One of the most outwardly frustrating symbols of Knick futility was seeing Chris Duhon on Kevin Durant to start the game, which raised more than a few quizzical looks if not outright derision from fans and onlookers. Duhon as a defender has been a bit of a lightning rod for Knick fans, since he is frequently assigned to an off guard for significant segments of games (and occasionally a small forward) while Jeffries or Chandler is assigned to the point guard. Playing longer players on opposing PGs is one of D'Antoni's pet defensive wrinkles though, and Duhon makes this easy for the coach because of his underrated ability to defend bigger players. And with the Knicks switching frequently, Duhon is just as likely to end up back on the opposing PG, or provide help in the paint, and close out on 3 point shooters when necessary (all things he does well that don't show up in the box score).

Nevertheless, it's a leap of faith to expect Duhon to effectively guard a 6'10" player, especially one as gifted on the perimeter as Durant. The initial Knick matchups were Duhon on Durant, Chandler on Westbrook, Lee on Kristic, Gallnari on Green, and Jeffries on Sefolosha. The latter matchup was designed to allow Jeffries to roam and provide help, as Sefolosha is one of the Thunder's lesser offensive options. The Knick plan was to send another defender at Durant whenever he got the ball in position to make a move or take a jumper, making him dribble out of traps in order to shoot or make plays to other players. 

Sending a variety of soft and hard double teams at Durant is not an unreasonable strategy: despite Durant's all-star season so far, he is not (yet) a gifted playmaker like the high-usage superstars (Kobe/Lebron/Wade) he's compared to: Durant is fifth among small forwards playing 15+ minutes per game in turnover rate, and only 44th among such small forwards in assist rate. (KD also has less of his baskets at the rim assisted relative to the league average -- in other words, he creates most of his opportunities near the basket). Making him give up the ball or turning him into a playmaker against pressure, and using a smaller guard as the first line of resistance (given the Knicks' lack of size and physical defenders), was a creative way of potentially disrupting the Thunders' offensive rhythm, and blunting the ability of Durant to take over the game.

It would seem this plan failed miserably, as Durant scored 30 points on 14 shots in only 33 minutes, in a continuation of his crazy streak of efficiency in recent games. D'Antoni was questioned on having Duhon on Durant in the post-game, and the coach calmly replied that Durant had scored most of his points in transition, and that what really killed the Knicks was their poor offense, not the shaky defense. (he also credited the Thunder defenders for making that Knick offense so miserable)

I went back over the game and charted the Thunder's first 81 possessions (after which Durant was removed from the game when the blowout was secure) to examine more closely how Durant scored and how effective/ineffective the Knick defense was in limiting Durant's opportunities on offense. This table summarizes the results of all possessions where Kevin Durant either scored, assisted, or had an opportunity to have an impact on a Thunder offensive opportunity.

One note about this table -- the "OKC Miss/Turnover" rows for halfcourt and fastbreak possessions refer to possessions which ended unsuccessfully, even if Durant himself didn't miss the basket (for example, a Durant pass to a teammate that misses a layup). This isn't intended to "blame" Durant for the unsuccessful possession, but simply note how well the defense managed possessions where Durant was involved but didn't ultimately take the shot.

Some observations:

*  Durant had limited opportunities to take it directly at the small defender. Though KD had 16 of his 30 points out of halfcourt opportunities, only one basket was the direct result of a score over Duhon. Duhon gave up a very visible basket on the second possession of the game, with Durant on the lower left block in a post-up, where KD missed the initial turnaround 5 footer, but tipped it in with comical ease over Duhon. After this possession though, there were a half dozen other similar post-ups of KD on Duhon which did not result in a score -- instead the Knicks effectively sent a second man over to double, or KD himself chose to pass back out to the wing. The number of possessions overall where Duhon was the primary defender on Durant was not a huge percentage: 7 possessions out of 25 in the first quarter, 2 out of 11 in the 2nd quarter, and 6 possessions out of 25 in the 3rd quarter. 

*  Durant scored most of his first half points in transition, or by drawing fouls on bigger players. KD had an impressive 20 point first half, with 11 of those points coming in transition off of Knick turnovers or missed baskets, and nine points coming off of half court opportunities. Only one shot was made over Duhon in a halfcourt set (the post-up described earlier): the other shots were jumpers over Chandler and Bender, or fouls drawn on jumpers.

This brings up a point which the Thunder coaching staff should be credited for: the Thunder did not bog down their offense by trying to force feed it into Durant in the post, or have him go one-on-one against a smaller defender. Durant started just as many sets at the wings, and chose to use the Knick focus on him to try and create opportunities selectively for teammates, or act as a decoy. The few times Durant actually seemed most engaged in going one-on-one was when he had a bigger defender isolated on him. But the Knicks did a reasonable job of keying on Durant in the halfcourt.

*  Knick defense was undone by poor transition defense and inability to protect the rim. This is a point that could probably be made for any number of Knick losses over the last few years, but especially for losses in the early part of the season where the Knicks looked very overmatched. Even when the Knicks effectively doubled Durant or kept another defender near him in the halfcourt, he was able to find cutters or open teammates on the wing very easily. And when the Thunder did miss, they frequently cleaned up on the offensive boards. The Thunder plan, like most every Knick opponent, was to take it hard at the Knicks in transition -- the result was 6 fast break points in the first 9 Thunder possessions, and 23 fastbreak points for the game (to only 13 for the Knicks). OKC typically plays at a modest pace of 95 possessions a game, but they were running at a 100 possession pace throughout to keep the Knicks on their heels.

*  Knicks made it too easy for the Thunder guards. If you're going to guard a star player effectively, a big part of the defensive plan is to make it difficult for the player in question. But the other part is to make sure teammates don't benefit disproportionately or with too much ease. (Extreme example: the college game where Stephen Curry of Davidson was shadowed by 2 players the whole game, allowing his teammates to score at will). OKC point guards Westbrook (17 points, 5 assists, 0 turnovers) and Maynor (9 points, 4 assists, 1 turnover) frequently had no issue getting to the elbow or deeper for a 15 foot jumper, and ran it hard every chance they could in transition. The Knicks typically protect the 3 point line and allow a certain number of mid-range jumpers, but the dribble penetration and shots being allowed to the guards were too easy, even against a defense shaded heavily toward a particular player.

*  Thunder defense + terrible Knick offense = better OKC offense. Watching the game again, what struck me more than Durant's prodigious scoring ability was his effort on defense -- his length, along with his teammates (Green and Sefolosha especially) made things very difficult for every Knick, even elite shot creators like Nate Robinson. David Lee, in particular, was hounded into an awful shooting night (5 for 18), and six of the eight Knick regulars playing the first 3 quarters had at least 2 turnovers apiece. Long rebounds and all those Knick turnovers gave the Thunder many opportunities to run and establish a large margin quickly.

On the whole, the Thunder had 19 halfcourt offensive possessions with Durant playing a significant role, and the Thunder scored on 9 of those, and the Knicks got stops on 10. For a physically limited team like the Knicks, this is a passable rate of sucess, *if* the team could have locked down Durant's teammates or forced them into more inefficient possessions, and if the Knicks could have generated offense at their usual efficiency, and limited the transition breakouts of the Thunder. The fact that none of those "ifs" came to be meant a very loud and ugly rout, the worst Knick loss since a beating at Sacramento in December.

But KD on Duhon? Give Duhon some props for not being overwhelmed by the assignment, and even having a little bit of success on one possession in the third quarter, 6:32 -- Durant out on the right wing past the arc, with Duhon crouched underneath him (pictured above). Duhon knocked the ball out of his hands and high into the air, both players jumped and tipped it over to Westbrook, who ended up rushing a jumper and missing. If you DO want to get angry at Duhon, do give him grief for missing all eight of his shots, including three 3 pointers and a layup in an otherwise miserable 8 minutes of play in the third quarter before being lifted for good. The Knicks' resulting 15 point third quarter sealed this loss as much as their spotty defense.