“heatcheck” tag's highlights of related matches, posts & more...
Giannis Has A NEW JUMPSHOT... And It's DEADLY!!!
Offset your carbon footprint with me on Wren! We'll plant 10 extra trees for the first 100 people who sign up! https://www.wren.co/start/heatcheck This video is sponsored by Wren. As the Bucks are setting up this familiar action of 2 screens up top for Middleton to curl, watch how Holiday is going to slip that pick and go in the paint. Middleton throws a bullet pass off the bounce and you can see that the defense has to collapse to prevent the easy layup. Jrue finds Connaughton in the corner with the extra pass for a completely wide open shot and he knocks it down. This was a genius play call and it shows that the champs are sharp coming into the new season, but most importantly, their leader Giannis, looks like he improved in the off season and could be unstoppable. Let me explain why. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Early on in the game we see the Greek Freak here bring the ball up in transition and go to this specific spot on the court. The stop, the pull up and the bucket. Raising up off the dribble like this is a completely different story than these 5-6 dribbles in 1 place with opponents literally giving him the open shot. And look at how fluid this looks. Face up at the elbow, surveying the floor, decides to use his mismatch, and goes into the backdown, gets to where he wants, turnaround fadeaway...nothing but net. He started getting comfortable with this shot in the playoffs, and seeing how unstoppable that was I wanted to see him continuing to work on it, and getting better and better. So this looks beautiful. Again look at the fluidity here. The between the legs, the jab, and then this almost 1 motion shot. The form looks much improved and I like where this is going. Even from downtown, check out how comfortably he steps into this shot in transition. And he has a hand in his face but it doesn’t matter. Bang. Dude went 2 for 3 from downtown but more importantly, I gotta emphasize it, the shot looks natural, looks nice, and Giannis appears very comfortable while taking it. We knew that he wasn’t afraid to take the shots. After all, that’s how the Bucks won last year, he put them on his back and went through every obstacle. And even tho this is a very limited sample size from the preseason, but if he is developing a reliable jumper, he will legitimately be unstoppable. This could have been the single most important adjustment that happened this summer. Moving on, I also love how the Greek Freak was able to find his teammates in this game. You already know this scary looking attack with him getting a head of steam in transition. Goes left, into the spin and if we stop it here, you see how both Gobert and Bogdanovic gotta be there. So check out how Antetokounmpo was able to find Lopez straight off the spin. This is great awareness and reaction by Giannis. On this play, not much to break down but it’s a great 1-2 connection between Middleton and Giannis. Everything happens in the blink of an eye and the Jazz were just eyewitnesses to this amazing execution. I like the patience on this possession as it’s clear to me that he can bulldoze past Eric Paschall, but Giannis backs him down while keeping an eye on the entire floor. Brook Lopez slips to the basket and Antetokounmpo notices that, finds him down low and the easy finish. Terrific job of keeping an eye on the entire court and finding the open guy. And speaking of the open guy, someone that will benefit in a great way will definitely be Grayson Allen. He’s been hovering around 40% from three these past two seasons and even tho he didn’t have a great game in this one, you can only imagine the looks that he will get throughout the season, and there’s no way that the percentage can go down as long as he’s playing on this team. This is definitely 1 thing to follow as Allen is a sneaky good signing for the Bucks and could end up being an extremely important piece in a deep playoff run. Even after winning the championship, I feel like this team did not get enough credit, and we are all kind of penciling in the Brooklyn Nets as the automatic number 1 seed in the Eastern conference as well as the favorite to go to the finals. However, with all the drama from the past few weeks, as well as the newest developments suggesting that Kyrie Irving will not play for the Nets this year, it becomes more interesting and more uncertain in terms of which team is actually the best in the East. And that is even more true now as we see the off season improvement for Giannis. If this translates into this year, things are really about to get crazy, so buckle up. Btw if you liked this breakdown, and what I do in general, subscribe to my second channel and watch the breakdown that I did on myself. Finally exposing all my flaws with a dose of humor. Not to hype it too much but this is personally my favorite video that I’ve ever done.
This Is INSANE...NBA Testing Gone CRAZY!
Start speaking a new language in 3 weeks with Babbel 🎉 Get up to 65% OFF in your subscription ➡ HERE: https://go.babbel.com/12m65-youtube-heatcheck-sept-2021/default Just a few days ago, De'aaron Fox posted a shirtless image of himself lifting weights and getting his body ready for the new season. And while people joked in the comments telling him to expect one of those PED tests, to randomly show up at his door, as crazy as it sounds, that exact thing really happened. As you can see on his very next post, this is a screenshot from an anti-doping officer from the NBA, telling him that he needs to contact them ASAP and be tested. Coincidence? Absolutely not. Despite the fact that a player needs to be selected truly at random, let me show you a few more instances where the league tested a player solely because of an instagram post, a nice in-game dunk, or even crazier, a photoshopped image by a random dude online. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. IG influencers say it’s all in the angles. So Michael-Carter Williams I guess perfected the technique and in this photo he looks swole in an instagram post and on top of that he captioned it “Bully ball” Teammate Mo Mamba joked that the guard will get the entire team tested. Williams tho, responded quickly: “No lie bro. I just got a call sayin they comin to the crib tomorrow” Less than 24 hours after posting the photo on social media, the guard proved that the NBA testing agent really did come to his door. But as he said, it was just the pic. He didn’t really gain 50 pounds. Alex Carusso’s case was even funnier. In 2019, before the start of the season, the Lakers shared photos on Twitter that included one of Alex Caruso working out. Not surprisingly in the internet era, someone photoshopped Caruso, making him look much more jacked than he actually was at that time. Not long after the photos circulated on the internet, Caruso received a "random offseason” test in the mail, as he said on Instagram. This is hilarious to me, that the league actually looks at social media to determine which player’s improvement is suspicious and requires testing. Moving on. Shortly after the Caruso incident, during the 2019-2020 season, his teammate at the time, Danny Green learned that a single dunk could put him on the suspect list. In a game against the Atlanta Hawks, Green came crashing for the rebound and finished with a spectacular dunk. This fired up his Lakers teammates but apparently the league office as well. The very next day, he received a random test. Danny is certainly not known for dunking, and this was his first one of the season, so the fact that this could be a coincidence goes out the window in my opinion. As you can see he had fun with this, and took it lightly. # surprisesurprise. And going by all of these hilarious examples, to me it wouldn’t be a surprise surprise if this obviously photoshopped image of Kevin Durant gets him a visit from a league testing officer sometime soon. Another interesting one is Bradley Beal. Two seasons ago, he had back to back 50 point games. This of course made the alarms go off and he immediately got tested. How can you go off of the fact that he scored a lot of points in 2 consecutive games? First of all he was pretty much playing by himself that entire season since the Wizards didn’t have anyone else to help him score the ball, so a 50 by him is predictable even, and not a surprise. Anyway, Bol Bol had quite an eventful debut for the Denver Nuggets. He scored 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 blocks. It literally seemed like he was all over the floor. And as you know NBA twitter is probably the most active community online, so he was trending even during the game. Apparently too much even, because immediately after the game Bol Bol needed to prove to the league that he is all clean. Which of course he did, as well as all other guys I previously mentioned. They all tested negative. However there have been some players who did test positive recently. Most notably John Collins and Deandre Ayton. Of course they said they were unaware that a certain supplement or drink they took had a banned substance in it, but you know...when you get into that territory, it’s tough to take those things and have no idea what you’re doing. It seems like the NBA is clamping down on this issue more aggressively lately. There’s a big difference in how things used to be. In 2011, an ESPN The Magazine report quoted then-MVP Derrick Rose as saying performance enhancing substances are a "huge" problem in the NBA. Rose was one of several professional athletes asked the following question by ESPN the Magazine for its May 16 issue: "If 1 equals 'What are PEDs? and 10 equals 'Everybody's Juicing... How big of an issue is illegal enhancement in your sport?" In response, Rose said, "Seven. It's huge, and I think we need a level playing field, where nobody has that advantage over the next person.
NBA "Think Outside The Box" MOMENTS
NBA "Think Outside The Box" MOMENTS showcases some of the Highest IQ plays in NBA History. It includes players such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, LaMelo Ball, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook and many more NBA Superstars! Social Media Instragram: kingswishig Twitter: iamkingswish Snapchat iamkingswish All clips property of the NBA. No copyright infringement is intended. All videos are edited to follow the "Free Use" guideline of YouTube “NBA video clips used in content on this channel are licensed through partnership with NBA Playmakers.”
The NBA Player Who RUNS THE MOST
Download the Sleeper app: https://go.slpr.link/heatcheck When you think about the player who runs the most in a game, you probably think of Steph Curry. And you wouldn’t be wrong for that. I mean, look at all of this movement. This is how I opened a video that I made 2 seasons ago, to really illustrate my point. But he wasn’t number 1 then, and he’s not at the top this season either. Stick around and I promise you’ll be surprised by some of the names on this list. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. At number 10 we got Jamal Murray, who although got injured towards the end of the season, when he was healthy, he was all over the floor in that dynamic Denver Nuggets system. You can see him running from one side to the other, and getting those handoffs from Jokic on the perimeter which is one of the staples in their offense. Number 9 and 8 we got a pair of teammates for the Charlotte Hornets. They were one of the surprising teams of the season and even tho Hayward got injured as well midway through the season, we’ll include him here. The thing about having these 2 guys in the top 10 is probably the fact that Hornets as a team play fast, attractive basketball, and run up and down the floor, so this may have more to do with the style of play for this team. I love what they do and I’m looking forward to seeing this young team develop next season as well. Funny thing is that next up we got another pair of teammates. And a big surprise to me seeing this player in the top 10. This is a shocker to me, Julius Randle- as a big guy at number 7 on this list. But when you think that he was the primary, and at times the only offensive solution for the Knicks this year, that should explain it a bit. Balling out throughout the entire season is how Julius won the most improved player award as well. And with that he earned himself a new 4 year 117 million dollar contract from the Knicks. So the front office, and myself as a Knicks fan will be expecting the same type of commitment. And at number 6 I can definitely understand seeing R.J. Barret high up on this list since his whole game is based on effort. He runs in transition, attacks the basket, cuts when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands, and most importantly, R.J. is often assigned to guard some of the best players on opposing teams. So while he has a long way to go in terms of justifying the expectations and his high draft position, I always enjoy his energy, and effort that he brings to the team. At number 5 we got Pascal Siakam. And similarly to R.J. We already know about Spicy P and his motor. Siakam was in the top 10 last season as well, that’s just the way he plays. Although he didn’t show us the same progression in his overall game, his heart and his passion have always been there and the Nick Nurse system is such that it involves a lot of movement so I don’t wanna spoil anything but we might see another Raptor here. Next up is another big man. Domantas Sabonis. And as unconventional as it is seeing a big man on this list, let alone so high up, I did make a video about him earlier in the season and I talked about how he has a great handle and often runs the break for Indiana going coast to coast transforming defense into offense. And talking about progression, look at the year to year improvement for Domantas, literally every single one, ultimately getting to 20.3/12.0 and 6.3 for this season. Absolutely amazing, and you definitely don’t do that without hard work. That’s how we got him here as well. Zach Lavine has been in the top 5 on this list for the last 3 years. His superhuman athleticism allows him to be everywhere on the court and he uses that. Combined with the fact that the Bulls have gone only as far as he took them and relied solely on his production is pretty much how he’s constantly on here. So let’s see how much that changes now with the new additions and a beefed up roster. At number 2, Another guy that- as Jalen Rose would say his success is more because of his will, rather than his skill. Harrison Barnes is pretty much always guarding the best opposing player so there’s a lot of battling and he’s got the highest mileage defensively. Understandably so. The physicality and determination is part of his game both offensively as well as on defense. And you could definitely see that on these clips. So that’s how we got him at number 2 And finally, at number 1, Fred Van Vleet with just a few feet more than Barnes, takes the crown as the player who ran the most last season. This is pretty much in Van Vleet’s DNA, this is exactly how he got his 4 year, 85 million dollar contract. By playing super hard, every single possession, and yeah hitting some big shots as well of course. As I mentioned, part of the reason could also be the system of Nick Nurse and both offensive and defensive schemes that require discipline, effort and quickness.
The Lakers Made A HORRIFIC MISTAKE...
The big 3 of Lebron James, Anthony Davis and now Russell Westbrook is a combined weight of 121 million dollars for the next season. Just those 3 players have a bigger combined salary of the complete rosters for 19 teams in the league. But none of that matters since now the Lakers have a superteam and are for sure winning the title right? On the contrary, if you ask me, they made a horrific mistake. Let me explain why. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. You know what’s Lebron’s style of play right? On every team he’s been on. Overpowers defenders, attacks the basket, and when the help comes, kicks it out to the shooter. That’s literally the recipe with each and every one of his teams. But in order to get Westbrook, who’s a career 30.5% shooter from downtown, which for those of you that don’t know that’s not good, the Lakers gave away probably their best outside shooter in Caldwell Pope. He shot 38.5% when they won the title, and 41.0% last year. Speaking of shooting, this is how the Lakers themselves defended Westbrook in that playoff series against Houston. Look at all of this space. Do you know how Brodie shot it that entire year? An abysmal 25.8%. Threes that were primarily off of the catch and shot from Harden’s kick outs. Which is the exact same way of operating with Lebron. So since LA gave up so much to get Westbrook, now the depth is depleted as well, but of course they are restricted in terms of the salary cap so things will get trickier for them. And the most mind blowing thing for me is that just hours before acquiring Russell, reporters were saying that the team was trying to trade for Buddy Hield, which was actually the perfect guy to trade for. A career 40.6% shooter from 3, playing alongside Lebron and AD on the perimeter? There’s no way you double them 2. And if you do, there would have been a high price to pay. Plus, the roles would have been clear there since Buddy is a shooter. Whereas Westbrook is best when the ball is in his hands, but we know that the Lakers are the best when James has it in his possession. So this will be similar to that hybrid “on the ball, off the ball” that Rockets had him play when Brodie was in Houston alongside Harden. They were great friends too, as is the case now, so I’ve already seen the comments saying: they’ll find a way to make it work. But honestly I got fooled with that the first time around. I honestly thought that Westbrook and Harden will make things work, but we saw how they barely even got out of the first round in 7 games against the OKC Thunder. So look: At the end of the day, Russell is going to do his thing especially during the regular season. He’ll have nights where he’s unstoppable, racking up triple doubles, and providing firepower enough to win games against some teams and for Lebron to be a bit more rested. But I’m viewing this from the standpoint of the playoffs, where teams look to exploit every possible weakness, and where shooting is especially important. And now it’s clear that Schroeder is not going to be coming back and obviously the Lakers are not done making moves yet, but they need to be creative in terms of filling out the roster with good pieces who can contribute under the brightest lights when it matters the most, in the hunt for the championship. Until then, and until I’m proven wrong, my stance is that they made a mistake. I expect a lot of passionate comments, so whether you agree or disagree, let me know down below. Keep it respectable tho. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.
WTF Just Happened In Game 2?!
How are there people complaining about this year’s finals matchup? Just look at how the ball flies offensively, but also the great effort by the Bucks on defense to close out and contest. At the end however Phoenix is able to penetrate inside and Ayton finishes with the and 1. This is absolutely beautiful and great effort from both teams. And despite the 2-0 lead, I have a feeling that the series is far from over. Let me explain. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. After getting burned on the pick and roll and those switches with Lopez in the first game, now you could see the adjustment by Milwaukee right from the start. They fought hard to get over the screens and got a second defender to help out forcing CP3 and Booker into taking a more contested shot, or the second option- the Bucks basically said: We know that these 2 can beat us, so we wanna see if the others can make shots. Thing is, they did make a lot of these kick out threes off of these kick outs. The Suns made 20 out of 40 threes, 50% on that many makes, will pretty much get you the win every single game. Booker was the only one to take and make a few of those hero shots, but the large majority of those threes were open shots like these off of the help. But despite the loss, I’m intrigued by the adjustments that Milwaukee made, and they could have won this game. First of all, they got to where they wanted and took good shots. The Bucks had 54 points in the paint as most of those were Giannis dominating every single defender, but also check out all these great looks that Jrue and Middleton are getting with Antetokounmpo as the screener. These are automatic buckets, and just as Phoenix plays the pick and roll with Chris Paul over and over and over again looking for mismatches, Milwaukee needs to be way more frequent in featuring the Greek Freak in these 2 man actions. The only reason I would say for why the series is not tied at the moment, is the horrific shooting night by Holiday and Middleton. Khris had a few open shots that just rimmed out, and if I’m him I continue to be aggressive and forget about this one. On the other hand, this is the second bad offensive game in a row for Jrue. I love how he gets inside and creates great looks for himself, but at the same time you can’t miss these. Not in the finals where every basket is invaluable. He even missed this layup on a fast break opportunity. And this sequence pretty much tells the story of the game for him. Gets all the way to the rim and misses the layup, but fights for the ball, and moments later look at how he finds himself completely wide open for the three. And misses that one as well. I love this player, and what he gives them defensively every single game including this one is indispensable but at the same time, Giannis needs help for this team to win. We saw that even by going nuclear with 42 points he cannot do it alone. And that’s how we get to my point. I think that back home in Milwaukee, with their backs against the wall, all of these easy shots will start to fall. There will be no missed layups, the intensity is going to be even higher, and we all know that role players play way better at home. So despite the 0-2 hole, I feel like they found an answer for the exploits from game 1 defensively, and now it’s only a matter of getting the offense right and executing. And even tho I’d love the Suns and CP3 to win it all, at the same time, I’m in for a long and interesting series. We’ll see if they give that to us. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.
POINT GOD REVEALED: How CP3 Got To The NBA Finals
The Clippers had success with the zone in game 5 so they started off with it again. However, Phoenix was expecting it and, check out the response this time. Crowder cuts along the middle creating the misdirection, all the attention is right here, but at the same time, Bridges takes off to the basket and gets a back screen from the big man, and you can already see it happening. The lob and the dunk. Next possession, we got the screen up top, allowing Chris Paul to penetrate in the middle and he kicks it to the corner. The pass is not perfect but a good catch by Crowder, fires and knocks down the three. The Suns started off blazing hot from downtown in the first quarter forcing LA to switch to a man to man defense and with that neutralizing the advantage that they had last game. And that’s only the beginning of this story, one that finally had a happy ending for CP3. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. The type of defense didn’t matter for Devin Booker in terms of his approach for this game. He was going to attack at all costs. You could see him early on pushing in transition, and either going all the way to the basket, or stopping at his favorite spot right here at the elbow for the pull up and the swish. Booker and the Suns didn’t wanna allow the Clippers to set up their defense, and that worked extremely well for them early on. In the half court however, all the looks that Devin got, involved movement. Right here, he starts at the elbow, and great maneuvering going under the screen, leaving Beverley trailing behind as he goes on the outside. So there is no stopping as he catches the ball, rather going straight back to that right elbow where he fires and hits the jumper. Again, starts off ball at the wing, great handoff by Payne stopping Batum on the chase. Book goes around the Ayton pick and is all alone for this three pointer. You know that he’s going to punish the Clippers. Pretty much the same play in the second half. The handoff, the big man is waiting here, but actually slips the screen this time. So now you can see we got a 2 on 1 situation, Cousins leaves a lot of room for this floater and of course it goes in. And once again, only this time it’s contested way better but Devin is already in a nice rhythm so even the good defense doesn’t make a difference on this possession as we got another floater. And, I criticized Deandre the last game for the lack of aggression, so you can see him sealing the smaller defenders inside the paint and actively looking for the ball. As he should be. I mean, there’s no way that this small lineup that Los Angeles had on the court could contain him. I still think that this is not enough touches. Dude went 8/10 from the field. That’s 80%. Let’s try to see if he can go double that, 16 for 20. All night until the opposing team does something about it. Anyway, 16 points and 17 rebounds, another big night for him. Phoenix had a comfortable lead for a big portion of the game. But as the Clippers started to make a run, and you could feel the game getting close at the end of the third, it was none other than Chris Paul that took control and would not let go of the lead. 3 straight possessions in a 90 second span, of straight iso CP3, to get the lead from 7, all the way back up to 15 to enter the 4th quarter. He single handedly stopped the momentum of the home team, and continued even harder in the last 12 minutes of the game. 31 of his 41 points came in the second half with everything on the line. An unbelievable performance. You could see him sensing that this is the moment, the time for him to take matters into his own hands and after so many heartbreaks and missed opportunities, to finally step on the biggest stage that we all agree he deserves to be on. The NBA finals. For the first time in his career at age 36. Never say never baby. At the end, you could see how emotional Paul was, and how much this means to him. To be honest, I am super happy for Chris. As a person who appreciates smart and efficient play, to me he is the player when you talk about basketball IQ so I’ve been pulling for him to finally win the championship. Whoever comes out of the east, the Suns and CP3 certainly feel they have a great chance to win it all. I absolutely agree and wish that they do it. One time for the point god. Let me know in the comments who do you think come out of the east, and who you got in the finals. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.
WHAT IS GIANNIS DOING HERE?!?! (Nobody Is Talking About This!!!)
We witnessed a legendary performance by Kevin Durant. By now you’ve seen all the highlights, But did you notice how and why Giannis wasn’t guarding him on any of those possessions? Let me go deep and break down the hidden details that you may have missed. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. First things first, let me start off by saying I admire the courage of James Harden to go out there clearly injured and limited in what he could do but regardless give everything he got. Although he looked awful and I kind of felt sorry for him at times. Watch how he’s getting blown by guys in their first step. I know the joke was on him for years about his defense, but let me tell you there is no way he gets abused on defense like this if he’s healthy. Like look at this: Pat Counaghton just flies by him like there’s nobody in front. And there were multiple instances where Harden’s man created an advantage which resulted in a 3 for Milwaukee. And the situation was just as obvious offensively. 1 for 10 shooting, and you can clearly see that there’s no burst of speed, no acceleration, just jogging up and down the court, trying to preserve that hamstring which is where you fire off of when you want to speed up. Still despite all of that Harden played almost 46 minutes which is crazy. The team needed him to be on the court to just be a threat and have a defender close to him at all times, which as we saw was enough to open things up for KD to go ballistic. To me the real hero of this game was Jeff Green. 7 for 8 from downtown, a scorching hot shooting night when nobody expected that from him. With virtually nobody else stepping up to help KD carry the load, Green was out there knocking down shot after shot, keeping the team within striking distance, and allowing for that offensive explosion by their leader to secure a comeback. And that same leader was loud in praising these 2 guys Green and Harden for how they battled in this game. DURANT PRAISING HARDEN AND GREEN But let’s now go to the main point of this video. Why and how did Kevin Durant score his 49 points, and could the Bucks players as well as coaching staff do something else to prevent this catastrophic outcome for them. This tweet by CJ Mccollum might look weird at first glance but let me decode it for you. This right here means easy money. And this is who that is. Easy Money Sniper on IG. So CJ is trying to say that while KD has been cooking in the second half, Giannis kept standing to the side guarding guys like Bruce Brown and Landry Shamet. Like for real, the Nets absolutely destroyed Milwaukee with this high screen for Durant letting him get a head of steam, switch the primary defender off of him, and then Brook Lopez is left on an island here, he drops to protect the basket, and KD just raises up and knocks down the jumper. This is exactly how Brooklyn cut down the lead in the third quarter that was as big as 16 points and made this game interesting. While that was in transition- in the fourth quarter in the half court, it was pretty much the same thing of just trying to get the main guy whether PJ or Middleton switched off of him. And once that happens, you can see how easy it is for Easy Money Sniper to get a shot up and splash it. And you can see throughout that whole time, Giannis Antetokounmpo- the 2020 defensive player of the year, and this year’s first team all defense is standing in the corner guarding guys who are nowhere near the threat of scoring 50 points in a game. And the media kind of pressed him on this topic in the postgame interview, about him taking the challenge and guarding the best player in this series. GIANNIS INTERVIEW So as he says right here, I guess it’s Coach Bud to blame for not putting him on KD? I don’t know, at some point when you’re the leader of the team, you gotta step up and take the responsibility in my opinion. And I guess I can understand the fact that Giannis is the main weapon offensively so maybe the strategy was to save him as much as possible on defense so that he could go all out on the other end, but maaan, KD was playing alone in this game and he still battled on defense. To me there had to be some possessions where if not directly on him, Giannis should have at least been higher up closer to the perimeter so that it’s tougher for Brooklyn to look for the switch. This way, Durant got blistering hot and when the game was on the line, he was able to fire off one last heat check, a contested shot from waaay downtown, which ultimately sealed it. And this reaction says it all. KD CELEBRATION Of course we don’t know what happens in games 6 or possibly 7, but to me, this iconic performance by KD a triple double with 49 points 17 rebounds and 10 assists, playing every single second of the game. Exactly 48 minutes out of 48 minutes on the court.