Golden State Warriors: Kevin Durant drops 38 points to silence his critics

Kevin Durant silenced his critics with a dominating 38 point performance in Game 3 against the Clippers to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead

All week long the talk of the NBA has been about how the Los Angeles Clippers 6-foot-1 point guard Patrick Beverley has been able to get into the head of the Golden State Warriors leader Kevin Durant and slow him down.

In the first two games, Beverley helped the Clippers even the series at one game a piece by holding Durant to a 22.0 points and six turnovers per game, which is below his regular season average of 26 points a game and more than double his 2.9 turnovers a game.

Durant’s struggle against the undersized Beverly must be embarrassing for him since he has a nine-inch height advantage. Remember, Durant has averaged over 28.5 points a game in his last seven playoffs.

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During Wednesday’s media session, he made it clear that he could shoot over Beverley and score every time in a 1-on-1 situation, but he said Beverley is getting a lot of help from his teammates who are waiting for him to dribble the basketball before double-teaming him.

Durant used the media session to put an end to the talk of why he was struggling so much against such a smaller defender and why he didn’t shoot over him after receiving the basketball. He said the officials allow Beverly to get away with pushing and holding him because of his size, but are quick to blow the whistle on him if he pushes back.

The truth is, shooting over Beverly would be easier if Durant was more of a catch-and-shoot basketball player, which he is good at doing a lot of time, but Durant really likes to catch the ball and take a dribble before shooting over his defender, and Beverly knows it.

So, the first two games he stuck to Durant like glue and his teammates helped him not allow Durant to get the dribble bounce he likes before elevating.

On Inside the NBA, Charles Barkley questioned why Durant was trying to dribble on a much smaller guy by saying:

"“I would never dribble the ball against Muggsy Bogues”."

Barkley believe Durant should just post Beverly up and shoot over him while his co-host Kenny Smith pointed out how the officials are allowing Beverly to hand-check and foul Durant.

Well, Thursday night, Durant entered the game with a mission to silence his critics. He started early by catching a pass from Klay Thompson, running behind his screen to lose Beverly and nailing a 16-foot jumper. Durant would not let up as he played like his usual dominate self.

Several times during the game, he called for and received the basketball while being guarded by Beverley and scoring on him with ease. At one point, he scored on an amazing spin move layup that left Beverley looking helpless.

Durant finished the game with 38 points and seven assists on 14 of 23 shooting from the field, but most importantly he got his groove back. The Clippers are in trouble.