Kevin Durant is one of my favorite players in the NBA, so to see him go off against the Golden State Warriors last Friday night was a dream come true. The six-foot-nine small forward cashed in a career-high 54 points in a 127-121 win over the Warriors. It was a game that had shootout written all over it. The Splash Bros were knocking down threes all night and the Oklahoma City Thunder kept feeding the ball to their scoring machine, who ended up finishing with the most points he’s ever scored in a single game. The University of Texas product had more field goals made (19) than the rest of the Thunder team combined (18). Some may call it being a ball hawk, but I call it putting the team on your back and winning a tight Western Conference game.
“As the leader of this team, my main objective is to serve my teammates and some nights I have to put it up,” said Durant of his big-time performance. (Credit: nba.com)
Durant was 7-8 in the first quarter and finished the first half 11-14 with 29 points. Some players in the NBA are lucky enough to get those kind of stats in a single game! Durant also finished the game with four rebounds and six assists and shot 68 percent from the field (19-28). The last player to put up numbers like that in a single game was when Michael Jordan did it back on April 3rd, 1988. On top of that, Kevin Durant is leading the NBA in scoring with 30.6 points per game (Carmelo Anthony is 2nd with 26.1). Durant won the NBA scoring title three times in a row from 2010-2012 and it would have been four times in a row if it wasn’t for Carmelo Anthony’s MVP-like performance last year. Durant could easily win it for the fourth time in his career and he’s only 25 years old. The Oklahoma City Thunder is also 3rd in the Western Conference Standings with a 30-10 record and they’re doing it without Russell Westbrook who’s still out with a right knee injury. Could this finally be the year where Kevin Durant wins the MVP award? Think about it, if you take Kevin Durant away from that team, the Thunder would be an average squad that would be fighting for the playoffs every year. Oklahoma City is a championship contender because of this guy. The Washington D.C. native has always finished second and he’s sick and tired of it. He was the 2nd overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft (he would win Rookie-of-the-Year that season), he finished 2nd in the league for the scoring title last season (he was behind Anthony by .6 points per game and he had a better field goal percentage than him), and he lost to LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals (that’s when James won his first championship). This year, the Thunder could make it all the way. They would have to go through teams like the Portland Trailblazers, the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Clippers, or the San Antonio Spurs to do it, but they can pull it off. Scott Brooks is a fantastic coach and Russell Westbrook is expected to return before the playoffs start. There’s no doubt in my mind that LeBron James is the best player in the NBA right now, but if Durant could get that championship win under his belt, he’ll start making people think twice.
The Basket Foot 