Before the playoffs, Steve Nash called Kevin Durant the Nets best defender. After the first two games, you won’t get much —if any— argument.
“I feel like I’ve always been a good defender. Early on in my career I was asked to score for my teams; and we had defenders that were asked to guard the best wing player,” said Durant after Game 2. “But I felt like I was always helping, learning what help defense is like. It’s a journey as a scorer to try to learn defenses in the NBA, especially as an 18-, 19-year-old.
“So I’ve just been trying to learn from the defenders on my team and my coaches and over time, I think I just gradually got better at it.