How do you defend Kevin Durant?

[TheReaLPuba]

He's 7 feet and moves and plays like a SG.

His range is unlimited and he can hit the midrange shot.

He's fast and quick and can finish at the rim strong.

He has tremendous length and stride he doesn't need to dribble much to get to the rim.

How do you stop this guy?

[Fafnir]

The only effective way is to make it hard for him to catch the ball. If he does catch the ball make sure he's far from the hoop (think outside 3 point line) and has to break you down from there.

Its very difficult to do, especially if the other options are effective that game.

[Lucky17]

Put your best defender on him, and pray that he is quick and physical enough to stay in KD's jersey for as long as possible.

[jgod213]

Welp considering his career assist/game number is at 3 i'd say you just double the crap outta him and hope he doesn't find the open man...??  Other than that you just pray he has an off night.

[Roy H.]

Ball denial, and get a hand in a face.  Also, recognize that he's probably going for 25 no matter what you do, so concentrate on shutting down Westbrook and Harden.

[edwardjkasche]

You tell Coach Brooks to put Westbrook on the floor with him.

Is this a trick question?

With Westbrook on the floor, taking 20+ shots per game, that's the best defense against Durant.  It was obscene in last night's game (i.e. the 4th quarter) that Westbrook kept running isolation dribble fests where he pulled up for an 18-footer with 4 seconds left on the clock.

I mean, it's not killing them because they are one win away from the Finals, but their offense could be so much better if they ran more plays to get Durant the ball in optimal space, instead of having Westbrook dominate the ball.

Actually, the Thunder offense is pretty one-dimensional - it's one isolation from the top of the key after another.  The only thing that changes is the ball handler - Westbrook, Durant, Harden.  They rarely run actually plays.

[TheReaLPuba]

Ball denial and doubling sound like great strategies but the guy is sooo long he can post up anyone.

I think I would double him as well but the Thunder are really quick making recovering difficult.

[Meadowlark_Scal]

Boston or Miami will have an incredibly tough time with OKC....they are tall and strong everywhere..Perk, sefalocia, westbrook, ibaka, harden, even collison, and of course durant.....a good chance it will be okc winning it all. They are young, and very hot shooting, high flying, good coaching / adjustments...we would have to be hitting on all cylinders every game to be in this with them...Miami would have to have 6 refs on their side...!!!

[Moranis]

You don't.  You let him get his points and just try to stop Westbrook and Harden.  Use Perk's man in double teams whenever you can.

[snowball]

you gotta attack the ball.
go for the TO.

[Clench123]

The Celtics will figure it out.  We thrive the most in the face of adversity

[LarBrd33]

That's something LeBron will have to figure out.

Durant is going to be just as tired trying to guard King James.

[pearljammer10]

You cant. Hes too long, too quick, and too much of a freak.

[mqtcelticsfan]

You hope to contain him.

[Celtics4ever]

Deny him the ball.  Too deadly once he catches it, so put effort in not letting him catch it.