Watch Golden State Warriors @ Los Angeles Clippers Game 3 in the early hours of Friday morning live on Sky Sports Arena
Friday 19 April 2019 07:18, UK
Kevin Durant must be more aggressive when the Golden State Warriors face the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series, say NBA analysts Brevin Knight and Vince Carter.
Elite scorer Durant has yet to find his best form against the Clippers. He scored 23 points in the Warriors' 121-104 Game 1 win but was ejected after picking up two technical fouls following an altercation with Clippers point guard Patrick Beverley.
In Game 2, the Warriors surrendered an NBA playoff record 31-point lead and suffered a shock 135-131. Durant had 21 points but, according to NBA TV analysts Vince Carter and Brevin Knight, failed to take advantage of repeatedly being guarded by the much smaller Beverley.
"We would never be sitting here talking about why Michael Jordan is not 'going to work' on a smaller defender," said Knight, a point guard who played 12 season in the NBA. "There are no excuses. You go get buckets. This is playoff time.
"The NBA game is all about mis-matches. If the mis-match is you being seven inches bigger than the guy that's defending you, your team will expect you to go out and produce. [Durant] has allowed Patrick Beverley's antics to get into his head more than worrying about playing the game."
"When you have a mis-match, exploit it," said Carter, who just completed his 21st NBA season. "See what you get. If it isn't working, you have other options. When you have an advantage, you want to use that to create open shots for two of the greatest shooters we've ever seen, Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson]. You demand the ball, you demand the double-team and you go from there."
Knight and Carter agreed the Warriors, the defending NBA champions aiming to win their third straight title, seem less formidable than in previous seasons.
"They don't feel as dominant as they were in the past," said Knight. "We've seen this team together for years now so people are now more comfortable playing against them. It's not a novelty anymore. Teams right now are playing [against the Warriors] with confidence and it is allowing them to stay in games."
"Defense is one of the things the Warriors hung their hat on," said Carter. "They created a lot of their transitional threes from their defense. They have five guys that can basically guard anyone. That's their system.
"Right now you are seeing teams that feel like they can score against the Warriors at any time. [The Clippers] feel, one-on-one, they can break down their guy and get into the paint. That was the success for the Clippers [in Game 2] and that's what got them the win.
Watch Warriors @ Clippers Game 3 live on Sky Sports Arena in the early hours of Friday morning (3:30am)
