Kevin Durant Reveals Tricks To Slow James Harden Down

kevin durant
kevin durant

Last Thursday was supposed to deliver a strong match between Kevin Durant’s Brooklyn Nets and James Harden’s Philadelphia 76ers. It did seem like the match would be a statement game for both of the teams. And from the first jump, the Nets proved to be too physical- whilst also making it seem that things were simply going in the right direction for them. They went on to lead by 36 points in the first quarter itself to finally end the game at 129-100. 

Kevin Durant Explains Harden’s Weakness

While Kevin Durant enjoyed an impressive game for the Nets, a couple of other players couldn’t say the same. The main focus was on Ben Simmons, as he made his much-vaunted return to Philadelphia, but it was also the first game of James Harden against his former team. Harden struggled mightily and scored 1 for 12 in his first half, and 3 for 17 for the entire game. He stacked up just 11 points while making a couple of free throws. 

After the match, Kevin Durant explained that Harden would always rely a lot on the free-throw line, so all they had to do was not let him get near the rim or the free-throw line. Rather than score buckets of points, the Nets had managed to stop him at 3 for 17- as he tried to move in towards the rim. And while he did manage to score a few 3s, they didn’t let him near the rim, as that was when he was in his element and pretty tough to stop. 

With Kevin Durant dissecting the game of James Harden, it remains to be seen if the Philadelphia 76ers would be able to learn from the mistakes that they made today. As it goes, there were just 17 more games left before the playoffs truly began- and they would have to become a strong cohesive unit just before that took place.