TMAC would win! he had the handles of a point guard, and that quickness was going to enable him to get separation in order to get his shot off. it would be close tho, real close. TMAC would be a better perimeter defender, at least being able to get a hand in KDs face. KD would probably hit five shots in a row and then eventually miss. i feel like once TMAC gets the ball though, he'd be driving past KD a lot.
That's false. I remember times when T-Mac stopped prime Dirk in playoffs, when he was bought in to play d he was one of the best defenders
T-MAC, one of the most overrated player in the history of basketball....Hmmmm...i think KD got this one by FAR. LOl
I don't think Durant could stop prime T-Mac on a 1-on-1. Then again, Durant has the size and speed to get through T-Mac... I think it's a draw.
KD is legit, but weirdly, last year's playoffs against the warriors made me lose a lil respect/awe of him. We pretty much shut him down until curry gave him that space in games 6-7. He had a GREAT game 1 but he looked very vulnerable against our defense. It's a credit to us, but KD was billed to be unstoppable in every way and ariza, gordon, harden, and cp made him miss a ton of shots he shouldn't have. But to speak of the debate, I love me some tmac and I'll go with his explosiveness/more dynamic options to score, but could go either way as KD really does only need to shoot over someone without a dribble.
The crazy thing about T-Mac was his talent level was out of this world. If he had the work ethic and leadership skills to go with his god given gifts, we might be talking about the GOAT...
It's 1 vs 1 and not a team game. KD learnt alot from Mac so it would not be fair. KD might win but McGrady would put a tomahawk windmill off the glass session on him. Raptor McGrady was very intense defensively and had crazy wingspan as well.
I believe a prime T-Mac scored in more ways than a prime KD. He also played a much more physical game, driving with much more intensity, don't let the long 2 point heat check jumpers he started loving later in his career, fool you from how good he was in his prime.
all this discussion of who would win one on one takes away from what I think is one clear area T-Mac is better than KD, and that's passing. Their overall stat lines with regard to assists don't do justice to how much more creative of a passer T-Mac was. It's a shame prime T-Mac couldn't play in this era for the Rockets because he would kill it.
Assuming there isn't a significant difference in size (and there isn't here), I feel that 1-on-1 mostly comes down to a combination of explosiveness and ball handling. Personally, I'd say that prime TMac has the edge in both categories by a decent margin. KD is certainly the better three point shooter, but in 1-on-1 that's a shot you want your opponent taking, as it's still relatively low percentage and a miss is almost guaranteed to end their possession. It would depend on the exact rules, such as "make-it, take-it", limited dribbles, missed shot = turnover, etc. but I think I'd have to go with TMac, though I'd expect it to be close.