As for Kevin Durant. I know that the popular sentiment right now is that Kevin Durant was holding back the younger players. I really don't think so --- I think that the younger players were relying too much on him and standing around waiting for him to win the game. Once it became clear that he was hurt --, the younger players realized there was no KD there to do it, they had to do it... and they had nothing to lose, they were down 2-0 and then 3-0. No one had ever comeback down 3-0, so no pressure. It isn't really a criticism of the younger players, it takes experience....... and after screwing up at the end of game 3, they realized they still had to play a game 4 ... so they just went out and played hard, and protected the ball.... and they won. Having said that--- they beat basically a lottery level team (Lakers without Doncic and Reeves), but they still did it two straight games when most teams would be in in Mexico getting shot at on the pyramids by May 1, being down 3-0.
I do think he improves our offense a lot, even though I don't particularly love watching the way we play with him on the court. I do think he hurts our defense as well though. (He can be a good defender when he puts in the effort, which more often than not, he doesn't these days). Statistically, I'll admit it is hard to separate the data from the noise in this area though, and the sample size in the playoffs is obviously too small to draw firm conclusions. One issue in the regular season is that KD was rarely off the court (probably plays a large role in why he's hurt now) and when he was, Reed Sheppard was usually playing, which is obviously not an upgrade defensively. Our most-played lineup without those two guys appears to have been Aaron Holiday / Amen Thompson / Tari Eason / Jabari Smith Jr / Alperen Sengun for just 131 minutes all season, and that lineup did give us a stellar 104 defensive rating, better than most but not all KD lineups. On balance, I do think it seems very likely that the Rockets are a better team with KD on the court, which, I mean... duh, he's an All-NBA player and guys like Tate probably shouldn't even get minutes in the playoffs. However, I'm not sure what the actual margin is.
Good points but honestly sometimes there are guys who need 0 pressure (underdog mentality) in order to perform well. Those people are not good assets. If you're favored, they will drag you down, then they'll show up when things are bleak. If you're in a bind they'll claw you out of something but do we want to build a roster that doesn't do well in big moments and only shows up when the odds are low? I've been wondering if we have a lot of those guys. We played down to a lot of teams in the regular season. We've done it again in the playoffs. We did against the Warriors in the last playoffs. It's definitely a trait of Ime too but I wonder if we have anyone who steps up in game 1 of the playoffs except Jabari who seems to prefer playoff basketball.
They can’t focus on playing cause KD openly pouts and whines every time he thinks he should have the ball, even for made baskets sometimes. Add Udoka’s incompetence on top on running a proper offense instead of just giving the ball to KD, and you have a recipe for a disaster in your hands.
His injury usually is a two week recovery and then a week conditioning type time frame… so it is very possible, if not likely he is out game 7. He is almost 38 years old with MASSIVE mileage on his body. If the concern for the Rockets is to compete deep in the playoffs, then they should let him rest and be ready game 1-2 of round two. However, I suspect Stone just wants to win a series to get the heat off his back and he and Udoka will want him in 7 even if it risks a reinjury.
No team featuring Lebron James, at any age, is a lottery level team. Imagine being blamed for "relying on KD" when he comes in as an all timer and stands in the midle of the floor all game.
