guard lineup, Ukadu is constantly attacking the inside line with a double front, attacking other people's shortcomings with his own strengths, how can he not win? Durant's advantage is to ignore the environment's dry pulling, the weakness is that it is easy to make mistakes because of the high center of gravity when dribbling, and the ability to protect the ball is also average.
So we see that the Celtics are all giving Durant a physical confrontation, in the three-point line as long as he dribbles immediately implement a sudden bag clamp, the back of the card position to the ball will be put on him to fight, so Durant can not get the opportunity to easily take the ball.
In the end, Durant's explosiveness after the big injury decreased, and he couldn't get rid of the defender very well. The Celtics' front line is a group of athletic players who are excellent in their lateral speed and confrontational strength, which is a trait that the Bucks did not have last season. At present, Durant is a superstar who has been seriously injured, and his explosive power and lateral ability have shown a downward trend, so we can see that Durant can hardly get rid of Tatum's defense with the ball, and there are many mistakes.
After several seasons of training, the current Tatum has reached a new realm at both the offensive and defensive ends, and is worthy of Kobe's closing disciple. Perhaps, this series is the handover of the scepter of the top small forwards, after all, everything has a peak and a recession. The showdown between Tatum and Durant is like the contest between Durant and Kobe Bryant in the past, so that the update iteration is in line with the objective law of the development of things.