Kevin Durant and Draymond Green break down what separates elite NBA matchups. They say the highest-level games against LeBron, Steph Curry, and Kyrie Irving are won on mental focus and experience from deep playoff runs, not just talent. When schemes disappear, it comes down to will, IQ, and staying fundamental in clutch moments.
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Obviously every time we play, it's a battle. I always tell people, man, when I play against you, last night against Klay, play Kyrie, right? Like play against Bron. Like bro, when we play those games, man, it's just like the level of play, the level of thinking that is amongst us when we're playing those games. Like that's when I have the most fun. That's why I was saying, All-Star weekend when I said the game is boring. What I said after that was because we played Bron them last week and I'm waiting for him to slightly turn his head that way so I can go help over. Because if I lean this way and he ain't turned his head yet, he getting that pass through, there's a dunk. Right? Like people don't understand the level we be at when we're playing against each other.
Yeah.
And it always take me back to the matchups. Like regardless of how great we were when you were here, We still had to play chess against Bron in order to beat him. For sure. For sure. And so I feel like we don't get a bunch of that now. Like I get that when I play against you where I feel like every second, like you see how locked in when I play, every second I have to be locked in on the defensive possession because if I let up for one minute, that's all you need is a split second. And I also think though, K, that's why You, Steph, Bron, Jimmy. That's why y'all still playing at such a high level because I also don't think these younger guys realize when guarding y'all how they have to be on every second. Do you see some of that?
Am I off?
Nah, you right. I feel like when you've been through some of the battles though that we've been through in the playoffs and those moments that you've been through, yeah, the younger dudes haven't experienced that. Whereas, coaching is out the way, schemes is out the way. And it's all about the will, the talent, and the cerebral game. You know what I'm saying? And in many playoff games where it's like, all right, dawg, they know every play we running, we know every play they running. And most of the time just gonna be like, who can beat they man and who can guard they man?
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying? And so most of them times it's just like, you see when we play Cleveland, it's all right, who can Bron pick on? You know what I'm saying?
Yep.
And how can we, all right, you wanna try to get Steph up there? All right, we going, Steph gonna run up this screen, but I'm gonna make sure I try to trail him as much as I can to switch him off the screen to waste a little bit of y'all time. So by the time you try to get Steph up there, it's 4, 5 seconds on the clock. That's the type of thinking we was on.
Timing.
Those games when coach is not in the way, scheme's not in the way, we know all of that stuff now. Let's just go hoop. The younger dudes gonna get there. You never, you know, they might get that experience, they might not, but we've been through those battles. Against not just Bron, but just even guys that haven't won playing against the Spurs, playing against the Memphis Grizzlies, you know what I'm saying? Playing against the Clippers, the Lob City Clippers. It's just like going to game 6 and 7 with these teams.
Like we was going to— Y'all in OKC, Houston. Them games was hard as hell, man.
Hard. And it wasn't a lot of sweeps. It was game 6s, game 7s.
You know what I'm saying?
Absolutely. When you thinking on that level, when it's past coaching, when it's past all of that, when it's just y'all on the floor controlling the game, that's the level. So when you see guys that been on that level before you, Kyrie, Steph, even I would say JT now, he played a lot of playoff games.
Yeah, JT, absolutely. Jaylen Brown.
Jaylen Brown, I would say Giannis played a lot of playoff games. You know what I'm saying? They know it's that level of detail late in the season that you gotta play with, you know what I'm saying? So I think the young dudes gonna get to that point. Play a few, he got some playoff games under his belt, he gonna get there. You know what I'm saying? So once they reach that level, I think that's when you'll start to see, you know what I mean? That get that feeling again.
Yeah, it's trial and error. And I always say basketball is timing. However much time you can consume, however much time you can disrupt as a defender for an offensive person, it's really you know, you get in these intricate moments where you have to be just as smart as the person that you're going up against, right?
Exactly.
Man, talk about just your mentality down the stretch. You know, I'm looking at the pedigree, I'm looking at the accolades, I'm trying to like, what is the unlock, right?
What, like, What the hell are you thinking when it's like, oh, okay, it's time for me to go 5 levels up?
Yeah. I try to relax as much as possible and stick to the fundamentals. I don't wanna try no dare shot, I mean, no heat check shots late in the game. You know what I'm saying? I try to stay away from those. So I just try to keep it at the fundamentals, find them places on the court where I know I'm gonna knock those shots down. Get a good shot up. And most of the time when I'm thinking like that in the fourth, I got some success, you know what I'm saying? So, and then I had times where I'm rushing and I want it so bad, I want to win so bad, and then I'm rushing shots and now I'm missing and now we lose the game. But all of that stuff is, you know, trial and error. Like you said, you learn from it. And what was the common denominator for me is just if I relax late in the game and approach it just like I approached the first quarter, then it was easier for me.
Unless the year is 2017 or 2018 and you get the ball to that left hand on the left coming in, in the left quad, you know, that left slot area and you walking into it from 37 feet. Unless it's that, and he in Cleveland, Ohio. Unless it's that situation. Oh man, he wound that one up. He take no LeChuck shot.
Hey, he wound that one up.
Let me go for the dagger. The dagger, all right, I might pull that motherfucker from deep.
Hey man, I had to run out the studio on that one. That was one of them, ooh! I had to run out the studio and flex on everybody. We was watching that live.
I see that coming. K go right to left, he put that ball in that left hand, you dead.
We play against Draymond Green.
By the way.
We play against Dray, he gonna jam that left hand.
Every time I see the ball go to that left, I gotta press out, you gotta beat me, bruh. 'Cause once he's, once he's, Once he get into the shot, there's nothing you can do. You can't do nothing. He jumping forward and he's 7 feet and the ball up here. So you get no good contest once he get into the shot. The best you gonna do, you gonna foul. And with the rhythm he have on that shot, even if you foul, he making it.
I feel good in that rhythm. You gotta jam me early if you wanna shoot that shot away.
Man, 'cause I did have the honor of playing with you, playing against you. I like just the progression. I was telling the story where, you know, my claim to fame against KD is, you know, KD, I picked you like 3 times. Oh, yeah, man. Yeah.
Hey, you playing for the Stars, bro. You switching everything.
Hey, bro, he was coming off the switch. I was like, I was jamming that left hand too. Come back the end of the season. Remember the end of the season? I don't know what. I don't know what you was on, but you was mad as hell. He start coming with the cross, boom, pulling up. I said, okay, dude, my number of years are short.
'Cause he played it too. He played it too.
It's me and Monta out here.
I was too that rookie year. I remember that game, that was my last game my rookie season.
Yeah, oh man, you was killing.
I'm like, these dudes is tough, man. They switching everything. They was the first small ball team that I'm like, man, they could've played in this. Arie, the way they played with y'all, Al Harrington.
Yeah.
And y'all just switched all them actions and I had to play y'all one-on-one and y'all was fitting.
Yeah, nah, that last game, boy, you put on, we was like, damn. I remember Jack came up to you, I came up to you, we was like, damn, bro. Ain't nobody gonna be able to fuck with you after that. Melly was like, guard him. I was like, man, we can't guard him. Get outta here. It's over, dog.
