SAN ANTONIO -- Danny Green has lived with the ebb and flow of streaky shooting all season. Yet for the San Antonio Spurs wing, accuracy with the 3-ball might be the least of his team's concerns headed into their Western Conference semifinals matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"They don't really need me for offense," he said.
What is of utmost importance for the Spurs is perimeter defense, chiefly Green's and Kawhi Leonard's abilities to defend Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. How the quartet of perimeter-oriented players dance with each other figures to be important in this best-of-seven series that starts Saturday night in San Antonio.
"Tough challenge," said a terse Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Wednesday.
No kidding.
Popovich has typically opted to use Leonard, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year, to cover Durant, the four-time scoring champ. With both Durant and Westbrook on the floor over the last three seasons (including the playoffs), Leonard defended Durant 353 times and guarded Westbrook 136.
During these matchups, player-tracking data shows nobody in the league has forced Durant to shoot worse and into more difficult shots than Leonard, who credits Durant for "just being able to do everything on the floor: shoot, get in the paint, create shots for teammates."
Over the last three seasons, Durant took 69 shots when Leonard served as the closest defender. Just five were uncontested.
"He's grown so much," Durant said of Leonard. "Definitely one of the players I look at and try to watch and check on every night, and someone that's fun to compete against."
Meanwhile, Leonard has been even more effective defending Westbrook.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Westbrook turned the ball over on 15.6 percent of the possessions defended by Leonard during the regular season, compared to his season average of 5.9. That turnover rate against Leonard ranked as Westbrook's highest against any defender with a minimum of 20 matchups this season.
Leonard stifles Westbrook's point production as well. The Thunder star averaged 25 points per 100 possessions when defended by Leonard this season, the fewest allowed by any Spurs defender with at least 10 matchups.
Westbrook poured in nearly twice as many -- 47.8 points per 100 possessions -- when guarded by Green, who has been more successful when covering Durant.
So it will be interesting to see how Popovich uses his perimeter defenders in this series.
Either way, Manu Ginobili believes the Spurs are more fortunate than others when it comes to defending the OKC scoring duo.
"It makes a big difference because you don't have to give the opponent always the same look, even though Kawhi is the best at it," Ginobili said. "Sometimes, when you have such a great opponent, he also gets used to the weaknesses of the opponent. So it's good to change it up once in a while.
"We are going to have to change it up as a team, too. Even with all that, we all are going to have to be attentive because they are both so talented that you are going to have to bring help every time. But, of course, having Kawhi as the main defensive guy and then Danny, who is a very solid defensive player, too, is a great advantage."
For Leonard, he doesn't have a preference for whom he guards.
"We're worried about both of them," Leonard said. "Whatever the challenge is, I just have to face it. I really don't think about it when I'm in the game. I'm just out there trying to do my defensive assignment, be in the help spots so we can try to win."
Tim Duncan also considers rebounding to "be a huge part of what happens," with the presence of Steven Adams, Enes Kanter and Serge Ibaka enabling Oklahoma City to feast on second-chance points.
"Obviously, Westbrook and Durant get a lot of their shots up on the board, which gives them room to screen-and-roll, and get to the glass and get second opportunities," Duncan said. "We're going to have to make sure we control that as best we can. That's going to be a big key to control in this series. We can do that by effort, and being locked in."
Added Tony Parker: "[You] just try to make it hard on [both of] them. Just try to play aggressive defense. Stay in front of them, because both of them can definitely penetrate and create for others. So you just try to contain them. You are not going to stop them, you just try to contain them and make their life a little harder. They have two superstars -- just to be clear."