Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 9:00 am  |  61 responses

Kevin Durant’s Defense Saves Team USA

The NBA’s leading scorer got it done on the defensive end in Spain yesterday, securing victory for Team USA. This bodes well for the Thunder, writes the Oklahoman: “The final eight seconds of Team USA’s 86-85 exhibition win over Spain on Sunday night in Madrid belonged to Kevin Durant. The Thunder forward secured the victory not with a game-winning shot but with two game-saving blocks. His swats — which prevented corner 3-pointers by Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez — preserved an unblemished record for the United States heading into its fourth and final exhibition game Wednesday against Greece. More importantly, Durant’s timely defense punctuated his month-long development with Team USA and perhaps foreshadowed not only what’s to come during the FIBA World Championship, which begin Saturday in Turkey, but also the 2010-11 NBA season.”

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  • http://Www.lkz.gf Darksaber

    Yeah, E. Please take some of my U14 boys and drill some sense into ‘em. (not that i don’t do enough punishing)
    Kinda cool to see how many Slammers are BBall coaches.

  • http://Www.lkz.gf Darksaber

    @larrylegend: the young Germans finally got a victory in a friendly? Niiice. Missed that.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    Comparisons to Stockton now? Whoa.

  • Overtime

    I’d agree with the comments on euros/internationals having a bigger understanding of moving off the ball, off the ball screens, etc etc.
    You could see in the game last night they can just do some of these little things better, getting the ball in the right spot etc, great timing.
    Again though, this is also kinda due to them playing as a unit for so many years, which I think is great

  • T-Money

    Aleen: I don’t know how Rubio scores enough to keep the defense honest. He’s not a shooter, he won’t score in the lane. How is he going to get buckets. And he can’t stay in front of NBA point guards over here where we don’t allow handchecking. I thought he was waaaaay quicker than he really is. He can definitely pass the ball, though. / BTW, what the hell was that overhead pass to Rudy in the final seconds? That was freaking reckless.

  • total scrotal implosion

    Allenp is right on all accounts. Because of diff rules, and balls(damn u larry brown in 04!), it appears international teams have caught up with us. Thats just not true. Us will win gold in turkey, no doubt. Manu is my dude, and there are a few int powerhouse teams, but they cant see a us team thats practicd for a time and has cohesiveness. I think granger can be melo like in world play, 4 size with great talent in scoring in all ways………….. Darksaber and eboy are star wars geeks lol

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    I didn’t see a huge speed problem for Rubio. And dude is aggressive and smart on defense. I mean, he’s not super quick, but lots of guards have that problem. He understands where to go on the court, so he won’t suck on defense even if he isn’t a superstar.
    He hit several pull up jumpers, and he got to rim pretty well. I compared him to Stockton to say that you don’t have to have a crossover or all the individual breakdown moves off the bounce to be effective. Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Stockton, Mark Jackson and several others didn’t have that ability. But, they still managed to score by doing other things.
    I think, like I said, that it all depends on how much improvement dude shows with his jumper. If he gets to the point where he’s a threat, then his passing and court sense become way more valuable, and disguise some of his athletic weaknesses.
    He needs to work on his handle, and he needs to cut down on the cuteness with his passes, but other than that, dude seems like a legit talent.

  • JTaylor21

    Allen P you must have forgot that Stockon had one of the best first step in the league. I just finished watching the 96 WCF Gm 7 vs GP and dude was constantly getting in the lane against a TOP-5 perimeter defender of all time. I 100% agree with EBoy on Ricky Fabio. Dude just struggles to get by his man consistently, for all the hype about his D, he was regularly beat off the dribble by DRose and he doesn’t posses any of the passing skills any of the guards you mentioned had. Dude will be an average point at best.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    @ Jukai, wherever you may be at (carried on from some other thread I don’t remember):
    Okay holmes, so I saw a replay of the game today because I hadn’t finished it the day before, and I STILL don’t get the hype surrounding Rubio. He had 7 points and 3 assists. That’s supposed to show me and the rest of the basketball world that he’s ready to be a starter, with potential to be better than Chauncey Billups? I’ll admit he did make some great plays, but come on dude. It’s going to take more than 7 points to convince me.

  • al

    ignorance has never been so brave

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    JtTaylor
    Everybody in the world gets beat off the dribble by Derrick Rose. There is not a human being in the world who is stopping DRose from getting in the lane, particularly when his jumper is falling and his teammates are balling. Remember what he did to Rondo in his first playoff game?
    Rubio played smart defense, he played angles. He anticipated passes.
    And, on offense, his court vision was good. Dude sees the floor. His only weakness is being too flashy and cute, not always being fundamentally sound. But, he sees the floor better than every player on Team USA.
    I don’t have a crystal ball, so I don’t know what dude is going to do in the league. But, I see why cats around here have been hyping him now. I think he definitely can play, and be impressive with a little more growth in his game.

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