This is an intense face-off. Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green was fired up defending his stance on defense vs. Houston Rockets small forward Kevin Durant’s offense claims.
Draymond Green fires back at Kevin Durant’s claim that offense wins championships: “Those who don’t believe defense is as valuable as it is, they simply just don’t win. I don’t think anyone’s ever really been bent on caring about the opinion of those that don’t win, because your opinion equals zero.”
Balancing Offensive Firepower with Defensive Discipline
It is true at the NBA level, offense is so good that defenses struggle to keep up, but that’s what makes good defenses so much more effective. A great Offense dictates the first move. But a great defense limits the total moves available.
The team that usually does both well wins. Teams that do one well will get far, until they run into a team that does both well.
Why Mike D’Antoni’s Teams Fell Short
If Durant’s statement was correct, then former NBA head coach Mike D’Antoni would have won a championship as a head coach, but he didn’t due to being reliant on offense. Offense wins games but defense wins championships.
The reason why defense actually matters more than offense, however, is that the efficiency number just has to be one more than the opponent. An NBA team could still win as long as the other team shoots worse than they do. The only way to affect that outcome is to play great defense.
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