Kevin Durant is one of the greatest scorers in NBA history. However, we have never seen Durant just go off on an incredible scoring streak, despite the man being a 4-time scoring champion. Putting the ball in the basket is a skill that comes easy to KD, and he chooses to never force his shots to stack points.
Durant has had to take up more individual scoring roles in the last few seasons after having most of his supporting cast either sidelined to injury or misfiring on the court. But forcing up shots is not what Durant does, who understands his gifts on the offensive floor.
He demonstrated that while speaking to J.J. Redick about why he doesn’t have a recorded 60-point game in his NBA career so far.
“I feel like the style of play is just me. How I approach the game, try to score. I don’t force it, so it looks natural.”
KD explained why he approaches the game like this, and he gives credit to his coach at the University of Texas, who helped him understand how to dissect film sessions. Watching film helped KD gameplan for other opponents and study for flaws in their defenses that he could exploit for the team’s benefit.
“When I got to college, I learned how to watch film. Coach Barnes taught me what to look for. It grew from there. Once I had opportunities to handle the ball out on the perimeter in 2013, I started seeing different things, like openings that would happen before I see it, where a guy should be on offense. So I understood that at any time, I can raise up and take a shot. knowing I got that in my back pocket is fun. It’s knowing I can pass first and score late in the clock if I have to. It keeps my teammates involved.”
Some players dominate using brute force like Giannis Antetokounmpo. While that also requires incredible amounts of skills, Giannis uses his body and size to his advantage, similar to what LeBron James used to do in his prime. However, older LeBron has found a balance between using skill and power. Durant, for his entire career, has been a surgical and skillful player that attacks when needed with incredible efficiency.
That danger that Durant poses on the floor is also ultimately why he is unable to get 60 points, as opponents start adjusting to him getting hot throughout the game and plan accordingly.
“That’s why I don’t get 60-70 points a game. When I watch these dudes get 60 points, I see the adjustments don’t change from the opposing coach… It takes a lot for someone to score big. 15-16 free throws, wide-open three-pointers, I’m not getting those looks. Shooting over two people, it’s hard to get 60 points. So I’ve got to play with adjustments to the opposing coach in-game.”
Being guarded heavily to limit production could be a glowing compliment if it didn’t stop your team from being effective because you were cut off from the rest of your teammates.
That isn’t a situation KD has been in often, but it is a situation he found himself in during the 2021 playoffs when he was the only healthy superstar on the Nets, with Kyrie Irving getting injured in the series and James Harden trying to play through injuries. Durant almost single-handedly beat the Milwaukee Bucks, but ultimately failed.
“Their whole plan was ‘well KD can’t beat us by himself, so let him go crazy and we’ll lock everyone else up’, so they were a little loose on their coverages. They let me one-on-one sometimes. They playing a drop the whole game, and I was like ‘oh’. I made 17 out of my 23 shots because it was a regular-season game in terms of coverage on defense. I feel like they underestimated us.”
"His points are almost an absolute guarantee"
Kevin Durant talks about trying to stop Giannis and the BUcks: pic.twitter.com/CLgZOMd2Ge
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) March 30, 2022
Durant is one of the best players in the league today and an all-time great when it comes to his offensive talents. If he had chosen to be a stat-filler who went after his points, Durant may have been in the running atop the all-time scoring leaderboards. However, his team-first play style has been seen for the last 6 years and is proven to facilitate winning.
Hopefully, Durant gets to have a game where he can go off for 60+ points because it is odd to think a player of his caliber has never broached that points mark. Many people get 50 pieces, but only legends go 60 and higher.
