Kawhi vs. Jackson guarding Durant

[lurker23]

Watching the game live in the first half, I thought Kawhi did a good job guarding Durant. He chased him all over the court and mostly stayed with him. I thought Jack's version of guarding Durant involved too many fouls.

However Coach Popovich, being a much better coach than I am, saw something in Jack's version of guarding Durant. Kevin seemed to be bothered with the physical brand of defense that Jack was dishing out. So, in crunch time, in the 4th quarter, it was Jack that was on the floor, and Kawhi that was on the bench. While Durant still got too many free throws from Jack, it seemed to work, and Durant was at least temporarily bottled up.

Where does this lead us for future games? Discuss.

[Keepin' it real]

Discuss.

No

[DPG21920]

I said in the GT that I never thought too much of Jax on Durant, but stronger guys like Artest have had success against Durant and Jax is more in that mold. Not sustainable likely, but worth exploring.

[jermaine]

I thought Pop was just resting Leonard at first. Plus I felt Leonard did a great job myself. I love the combo thou. It's a great problem to have.

[loveforthegame]

Jackson was more physical with him and helped wear him down. Leonard made him work too.

How nice is it to have two guys to make guys like that work?

[Mugen]

I thought both did a great job. The refs just let Jack get away with more physical play since Kawhi is a rookie.

[The Reckoning]

ill take rugged play and experience over a rookie in the playoffs anyday

[Proxy]

Kawhi did his good... but sometimes you need some gangsta to give you that extra push. That's the Jack I've been waiting for these playoffs.

[lurker23]

No

Yes.

[Mal]

Kawhi tried, but he struggled. Jax didnt marvelous job

[100%duncan]

I say put kawhi in him for the first 3 quarters because he has the legs and put jax on him in pressure moments.

[Sense]

Kawhi let Durant blow past him... Jackson didn't, if Kawhi works on that then he will be the best defender for Durant, but if he doesn't fix it we will see a lot of Jackson in this series.

[m33p0]

attitude. that's why jax got the minutes.

[ducks]

kawahi will adjust
I like sj at different times should play durant

[cutewizard]

Alternating technical defense with rugged defense can work wonders with super forward Durant.....

[siraulo23]

kawhi was solid, did pretty good but he's too 'nice'

jax was nasty :lol

[spursfan1000]

Jackson was getting into Durant skin, he is mr clutch so I agree with pop on using him in 4th quarter, I'm interested to see what pop decides to do next game.

[ducks]

sj can not guard him all game he will get in foul trouble

[Nathan89]

Kawhi let Durant blow past him... Jackson didn't, if Kawhi works on that then he will be the best defender for Durant, but if he doesn't fix it we will see a lot of Jackson in this series.

Yeah, he did the same thing to Jax. That's why Parker was reaching in for the ball and picking up fouls.

[joeSpurs]

Now Durant is confused and doesn't know, which nasty guy will guard him in the 4th. Could be Jax, could be Leonard, could be Diaw ...

[Sense]

Yeah, he did the same thing to Jax. That's why Parker was reaching in for the ball and picking up fouls.

He probably did, but the Spurs adjusted and doubled Durant, and he didn't know what to do after that..


Leonard needs to do a better job on the pick and rolls if he wants to get more minutes than Jackson.

[Gagnrath]

In changing up defenders you keep Durant from becoming confident and developing a rhythm, Typically being rough and physical with him is the most effective style of defense but having more than one guy to pressure him is useful and if you can cleanly and fairly effectively face guard him like Leonard can to make him work in earlier quarters it is good to use that a decent amount of the the time to keep him off balance and off the free throw line.

[SA210]

Kawhi did his good... but sometimes you need some gangsta to give you that extra push. That's the Jack I've been waiting for these playoffs.


This, we needed the gangsta

:ihit

[Spurfect21]

KL is more of a passing lane defender who tries to do his wk before he gets the ball. Jack is just hard nose strong defense. Great combo to throw at him

[Thomas82]

I think they both did pretty good, but I'm giving Kawhi the benefit of the doubt since he's only a rookie. I have a feeling he'll be giving Durant hell for years to come.

[lurker23]

sj can not guard him all game he will get in foul trouble

ducks bringing the goods. Even if Jack is the superior defender in the long run, he can't defend Durant for 30 minutes without fouling out.

[Whisky Dog]

That's a huge matchup advantage for the Spurs in that they can throw both their rotation small forwards at Durant and have some success with two different styles. If the refs let Jax body him up and route him then it'll be a long series for Durant.

[100%duncan]

ducks bringing the goods. Even if Jack is the superior defender in the long run, he can't defend Durant for 30 minutes without fouling out.

Not only that, he doesn't have the legs to do that anymore. A whole game of following Durant will tire Sjax out.

[Russo21]

Its a great SF combo. Youth and experience. Offense and Defense. To think we started the season with basically just RJ at SF not knowing what Leonard could do. Awesome

[lurker23]

Not only that, he doesn't have the legs to do that anymore. A whole game of following Durant will tire Sjax out.

Very true. It was interesting watching Jax spend extended minutes with Manu tonight. While Jax definitely has the attitude left, his weight and conditioning at the moment makes you wonder about his conditioning.

[Kori Ellis]

They needed someone to get up into Durant tonight. To body him around, to talk trash in his ear, to knock him off his spots, and get him out of his comfort zone. So they needed to call Jack's number... he knows how to "get nasty."

[SpursIndonesia]

Why it has to be a versus ? We have BOTH, and they can take turns in beating Mr. Acne on the court, coach Pop knows which rotation does best, no worry.

[angelbelow]

Jackson's defense was a thing of beauty..

Its hard to explain but despite Jackson struggles against the Clippers (but not surprising given the match ups), and his poor shooting all season long (40% FG and 30% from the 3) you just kind of know hes going to deliver. It was mainly defensive tonight but he also swished a crucial 3 pointer to give us a well needed cushion.

[quentin_compson]

It's great to have two different kinds of defenders to throw at Durant. Leonard with his length and the ability to stay with him, and Jackson who is being physical with him. Of course Jax would foul out quickly if he defended Durant like this from the get go, but it's a nice strategy over certain periods of time and maybe down the stretch.

[mkurts]

It looked like Jax was most effective in guarding Durant.

I think that Leonard with his quickness would bother Westbrook or Harden a lot more than Durant.

[Kuestmaster]

I'm not sold in Jackson defending Durant for all the series, he's not quick enough.
But there's no doubt that today, specially in the 4th, Buckets did an amazing job against him, he could only score thanks to the refs sending him to the free throw line.
Props to Jax

[bigfan]

I vote KL with his younger legs for the first three quarters then Unleash the Jackson! in the 4th. I really think any opposing player is afraid SJ will just pop them in the jaw if things get close; he has the right combination of talent, aggressiveness and explosive temperment.

[bigdog]

The combo of both Jack and Kawhi is awesome. Kawhi can be on him in the beginning of both halves, then put Jack to close out the halves and games. It seemed to work.

[elemento]

To me Leonard looked pretty effective until Durant started to post him up. I like S-Jax on Durant because he plays physical against him and Durant simply hates it.

[TJastal]

It's great to have two different kinds of defenders to throw at Durant. Leonard with his length and the ability to stay with him, and Jackson who is being physical with him. Of course Jax would foul out quickly if he defended Durant like this from the get go, but it's a nice strategy over certain periods of time and maybe down the stretch.

+1

I think the combination of the two is really going to wear on Durant as the series progresses. Which will put even more pressure on Westbrick and Hardon, which will lead to more forced turnovers/bad shots and bodes well for the spurs.

[therealtruth]

Jax played great but I felt Leonard could have done a good job as well. I guess if we have the depth we may as well put fresh guys on Durant to wear him down.