Kevin Durant an 'impossible matchup' for opponents

Kevin Durant plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA.



March 4, 2010

Alvin Gentry gets a kick out of the fact that the Oklahoma City Thunder roster lists Kevin Durant at 6 feet, 9 inches tall.

Maybe if he were actually that size - instead of a few inches taller - defenders would have a better chance of slowing down the NBA's second-leading scorer.

"He's just a real tough matchup. When you talk about matchups, you look at Kobe and LeBron and Dwyane Wade or Carmelo and then obviously he's right there," said Gentry, the Phoenix Suns coach. "Of course, the thing that they don't have that he has is he's got such length. He's almost a 7-foot guy. That's the bottom line."

Durant's size and athleticism have made him nearly impossible to guard, certainly over the last couple of months. He can maneuver around just about anyone tall enough to match his lanky frame, and he can simply shoot over shorter opponents, no matter how closely they guard him.

He has scored at least 25 points in 32 of his last 34 games, including a stretch of 29 in a row that was the longest streak since Michael Jordan did it on the way to his first NBA scoring title during the 1986-87 season.

Gentry recalled seeing Durant standing next to the Suns' 6-foot-10 center, Amare Stoudemire, during the All-Star game and noticed that Durant was actually taller. Combine that with Durant's wingspan and it's hard to find anyone who can get a hand in the way of his jump shot.

"I don't think you care who you put on him. What you can't do is you can't duplicate what he is, and that's a 6-11 guy with length and speed and shooting ability and ball-handling skills and things like that," Gentry said. "The closest guy is probably George Gervin, and he probably wasn't anywhere close to being as athletic as Durant is."

Read more: The Associated Press

 

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Lebron James will most likely take the MVP title for the 2009-2010 season. But his biggest threat and competition this season and in the future will be Kevin Durant.