![]() He gets to the line more often and shoots a far higher percentage than does LeBron, as detailed earlier. KD's advantage makes intuitive sense here. Durant is fifth overall with a percentage of. They both rank among the top 10 in the NBA in true shooting percentage, which accounts for three-point shots and free throws. What about scoring, then? How do they compare in this regard? Aside from the obvious, overarching themes that both score a ton and do so with incredible efficiency, that is. James' superior pure point rating (PPR)-which takes into account assists, turnovers and pace-drives home this notion further. Durant has taken on more creative duties since James Harden's departure, but he still relies rather heavily on fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook to initiate the offense and spread the proverbial wealth.Ĭlearly, the edge in "Point Guard-ness" belongs to LeBron. James is the hub of the Heat offense, and he has diversified his repertoire to include passing out of the post in addition to finding guys off the dribble from the perimeter. To be sure, this has plenty to do with different roles for each, along with disparate skill sets. KD has certainly stepped up his game in this regard, with a career-best 4.4 helpers, but he remains well behind James in the realm of creating shots for others. He's dishing out nearly seven dimes per game, which is right around his career average. LeBron once again leads the pack with a PER of 31.29, with Durant bringing up the "rear" at 29.24.Īt a glance, it's easy to discern that LeBron is more of a facilitator than Durant. ![]() 1 and 2 in Player Efficiency Rating, which is an aggregate of those stats tracked by modern box scores. Which is to say, LeBron and Durant both sit among the top 30 in no fewer than eight major statistical categories.and that they're both incredibly versatile on both ends of the court. Durant's relative rankings are similarly impressive-first in scoring, second in free-throw attempts and free-throw percentage, second in minutes, 11th in three-point percentage, 17th in steals, 23rd in field-goal percentage and 26th in blocks. LeBron is third in scoring, fourth in minutes, seventh in field-goal percentage, eighth in free-throw attempts, 11th in assists, 12th in steals, 18th in three-point percentage and 26th in rebounding. In both cases, the raw numbers are stunning. We'll omit the per-36-minute stats, since James and Durant garner such similar playing time. As for Durant, he's left behind any notion of himself as "just" a mild-mannered spot-up shooter to become a scary-efficient scorer who strikes fear into the hearts of his opponents on a nightly basis.Īnd, ultimately, these samples are still a bit too small to derive anything all that definitive from them.īefore we delve into the really gory details of how these two measure up right now, let's have a cursory glance at the overall basics so far in 2012-13. James has evolved into a "power guard" who punishes his opponents with a burgeoning post-up game in the paint and a sharpened three-point shot from the perimeter, in addition to his requisite skills as a ball-handler and distributor. Then again, neither of these statistical comparisons is all that reflective of where basketball's two preeminent players stand today. Both turn the ball over with greater frequency, due in part to using a greater share of possessions as well as to the tightening of the opposing defense over the course of a seven-game (or, in this case, five-game) series. LeBron becomes the more aggressive attacker, getting to the line and forcing his primary defender (KD) to pick up fouls far faster than he normally would.ĭurant, for his part, is plenty effective piling up points from the perimeter. What we see appears to be an amplification of more "natural" strengths and weaknesses between the two in the postseason.
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