Watch: "Twitter would be abuzz if this was LeBron James... Stinking it up" - An animated Shannon Sharpe comes for Kevin Durant's head for his dismal outing against Celtics
Kevin Durant's first three games against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs have been nothing short of forgettable.
The Boston Celtics defense has managed to achieve something no defense has in the last decade: the shutdown of Durant. Durant has averaged a mere 36.5% shooting with a staggering 5.7 turnovers.
The teams played Game 4 on Monday night in Brooklyn.
The physicality and grit from the Celtics has also kept Durant from taking too many shots. He has averaged 3.3 three-point attempts per game and 1.3 field-goal attempts, both down from his regular-season numbers.
Many seem to think that the postseason so far severely botches Durant's resume. Shannon Sharpe on FOX Sports' "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" talked about Durant not getting the same level of crticism as LeBron James. He said, when things are going great, Durant and James are spoken of in the same breath, but when things go awry, James gets the short end of the stick:
"I can just imagine what the talk shows, the debate shows and how twitter would be abuzz if this was LeBron James, if this was LeBron Ramone James and he was stinking it up. He left what the elephant left on the showground. ...'Oh, he ain't got no help. It's Kyrie. They're not gelling.'"
Staunch James critic Skip Bayless fired back with his own thoughts about James' season:
"It's not LeGone James, because his team missed the playoffs, missed the playoffs? I'll take this over that. The legacy that is permanently tarnished is LeGone's. ... Can't even make the playoffs?"
"I can just imagine what the debate shows would be like and how Twitter would be abuzz if this was LeBron James, and he was stinking it up. Whew."
— @ShannonSharpe on KD shrinking vs Celtics https://t.co/FUbX7o7ojD
Kevin Durant and company's troubling season
The Brooklyn Nets have fallen short when it mattered the most, be it because of Kyrie's vaccination status or James Harden's desire to leave the team. Kevin Durant's sprained MCL at the start of the new year meant that Brooklyn would be without Irving, Harden and Durant for a significant number of home games, and with only Kyrie on the road.
This led to Brooklyn ending up in the play-in tournament with the Cleveland Cavaliers and finishing as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
After the Harden-Ben Simmons trade, Brooklyn now seems to have gotten the wrong end of that deal, at least in the short term. Simmons will be a no-show for Game 4 after his return had been anticipated for such a long time, adding another layer to Brooklyn's woes.
Nets are listing Ben Simmons as OUT for Game 4 vs. Celtics. A surprise as Simmons had been expected to play Monday as long as rehab was on course.
The conversation around the Nets has long been about guessing when the Nets will be at full-strength, and the current timetable suggests next season.