PHOENIX — Michael Cooper, among the best defensive players in basketball history, visited the Arizona desert this summer for a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame event. Not long after registering, Cooper was asked an interesting question: How would he defend Kevin Durant?
Cooper thought for a second. During his 12-year Hall of Fame career, his job was to shut down the opponent’s best player. He defended everybody from an MVP-level Larry Bird to a young Michael Jordan. He knows great players will get off good shots. Cooper’s job was to make that difficult.
“Kevin Durant is almost like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was to centers,’’ said Cooper, a lean 6-foot-7 during his playing days. “Kareem had an unstoppable shot. It wasn’t about thinking about blocking Kareem’s shot, it was about making him move out a little more, putting a little bit more body on him.
“Kevin Durant possesses that kind of offensive talent. He’s 6-10, 6-11, and can shoot the ball. It would’ve been difficult. But you can only score with the ball in your hands, so I would’ve been in full-out denial against him. It would’ve been an interesting challenge. He probably would’ve won more than I did. I would’ve made it difficult for him, but he would’ve been a nightmare. Because it isn’t about blocking his shot, and it’s not even about contesting his shot. He looks through that.”
This is not new intel on Durant. He’s been an elite shot-maker since he first picked up a basketball. It’s just that everyone keeps waiting for the 36-year-old to slip, to show the slightest sign that he’s not a robot programmed to put a round ball into the basket.
That day is not yet here.
Haywood Highsmith learned as much Wednesday night at Footprint Center. In his fourth NBA season, the Miami Heat forward matched up against Durant in the final minute. The Suns led 112-110. Phoenix point guard Tyus Jones passed to Durant near the key. The only thought going through Highsmith’s mind: “Try to get a stop. Try to get him to miss.”
The 6-5 Highsmith had played collegiately at Wheeling University, a Div. II school in West Virginia. In addition to his scoring and defensive stats, the school listed this info in his online bio:
Hobbies/interests: Playing NBA 2K
Favorite food: Chicken cheesesteak
Favorite athlete: Kevin Durant
Highsmith had grown up in Baltimore, not far from where Durant grew up in Washington, D.C. At the time he was at Wheeling, Durant was with the Golden State Warriors, winning two championships, and earning Finals MVP honors both times. Highsmith admired Durant’s work ethic and how easy he made the game look. Suddenly, with the game on the line, his job was to disrupt that.
With 20 seconds left, Durant stood 21 feet from the basket, just inside the 3-point arc. Highsmith put his left hand in Durant’s midsection. Two nights earlier against Philadelphia, Durant had driven right and made a contested layup for a 118-116 win.
This time Durant raised the ball above his head and looked down at Highsmith, crouched in a defensive position. Durant lowered the ball, holding it on his left side. In an instant, he shifted his right foot out, brought it back and went straight up. Highsmith contested, his left hand stretched high, but what was it Cooper said?
“It’s not even about contesting his shot. He looks through that.”
“On that one,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said, “I don’t think there’s a whole lot you could do.”
Trying to guard KD? Good luck. pic.twitter.com/bwtYqzs8ON
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) November 7, 2024
Durant was backpedaling before the ball even swished through the net, the biggest basket in Phoenix’s 115-112 win, the team’s sixth in a row. The Suns have been 7-1 only three times in franchise history, the last taking place during the 2009-10 season. This season’s team hasn’t played a difficult schedule, and it’s had to battle out of holes more than it should, but one fact cannot be argued.
Durant remains among the best closers in the sport.
Or as teammate Devin Booker told The Arizona Republic in the locker room after Wednesday’s game: “Kevin Durant is a mother—– to deal with.”
Last season, the Suns were the league’s worst fourth-quarter team, a disorganized mess that committed turnovers and lost winnable games. This season, they have won six games by six points or fewer, one in overtime. Per NBA advanced stats, Durant averages 8.4 points in the fourth quarter, which ranks only behind Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball, Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas and Toronto’s Scottie Barnes. It’s the most Durant has scored in the fourth quarter since he led the league during the 2012-13 season with 8.4 points.
Against Miami, Durant scored 11 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, hitting 4 of 6 from the field. Through eight games, he is 10 of 15 in clutch time, defined as the final five minutes with the scoring margin within five points. As of Wednesday night, no other NBA player has made as many shots in these situations.
“Greatness,” Suns center Jusuf Nurkic said. “It’s hard to compliment a guy who does a little bit of everything, competes as hard as anyone, but also when it is time to score, he finds a way to score. It’s like a cheat code, man. We all try to run the plays. He just raises up and it’s over.”
In the Heat locker room, Highsmith said he tried to make it tough for Durant. He tried playing him physically, but in the end, he stated the obvious. It’s not easy defending someone that tall who can make shots from nearly anyplace on the court. Highsmith wasn’t the first defender to try and lock down Durant in this situation.
And from the look of things, he will not be the last.
(Photo of Kevin Durant shooting over Miami’s Pelle Larsson and Haywood Highsmith: Rick Scuteri / Associated Press)
