Kevin Durant's hot scoring streak doing good to him and the team
Kevin Durant-on a mission
Coming into this season, Kevin Durant was well aware of Russell Westbrook’s troubling knees and worked hard on his game in the off-season to put his team in a position to win in games they play without the All-Star point guard and his performances so far, in Westbrook’s second stint in a suit, has people speechless and out of adjectives.
But keeping him grounded here’s what Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks had to say
“All of the fancy numbers are fine. But you have to impact the game. You have to leave a footprint out there night after night.”
Following his coach’s orders Durant has been doing just that scoring 30 plus points in 12 of the 14 games, the number of games the Thunder has played since Westbrook’s last game on Christmas day, winning 9 of those. His hot streak has made a lot of changes in various league tables.
In short the streak has impacted his team’s record, his position in the many league standings and helped him break many records while he is on the verge of breaking many more. Here’s a deeper look into the streak and its impact.
A deeper look at the streak and stats
For starters let’s take a look at his current season averages. He has recorded career highs in points, assists and steals of 30.9, 5.1 and 1.5 respectively. While his rebounding average is just .1 off his career high, it should sum up what a season he is having.
Since the Christmas game, he averages 36.5 points a game including a career high 54 points in a win over Golden State Warriors. He has also recorded four double-doubles in the same period.
His 54 point game makes him the third player to record a 50+ point game in three consecutive seasons or more. The other two players to do so are Michael Jordan (4 straight seasons) and Wilt Chamberlain (5 straight seasons).
Durant has a very realistic chance of becoming only the 5th player in NBA history to record number averages of 30+ ppg, 8+ rpg and 5+ apg over the course of this season.
For a second season in a row he is on the verge of making a second entry into the 50-40-90 (field goal, 3-point goal, free throw) club with his current shooting averages standing at 50.2, 41.1 and 88.1 respectively.
Also his current lead over LeBron James in the scoring average category of 4.7 is the highest since 1987 when Michael Jordan had a lead of 8.1 over Dominique Wilkins.
Durant taking over in Westbrook’s absence
In Westbrook’s absence, Durant has developed his all-round game to help his team stand a better chance of winning games
When Westbrook went down in last season’s playoffs, the Thunder and Durant were not prepared for the road ahead, but at the start of this season the mentality was different.
Durant could not do everything for the Thunder in the Playoffs to seal a win. However on the back of his numbers during this streak the Thunder has sealed wins against the top teams in the West – Portland Trailblazers, Golden State Warriors and twice against the Houston Rockets. Their 9-5 record without Westbrook is an improvement from the earlier first stint record of 4-7.
Agreed, the majority of the first stint without the point guard from UCLA was in the Playoffs, but this regular stint is helping young, inexperienced players like Jeremy Lamb and Reggie Jackson get the right amount of minutes and exposure to come handy in crunch time situations in the post-season.
This period also helps Durant develop his playmaking and passing game, the biggest gap considered between him and James, to become a better all-round player. Consistently over this period of games we have witnessed Durant taking lesser shots in quarters on either side of the halftime break, trying to get his teammates involved, before putting on his superman cape in the final 12 minutes.
It’s kept him in the MVP race
Although this season many new names have popped up in the MVP race, Durant is currently more favoured to bag the honors among the top 2 of him and James.
This streak has helped Durant win a majority of categories when compared head to head with King James. James only beats Durant in field goal percentage (58.6 to 50.2) and assists with the gap in the latter being only of 1.6.
Meanwhile in rebounds (7.9 to 6.7), steals (1.5 to 1.3), blocks (0.8 to 0.3) and PER (Player Efficiency Rating), Durant has the upper hand on the 4-time MVP. If Durant continues his current scorching streak, he is favored to grab MVP honors for one reason more than the numbers he records-history.
No player has been voted as the regular season MVP three years in a row by the NBA fans since Larry Bird in the time span ranging from 1983-86.
Another key aspect Durant has quietly made huge strides on is defense. Silently, on PER rankings, his defensive numbers on small forwards (8.9 to 12.1) and power forwards (9.2 to 12.6) are better than those of James. Yes, The King is on the road to his fourth straight final with the Miami Heat and we see his versatile choking defense switch on only in the wake of desperate situations.
Excuses cannot hide the truth that on statistical evidence and consistency Durant is more than a step ahead of the reigning two-time MVP.
It is still too early to predict who would win the award especially knowing what late season surges James and his Miami Heat are capable of pulling off. However, it does not change the fact that the MVP race is not a one sided affair this season.