Monday nights 7 point win over the Thunder was probably the biggest and most impressive win for the Lakers this season. The Lakers have struggled mightily against the elite teams in the NBA and they desperately needed the W for their confidence in addition to trying to build some momentum going into the All Star break. While a team coming off two straight championships doesn’t have their confidence shaken easily by regular season wins and losses, doubt however, even if a little, has to begin to creep in and build in the player’s subconscious as the bad losses pile up.
A huge factor in last nights win was the complete smothering of Durant by Ron Artest which caused an ineffective and inefficient night by the leagues reigning scoring champ. Durant shot a horrid 8 for 24 on his way to a lackluster 24 points. Artest’s hand cuffing of Durant was no aberration as this was their 10th game where the two have matched up over the last two seasons (including playoff games) and the other 9 games look eerily similar to last night.
It would be a very hard to believe a statement that someone of the adept scoring ability of a Kevin Durant is owned by any one defender. In this case, with 10 games of hard evidence, we need to start considering that Artest has a strangle hold on all claims to Durant.
I have some compelling pieces of evidence that can substantiate Ron’s claim of ownership, should he ever choose to bring it fruition.
Next: Looking at the Numbers
The only word to describe what Durant has done in terms of scoring output over the last 2 years is dominating. If we combine these last two seasons, Durant is averaging a healthy 29.6 points per game against the league and shooting at a very sound 47 percent clip. He has hit 192 three pointers over that same span and shooting those at a respectable 35 percent efficiency. Looking at those numbers against the league it is no wonder that Durant has quickly become a fan favorite and propelled himself as a preseason front runner for the NBA MVP award by the media.
In contrast, something very strange happens when he lines up against Ron Ron and the Lakers. In 10 games (including playoffs) versus Artest as a Laker, Durant is averaging 25.8 points per game, which isn’t too far a drop from his average. You really need to look at his efficiency in getting those 25 which will reveal the real story of how Artest has gotten into Durant. He is shooting an anemic 38.7 percent from the field and an even worse 22 percent from behind the arc; a significant drop off from his regular season averages. The only thing keeping Durant’s production near his normal output is his ability to get to the line and hit his freebies; this makes sense since this is the only time they get to peel Artest off Durant.
Exhibit B:
Sometimes looking at numbers that include the regular season it can water down the results because as we all know, the stars come up big in the playoffs. Surely, this is where Durant would show that Artest can’t stay with the Durantula. Well it doesn’t look good here either. In last years 6 game opening round playoff series, Durant was stifled by Artest and never really broke out. He ended up putting together decent numbers in game 2 with 32 points on so-so 12 for 26 shooting. This effort didn’t result in a win and he would never reach the 30 point mark, which was his average in the regular season, the rest of the series. His listless numbers for the series were 25 points per game while shooting 35 percent from the field and 29 percent from 3.
Next: How does the Kobe Stopper relate?
We all remember the proclamation (self) from Ruben Patterson that he was the Kobe Stopper. While he worked hard and put up a good fight, Kobe would usually quash and make the title invalid by going off on a scoring tangent against said “Kobe-Stopper”; as we illustrated, this hasn’t happened in the Durant v Artest case. Durant has yet to come out and have a performance that earned him the nick name “The Durantula” and has actually resembled more the Itsy Bitsy Spider that Ron, not water, has washed out.
If Artest wanted to follow the same footsteps as Ruben Patterson and make up a catchy name that captures the complete owning of Durant it would be completely justified and deserving.
I would probably suggest something along the lines of The Durantula Wrangler or a tarantula’s natural predator, The Hawk.
Like Kobe with Patterson, Durant also had his opportunity too quash and invalidate any nickname based on Artest’s dominance with a break out performance in game 6 of last years playoffs. As previously documented, Durant was having a bad series but had a chance to completely redeem himself by carrying the Thunder in game 6 at home and forcing a game 7 in Los Angeles. This was his moment to make history and finally unshackle the binds that Artest had placed on him all series long. It just didn’t happen as Artest blanketed him once again. Durant ended the game 26 points but on a paltry 5 for 23 shooting and was sent fishing.
Next: Artest key to Lakers’ success
Artest is relentless, has incredibly quick hands, is disruptive, gets in the players comfort area and makes them very uncomfortable. Durant is just one on a long list of NBA scorers that Artest has frustrated in his career and there are sure to be more along the way.
Looking at this realistically, Durant is bound to break out against the Lakers at some point. You really can’t keep a great player down for too long.
Until that happens on frequent basis, as the evidence has shown in overwhelming fashion, the deed to Kevin Durant is the possession of the rightful owner Ron Artest and possession, as they say, is 9 tenths the law.