Durant displays many skills
Another Kevin Durant highlight video surfaced Sunday afternoon on YouTube.
Unlike most clip packages of the four-time NBA scoring champion, which feature his diverse offensive repertoire, this video showed Durant using his 7-foot, 5-inch wingspan to swat a career-best six shots in the Warriors’ win Saturday over Minnesota. Those uninterrupted 57 seconds of blocks reinforced his greatest strength: the ability to provide precisely what his team needs.
With Draymond Green sidelined by a left ankle contusion, Durant was Golden State’s go-to interior defend-
er. He also chipped in 28 points, 10 rebounds and five assists — a stat line that had not been recorded in franchise history (blocks were first tracked in the 1973-74 season).
“Especially tonight, we missed Draymond,” Durant said after the game. “I just stepped in and tried to play as hard as I could.”
It’s an approach that has Durant on pace to finish with one of the best individual seasons in NBA history. He ranks seventh in the league with 27.2 points per game, on an average of 17 shots. Only six times has a player averaged at least 27 points while averaging fewer than 18 field-goal attempts.
In addition to leading the Warriors in scoring, Durant is first in blocks (27), second in rebounds (137) and steals (27), and third in three-pointers made (37) and assists (82). His 57.4 shooting percentage, a career best if it holds, is easily the highest among the NBA’s top 50 scorers.
“It’s a luxury for him that if he doesn’t feel great with his outside shot, with his threes, he can get to the rim,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “He can get fouled. He can score at the basket. The game comes so easily for him because of that combination.”
In July, when Durant rocked the NBA landscape by signing with Golden State, critics questioned how he would fit with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Green: Would a player who hoisted 19 shots per game with Oklahoma City last season infringe on what makes the Warriors’ other All-Stars special? Would egos be bruised?
What those skeptics did not realize was that Durant has long been one of the NBA’s more selfless superstars. Half a decade ago, when running mate Russell Westbrook blossomed into an elite scorer, Durant upped his assists and took smarter shots.
Durant’s game tends to expand when surrounded by other All-NBA-caliber players. His performances with the U.S. national team and in All-Star Games underscored his penchant for making the right play.
It didn’t take him long to decipher how to complement Thompson, Curry and Green without sacrificing his best assets. In his first three regular-season games with Golden State, Durant totaled 94 points. He was the only player other than Wilt Chamberlain in 1959 to score at least 90 points in his first three games with a new team.
“His style of play is so perfect for what we do,” Thompson said. “He doesn’t dominate the ball. He’s a ballhandler. He’s real efficient with his movements and his shooting. The way he’s shot the ball this year has been unbelievable. I really marvel at his efficiency.”
Even though Durant’s versatility eased his transition, teammates required some time to adjust to this new era. Thompson, out of his typical rhythm early, is shooting 47.9 percent from the field. After an up-anddown first week of the season, Green emerged as Durant’s biggest competition for Golden State’s best all-around player.
Green leads the team with per-game averages of 9.0 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.6 blocks. Of course, anyone arguing that Durant isn’t the Warriors’ most valuable player could benefit from watching the 57-second highlight video that surfaced Sunday on YouTube.
“The only thing that we told him before the game was that he was going to guard (Karl-Anthony) Towns at times,” Kerr said. “I didn’t say anything else about him having to do this or that. He’s a basketball player. He knows the game, he knows what’s going on and he knows what’s needed from him.”