OAKLAND — When we rehash what happened one year ago between the Warriors and Cavaliers, one major detail has been subtracted from Golden State’s historic collapse.
Harrison Barnes is no longer in the picture, and it’s going to make LeBron James’ life a lot more difficult on the basketball court.
Golden State’s former small forward shot a combined 5-for-32 in Games 5, 6 and 7 last June, an abomination considering the timing. Forget about his shooting woes for a second. Most of the time it was LeBron occupying Barnes on defense. The King was free to roam around defensively, blitz pick-and-rolls and crash the rim.
That luxury of a nonchalant defensive assignment, one that swung the Finals in Cleveland’s direction, has been wiped away by the arrival of a 6-foot-11 MVP.
Kevin Durant will handle the rock, will push the ball in transition, will pick his spots incredibly well on the basketball court and will put enormous pressure on LeBron. KD alone changes Cleveland’s entire game plan for 2017. Instead of a Ford Focus glued to the wing waiting for open jumpers, the Cavaliers will have to contain a Ferrari.
Of all the storylines buzzing prior to Thursday’s Game 1 tip-off, it’s replacing Barnes with Durant that’ll change everything immensely for LeBron, and ultimately what could tip a championship back to Oakland.
We won’t know until we see it, but part of Golden State’s game plan should be directly attacking No. 23 more than we’ve seen in years past. The Warriors will swarm LeBron using a multitude of defenders, but on the other end, he’ll be stuck having to deal with Durant. That’s a massive responsibility, and one James has failed at before in June.
The last time James went up against a formidable wing player in the NBA Finals, Kawhi Leonard brought him down, even toying with The King at times in 2014. It caused his exodus from Miami. It changed the NBA forever.
The difference between Durant and Leonard is that A) KD is a much more effective scorer and B) He can focus more of his attention on wearing down LeBron while the basketball is in his hands. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala will lighten Durant’s defensive workload. It’s not like these competitors take plays off, but allowing Durant to narrow his focus on getting buckets offensively could end up paying dividends.
“Just challenge him, challenge him,” Durant said of his approach to LeBron. “Just like any other really, really good player. You’ve got to challenge him and not get discouraged. He’s going to make big shots. He’s going to shoot tough ones. Let him know you’re going to come down the next play and play the same type of defense. You can’t get discouraged. Him or Kyrie (Irving). They can score in bunches. They can score so easily Just got to try and make it tough on them.”
If Cleveland tries to get sneaky and save LeBron’s energy for offense, who exactly can they task with handling Durant? Kevin Love doesn’t have the quickness to stop Durant from exploding past him. Iman Shumpert will have to play well above his 6-foot-5 frame to handle Durant. Richard Jefferson has the right frame to guard Durant, but he’s about 10 years late in being able to put the clamps down on an MVP — plus, he hasn’t played much this postseason. An improved defender next to LeBron, J.R. Smith will find himself on Durant from time-to-time, but that can’t be the go-to strategy.
You see where I’m getting at. The media-fed narrative that all the pressure is off LeBron James, is actually false on the basketball court. There’s more pressure on him than ever. By default, LeBron has to be the one slowing down Durant AND matching his point total on offense. The 41-point outbursts James had in Games 5 and 6 of last year will likely need to be repeated. As will his harrowing block off the backboard. As will his passing and rebounding.
Durant’s arrival will extort LeBron. He’ll be challenged like he’s never been before against Golden State. Instead of having to worry about Klay Thompson and Steph Curry’s whereabouts as an extra roaming defender, he’ll have his own burdensome assignment.
Swapping Barnes for Durant, and the stress it puts on LeBron, could end up being why a championship parade returns to the streets of Oakland.