NBA Finals: Kevin Durant's fouls are troubling for Thunder

Spending time on the bench, while LeBron James remains in the game, does not bode well for Oklahoma City.
By Berry Tramel Published: June 18, 2012

Better for Durant not to force Brooks to make such a decision. Better for Durant to play all 48 minutes, like he did against the Spurs in Game 6. Better for Durant to play more minutes than LeBron plays, which has yet to happen in this series.

Heck, Durant has played three less minutes than Miami's Dwyane Wade and only five more minutes than the Heat's ancient Shane Battier.

LeBron says he's not going at Durant in particular, but Durant found foul trouble only twice all season before the Finals and now has found it two straight games.

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra calls that a “residual benefit” of the way the Heat, in particular LeBron, plays. Sometimes, LeBron just puts his head down and goes.

“When he attacks, he has the ability to draw sometimes upwards of double-digit fouls on the opponent,” Spoelstra said.

Does that mean the Thunder could switch assignments? Move Thabo Sefolosha over to guard LeBron, with Russell Westbrook taking Wade and Durant settling for Mario Chalmers? Seems like that could shift the foul-trouble risk to Westbrook, but it's not like Durant has been clamping down on LeBron, who is averaging 30.3 points a game in the series.

“LeBron is a tough guy to guard,” Durant said. “Everybody knows it. But I'm going to play my hardest and try and play smarter. A few of them, I didn't think were fouls. But that's how the cards are dealt. I've just got to deal with it.


If foul trouble keeps happening, the Thunder will go under.



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by Berry Tramel
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