Kevin Durant is an All-World superstar. There's no doubt about that – in fact, despite the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo winning Game 7 on Saturday night, "The Greek Freak" reiterated his claim about KD being the best in the world postgame:
"I said it a couple of days ago, he's the best player in the world. He's still the best player in the world," Giannis said on TNT after the win.
Bar none: he's right! When Kyrie Irving injured his right ankle in Game 4 and it was widely assumed he would not come back, many thought the Nets wouldn't win another game and the series was over in six. Keep in mind, even if James Harden could come back (which he did) he would be hobbled (which he was), so that didn't matter – but Durant, in every way a player possibly could, put this Nets team on his back. They not only made the series go seven, Durant was within a toe of winning this series with his final shot of regulation in Game 7.
We are all well aware of his 49-point, 17-rebound, 10-assist masterpiece in Game 5, making him the first ever in NBA postseason history to put up that kind of line. But, KD's 48 points in Game 7 also marked the most points scored in the history of a Game 7 in the NBA postseason. Game 6 was the worst of his three-game stint without Kyrie, when he went for a ho-hum 32 points on 50 percent shooting while grabbing 11 boards. Durant had 15 made field goals in Game 6, as many as the other four Nets starters COMBINED, and what he did was historically, all-time level great.
And yet, the Nets still needed more.
In Game 6 of the 2020 NBA Finals, when the Lakers defeated the Heat to clinch their championship, it was Lakers reserve guard Rajon Rondo who put up 19 points on 73 percent shooting, outscoring the Heat's best player in Jimmy Butler. In the title-clinching Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, it was Raptors reserve Fred VanVleet who went for 22 points while connecting on five threes. And don't forget Robert Horry, aka "Big Shot Rob," who'd routinely score 20+ points off the bench in the NBA Finals in his mid-30s.
What do these three have in common? They were all critical role players that put their teams over the top that ultimately resulted in a title.
Having two, three, or even four Hall of Fame players on a roster will never equate to an NBA title. It certainly steers a team in the right direction, but you need role players to step up. Nets Forward Joe Harris averaged more than 14 points per game this season and shot a stellar 47.5 percent from three-point range to lead the NBA this season, but he was anything but stellar against the Bucks. Despite Harris logging 39 minutes per game in the last five contests, he averaged just seven points per game and shot just 24 percent from downtown, both marks half of his regular season output. And, while we know he's primarily a shooter, Harris averaged just one assist per game.
If Harris goes 2-for-11 instead of 1-for-11 in Game 3, the Nets absolutely win this series in five. And even if not, he had a wide-open look in OT in Game 7, with a chance to put the Nets up 114-111 with less than a minute to go – but instead of blowing the roof off Barclays Center and sticking the dagger in the Bucks, Harris badly missed a shot with no one within ten feet of him.
This is not a knock Joe Harris column, in any way, because any NBA team would gladly welcome Harris on their squad. He plays hard, plays the game the right way, gives you zero issues in the locker room, and is one of the best shooters in the NBA. But, he is also an individual who fell way short of doing his part in the postseason, and was the proof in the pudding that winning an NBA title is never about having the best players, but about having the right players step up.
As we saw in Durant's last made shot, this is a game of inches and everyone must be a key contributor. The role players for the Bucks did that just a little bit better than the Nets in this series. Moving forward, one team has a legit chance to win the NBA title, and the other had their season ended way too prematurely.
The Nets don't need to tweak their roster, they need to tweak their performance. Superstars allow you to contend for an NBA title, role players allow you to seal it. They certainly didn't for the Nets in the 2021 postseason, but hopefully, 2022 is a different story.
Follow David Shepard on Twitter: @TheGoodShepard_
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