And the people who are being critical (overly or appropriately) of KD will, I’m sure, be the same ones singing his praises when he gets out of his early season funk (he’s done it every year like clockwork) and starts putting up monster numbers like the first two games.

Perhaps we’re all getting a little greedy

And only one or two people out of MANY are being critical of KD. Don’t think a vocal minority speaks for the entire site. There are going to be many issues over the season where folks are going to disagree – with each other, with me, with whoever. Doesn’t mean we all aren’t wanting the same thing though.

I appreciate the work that went in to making the video, it is very helpful, but it also is selectively editing. Apparently Durant was too selfish in the 2nd half? Well he went 4-9 in the 3rd quarter and 0-1 in the 4th. He turned the ball over a couple times, one on a iffy strip from behind after he’d beaten Artest off the dribble, another when he drove into the lane and didn’t get a call on Bynum (again, Kobe did EXACTLY the same things, but because he used about 10 possessions in the 4th quarter, we remember his sweet up and under from the elbow and fadeaway from the baseline, and tend to forget his driving into 3 people and not getting a call, or his ridiculous fadeaway from 20 feet at the top of the key).

It’s a little shocking to see people on this blog of all places turn on KD and start talking about how he’ll never lead us to a championship because of a couple bad decisions and a couple missed shots in a November game in his 3rd season, going up against Ron Artest in a game when the officials notably decided to “let them play”.

But you can’t discount the fact that when he DID get the ball, did get the opportunity to make an impact…HE alone made the wrong decision to pull up for a 28 footer and HE alone shot those two air balls.

Now the caveat to all of this is, I unbelievably agree with you about this being blown way, way out of proportion. It’s one game people. Everyone goes through shooting slumps. This is a team in their third year of rebuilding who has NEVER had playoff experience to close out a game against great teams.

Get back to me if we hit double digit games and this stuff is still happening. I don’t know how we are more upset about the first 4 games of this season at 2-2 than we were last year at the 3-29 stage. Perspective, please.

I rewatched tape from the 4th quarter. Westbrook was the problem way more than Durant was. Durant only used 2 or 3 posessions in the 4th quarter before the final play and to me, that final play was more a failure in coaching than a failure in Durant. Westbrook consistently forced shots and drove into traffic and turned the ball over in the 4th quarter. Durant didn’t see enough of the ball to do any of the things he’s accused of, because Westbrook went through at least 4 possessions where not a single pass occurred before he either shot or turned the ball over. Not trying to rip on Russ, but facts are facts.

KD had 5 assists, and passed to the open man plenty in the 4th quarter. He only took one shot in the 4th quarter. Some people are killing him for not trusting his teammates, others are killing him for not being assertive enough down the stretch. It can’t be both.

And besides that, a lot of stars drive into three players and force a layup expecting a foul call and the refs weren’t giving them that night. That happened to Kobe on a few occasions, too.

Also, play 2 was when Durant was “still passing” occurred with 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, play number 3, when apparently Durant decided to start forcing shots, occurred just 3 minutes later. Also, when you watch play number 3, watch Bynum hesitate before running up the court, looks like he’s waiting for a foul to be called then starts running once he realizes it won’t happen. Durant should have passed to Thabo on that one, but he probably also thought he’d get a call.

Seriously, people are trying to make it out like there’s some huge problem with Durant, probably because of the adjusted +/- thing and some of the other complaints about him. He’s a more willing passer and rebounder this year, he’s trying a lot harder on defense, the whole team is playing better, etc. If Durant were hitting a higher percentage on 3s (which we know he’ll do soon). But this post reads like something Jenni Carlson wishes she’d done.

I’m really eager for a Green one, too, as I expect Harden and Green will be better appreciated through film study (i.e. the fundamentals of basketball) than the run of play where we typically focus on where the ball goes, instead of what the players WITHOUT the ball are doing to make a play successful.