May 15, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) comes off the court after losing to the Memphis Grizzlies in game five of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Grizzlies defeated the Thunder 88-84. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s season ended last night but really it ended when Russell Westbrook was announced to be out for the playoffs. You can even make the case that it was over before it started when the Thunder traded James Harden but we won’t go there now.

After making it to the NBA Finals last year, the bar has been set for success for this franchise. You either win a championship or the season was an underachievement. That is fair.

The Thunder and Scott Brooks were exposed in this series. They just don’t have an offensive system whatsoever. I know this isn’t a new development but it never seemed to be so bad when the Thunder had Westbrook and Kevin Durant on the floor. Thunder fans probably even convinced themselves that what OKC was running on offense was fine.

Well, it’s not fine. Not at all.

Just about every other playoff team could have dealt with their second-best player going down better than the Thunder. What it comes down to is Brooks designed his offense to rely way too much on Westbrook creating things from nothing. Take Westbrook away and we got to see the ugliest offense in the league.

The Thunder improved defensively this season and ultimately that was not the reason for their downfall. But again without Westbrook, they would be exposed. Serge Ibaka cannot guard a great post-up player one-on-one on the block. Luckily for Serge, there are only a handful in the league but two of them were on Memphis.

Kendrick Perkins looks washed up. Even in a series where he should have been somewhat productive, he was awful. There is no place for him on this team anymore. He can’t help with anything. He needs to get amnestied, there is no way to rationalize not doing this.

Kevin Martin’s contract is up and while he has said he will take less money to stay in OKC, there’s pretty much no reason for the Thunder to want him anymore. Thanks for the season Martin.

One of the great things about watching the Thunder is that on any given night, Durant or Westbrook could go off, scoring 40 points or something crazy. That’s entertaining but won’t get them any closer to a championship. Look at what LeBron is averaging in Miami in these playoffs. He doesn’t have to produce as much so he can be more efficient and get his teammates, who are able, involved.

The Thunder aren’t winning a title until they can mirror this on their end. I loved as much as anyone watching Durant average 35-10-6 and shoot over 50 percent from the field. But that’s not what the Thunder need if they want to win a championship.

It will be up to the role players developing and Sam Presti finding more pieces to put around these guys before they are ready to make it back to the NBA Finals.

Reggie Jackson gave us a glimpse of what he can do. He will be a very solid player coming off the bench for the Thunder in the future. He got incredibly better from his rookie season and I don’t think there is any reason to expect anything different for next year.

Considering what Jackson did, there is hope that Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones, who barely played at all this season just like Jackson last year, could make the same kind of jumps.

The Thunder are no longer a Big 3 model team. They have a Big 2 and will need to surround those two with a minimum of six players who can produce at a high level. Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison, Thabo Sefolosha and Reggie Jackson are four of those guys. The Thunder need to find at least two more.

OKC holds the Raptors’ first round draft pick this year which is projected to be the 12th overall pick. They also have their own first rounder, Charlotte’s second rounder and Dallas’ future first round pick. The Thunder can be major players at the draft. They’ve proven in the past to make great selections and need to do so once more.

This year was ultimately a disappointment, but only because of what the Thunder have been able to accomplish so quickly in the past few years. The end result made sense given the circumstances and the Thunder will have to live with it.

We know we can count on Durant and Westbrook to work as hard as any player in the league this offseason. They will get a little more rest this summer with a shorter season and no Olympics. They will come back stronger next year and so will the Thunder. How many other teams are guaranteed this?

May 13, 2013; Memphis, TN, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) struggles to keep the ball while Memphis Grizzlies shooting guard Tony Allen (9) and Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33) try to take it awash in game four of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at FedEx Forum. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant has been asked to do everything for the Oklahoma City Thunder since Russell Westbrook went down with his injury.

For the most part, Durant has exceeded any expectations we could have had of him doing this. He’s averaging 33.1 points, 10.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists in 44.7 minutes per game since Westbrook’s injury.

But these last few games against the Grizzlies, Durant appears to be wearing down.

The Thunder fell behind 3-1 in the Western Conference Semifinals last night as they lost to the Grizzlies 103-97 in overtime. Durant played 48 minutes including the entire second half and overtime and shot 10-for-27 from the field.

In the fourth quarter and overtime, Durant scored just five points.

Durant may physically be able to handle playing this amount of minutes and at times he can still appear like it doesn’t faze him but there is simply no reason not to buy him at least a little rest. It’s the mental fatigue that seems to be getting to Durant more than anything as Memphis has made him work harder than ever to get shots and get open.

During the regular season, Durant’s normal rest came with around three minutes to go in the first and third quarters. Then he would either start the next quarter or come in shortly after it started. This way he was still able to play 40-plus minutes when need be and the Thunder wouldn’t have to play lineups with Durant and Westbrook on the bench.

With Westbrook gone, that is now impossible. That doesn’t mean Durant needs to play all 48 though. His rest time just needs to be altered.

There’s no reason not to rest Durant for the first three minutes of the second and fourth quarters until that first TV timeout. This way he gets the entire quarter break and then an extra TV timeout so he can finish the games fresher.

Scott Brooks has made it a habit for these last two seasons of playing Durant the entire second half in close games. More often than not, you will notice Durant’s shot not falling as much at the end of these games.

This has been the case in the last two games of this series. Durant needs that break. His teammates aren’t making it an easy decision for Brooks since they have an incredibly difficult time scoring with KD on the bench but the rest is still necessary.

Don’t expect this to be employed the rest of this series though. The Thunder have their backs against the wall now down 3-1 and Brooks is more likely to play KD the entire game than deciding to finally start giving him some rest.

Game 5 will be tomorrow night in OKC.

May 7, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) handles the ball against Memphis Grizzlies forward Tayshaun Prince (21) during the first half in game two of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

I don’t know how it’s possible but it seems like most people feel Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors or LeBron James of the Miami Heat have been the MVP’s of the NBA Playoffs so far.

Is Kevin Durant really feeling the effects of being in a small market for the first time?

Durant is only the second player in the history of the NBA to be averaging at least 33 points, nine rebounds, six assists and one steal per game in the playoffs (LeBron did it in 2009).

Curry and LeBron have had great postseasons but it’s just not on the same level as what Durant is doing.

This isn’t me saying that Durant is better than LeBron. Think about this though: If Durant averaged what he’s doing in the playoffs for an entire NBA season, he would be the clear-cut MVP. Curry’s numbers aren’t even close and even LeBron’s aren’t.

Durant should even get bonus points for the situation he has been put in. He’s playing without Russell Westbrook for the first time since his rookie season.

This is particularly a challenge since Scott Brooks has designed the Thunder offense to rely so much on Westbrook’s ability to create something out of nothing. Now, with nothing replacing the something Westbrook would create, it’s left Durant literally playing one-on-five at times.

The fact that Durant’s numbers have gotten better while sustaining efficiency is the most remarkable thing about what Durant has been doing since the Westbrook injury.

I’m as big of a Durant fan as you’ll find and even I thought we’d see a much less efficient KD post-Westbrook.

Durant has quickly made us forget that the Thunder shouldn’t be able to make the same NBA Finals they did a year ago because they are now without two of the best 10 players in the league in Westbrook and James Harden.

Maybe more people are counting the Thunder out now, but there is still a definite chance that they beat Memphis and maybe even win the West.

In closing, Curry has been great in these playoffs and maybe more entertaining than Durant. LeBron is still the best player but what Durant is doing definitely makes him the most valuable player in these playoffs so far.

Kevin Durant has earned the title of “Best Closer” in the NBA and this afternoon in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals vs. the Memphis Grizzlies, Durant showed why.

Durant came down to pull up for this jump shot in transition with 11 seconds left in the game to give the Thunder a 91-90 lead over the Grizzlies and complete a double-digit, second half comeback for the Thunder.

Durant finished the game with 35 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. He scored 12 points in the final 7:20 of the game.

The Thunder have looked like they are in trouble ever since the Russell Westbrook injury but Durant has done everything in his power to make us forget about that. He’s averaging 35.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists in five games without Westbrook in the playoffs. He’s also shooting 50.8 percent from the field in that time.

The Thunder are going to need Durant to keep playing at this level to have a chance to get past the Grizzlies in this series. Memphis is used to coming from behind already in these playoffs as they lost the first two games of their first round series vs. the Los Angeles Clippers before going on to win the next four.

The way Memphis defended Durant, it looks like he will be able to continue to dominate unless they change something. The Grizzlies used Tayshaun Prince on Durant for most of the game and gave him little help. Durant even missed a bunch of shots that he usually knocks down.

Like the Houston series, expect the Grizzlies to start loading up on Durant even more the rest of the series. It will become even more important as the series goes on for Kevin Martin, Serge Ibaka and Reggie Jackson to step up.

May 5, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) handles the ball against Memphis Grizzlies guard Tayshaun Prince (21) during the first half in game one of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Rockets defeated the Thunder 107-100. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant scored 12 of his 35 points in the final 7:20 of the game as the Oklahoma City Thunder came back to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 93-91 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals.

Marc Gasol made a baseline shot over Kendrick Perkins with 1:07 left to give Memphis a 90-87 lead.

Durant made a driving pull-up jump shot on the Thunder’s next possession and then a steal when Memphis got the ball back.

The Thunder didn’t call timeout after Durant’s steal and he came down the floor and pulled up for a 19-foot jumper in transition to give OKC a 91-90 lead with 11 seconds left.

The comeback almost looked like it might be wasted when Reggie Jackson fouled Quincy Pondexter on a three-point attempt with one second left and the Thunder leading by three but Pondexter would miss the first free throw attempt, allowing the Thunder to hold on.

Durant added 15 rebounds (all defensive), six assists and two blocks to his 35 points. He shot 13-for-26 from the field and went 9-for-10 from the free throw line.

The Thunder received a big lift from Kevin Martin off the bench. Martin scored 25 points for the second consecutive game, shooting 8-for-14 from the field in 32 minutes.

Gasol and Zach Randolph combined for 38 points and 20 rebounds to lead the Grizzlies. Overall, the Thunder did a decent job containing the two Memphis bigs.

Both teams got out to really slow shooting starts as Memphis led Oklahoma City 16-14 after the first quarter. The teams got warmed up though in the second where OKC outscored the Grizzlies 33-30.

Both teams did an excellent job holding on to the ball. The Thunder turned it over just 10 times while Memphis just 11 times, but two of those came in the final 17 seconds.

The Thunder would outscore the Grizzlies 29-18 in the fourth quarter. Durant played the entire second half and completely took over down the stretch.

The Thunder needed this Game 1 win. They wouldn’t have wanted to waste such a great performance by Martin and some more clutch three-point shooting by Derek Fisher (2-for-2 in the fourth). Serge Ibaka really struggled offensively however shooting just 1-for-10 from the field and missing a big free throw with 1:21 left in the game.

The Thunder can still get better but so can the Grizzlies. This series really feels like every game will be close as both teams played great defense and neither offense seems to have enough fire power to run away from the other team.

Game 2 will be Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. CST in OKC and will be on TNT.

Apr 25, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James passes off the ball against the Milwaukee Bucks during game three of the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James is not your unanimous MVP everybody. Some idiot gave Carmelo Anthony a vote.

LeBron ended up with 120 of a possible 121 first-place votes to win his fourth MVP. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Michael Jordan have won at least four MVP’s in their career.

Kevin Durant finished second in the MVP voting while Anthony came in third-place.

Durant received 93 second-place votes, 21 third-place votes, two fourth-place votes and three fifth-place votes. Anthony finished with 16 second-place votes, 51 third-place votes, 27 fourth-place votes and 17 fifth-place.

Chris Paul finished fourth in the MVP voting and Kobe Bryant finished fifth. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan came in sixth and seventh place followed by James Harden in eighth place.

Russell Westbrook came in ninth place receiving just one fourth-place vote and six for fifth-place.

Obviously, LeBron winning the award was an easy choice. It’s very surprising that it wasn’t unanimous and if anyone should have received any first-place votes, it’s Durant and not Anthony.

Durant had one of the best seasons in NBA history as well. He nearly led the league in scoring for the fourth straight season while also shooting 50-40-90 and becoming just the seventh player in NBA history to do so.

Jan 6, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) talks to forward Serge Ibaka (9) and guard Reggie Jackson (15) against the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre. The Thunder beat the Raptors 104-92. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s dynamic duo was broken up this postseason after Russell Westbrook’s injury in Game 2 required knee surgery.

It’s the second break-up this season that the Thunder have had to endure. Their amazing trio that included James Harden was also broken up right before the season.

OKC has had their problems adjusting without Westbrook in this series vs. the Houston Rockets and it’s resulted in them losing the last two games.

Amazingly, Westbrook’s replacement, Reggie Jackson, has produced along with Kevin Durant’s new production very close to what KD and Russ did in the regular season.

Take a look at this:

Durant and Westbrook regular season
73.4 minutes per game
17.2-36.4 field goals (47.3 percent)
14.0-16.3 free throws (85.9 percent)
51.3 points per game
12.0 assists per game
13.1 rebounds per game
6.8 turnovers per game

Durant and Jackson the last three games
75.7 minutes per game
17.7-36.0 field goals (49.2 percent)
16.3-19.4 free throws (84.0 percent)
55.6 points per game
8.0 assists per game
13.0 rebounds per game
7.0 turnovers per game

As you can see, the Durant-Jackson duo has actually been slightly better than Durant-Westbrook were in the regular season in a lot of areas including scoring and field goal percentage.

Ironically, the area of Westbrook’s game that the Thunder miss the most is his passing. The Durant-Jackson duo is averaging just eight assists per game combined while KD and Russ got 12 per game in the regular season.

This totally confirms what we’re seeing in this series. The Thunder are relying on isolation more than ever before. Durant is basically playing point guard for most of the game. The Thunder are ending up taking way more terrible shots than ever before. The spot-up shooters in Kevin Martin, Thabo Sefolosha and Serge Ibaka have not stepped up. Only Derek Fisher has.

The other area that this doesn’t take into account is Westbrook’s defense. This was the one area that we thought Jackson could do the best job replacing. It’s not as much that he hasn’t either as it also is that the Rockets are going small and the Thunder would have had trouble with this even with Westbrook in the lineup.

It feels like the Thunder are right now in the worst shape they’ve been in a long time. The Rockets have stolen all of the momentum in this series and look like they may actually have a legitimate shot at winning this series.

The big thing that needs to change for the Thunder is the ball movement, which is tough when you basically don’t have a point guard anymore. The Thunder did do a better job of this in Game 5 and have made at least a tiny bit of progress over the last three games.

Just to keep up with Houston, Durant has been playing out of his mind the last three games. If he lets up even a little, the Thunder may not have a chance.

Game 6 is tonight at 8:30 p.m. CST on ESPN.

October 24, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Houston Rockets power forward Royce White (30) against the New Orleans Hornets during the first half of a preseason game at the New Orleans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Rockets rookie Royce White – who has yet to make his NBA debut – has made a name for himself this year on Twitter.

He says what he feels and rarely seems to hold back.

Last night after Houston’s 107-100 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, White tweeted at Kevin Durant.

@kdtrey5… Y’all are looking SHAAAKYY BAAABYY.#RedNation

— Royce White (@Highway_30) May 1, 2013

White later backed up his tweets and called Durant a “deadly player.”

The truth is that the Thunder have looked pretty shaky since Russell Westbrook’s injury. They are in a very tough situation trying to learn on the fly how to play without the guy that ran the show for them all season.

The Thunder don’t seem to really be making great strides either. The offense still ends up with Durant doing everything and when he’s not, his teammates look lost quite often. Worst of all the defense has been struggling too and giving up way too many open looks for the Rockets on the perimeter. The Thunder need to figure that out as well.

I don’t really care what White tweets and I’m not one to tell him to shut up. That’s the job of the Thunder. A win Friday night in Houston will do the job.

Maybe the Thunder can use this as motivation although they probably don’t really care.

Kevin Durant took flight with one of his best ever Monday night in Game 4 on the road vs. the Houston Rockets.

It wouldn’t be enough though as the Oklahoma City Thunder lost 105-103.

Durant ended up with 38 points, eight rebounds and six assists. He also turned the ball over seven times though as the Rockets made it their primary focus to double-team him on every occasion.

This dunk was nasty though. Durant had just hit a three to pull the Thunder closer and then took matters into his own hands as much as anyone could with this play and finish.

This is now the third time in the last two games that Durant (in Russell Westbrook’s absence) has gone coast-to-coast with a crazy dunk.

We’re seeing a different Thunder team as was expected since the Westbrook injury. Durant has assumed a larger role which is very interesting considering he is the second best player in the NBA and I guess we never really knew what it would look like if he was on the 2010 Cavaliers.

The loss is not too worrisome for the Thunder that are still up 3-1 in this series. The Rockets played a great game at home as they desperately didn’t want to get swept in front of their home crowd. They came out with a strategy and stuck to it and made big shots.

Game 5 will be Wednesday night back in OKC.

Apr 27, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) reacts during the first quarter against the Houston Rockets during game three in the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

We saw a different game from the Oklahoma City Thunder and Kevin Durant in Game 3 vs. the Houston Rockets as the Thunder were without Russell Westbrook for the first time in franchise history.

Durant was the primary ball handler for much of the game as he played 47 minutes and scored 41 points to go with 14 rebounds and four assists. Durant shot 13-for-30 from the field and did seemingly everything for a Thunder team that was missing such a big piece.

Durant said after the game that it felt like he was playing street ball handling the ball as much as he did and trying to make something out of nothing on almost every possession.

That’s a great quote but doesn’t say anything great about the Thunder and especially head coach Scott Brooks. The Thunder need to figure out how to play without Westbrook. What happened in Game 3 can’t be the norm going forward because it simply will not work for long.

We’re talking about an NBA team here with one of the most efficient offenses in the league the past two years that looked like a street ball team in a playoff game. How is this possible?

The issue is that the Thunder never really had a very complex offense. There already was a lot of isolation for Durant and Westbrook but they were good enough that it didn’t matter.

Now without Westbrook all of that changes. When the amount of isolation now increases and you just have Durant, the Thunder will not be able to be nearly as efficient.

Brooks needs a find a way to feature Reggie Jackson, Kevin Martin and Serge Ibaka more. We need to see more of Jackson handling the ball in the pick-and-roll and more plays run for Martin trying to get him going.

Part of why they didn’t really get going in Game 3 was that Durant played the whole game and dominated the ball the whole game. That needs to be toned down going forward and these other guys need to step up.

The Thunder will be in real trouble if nothing changes, maybe even in this Houston series.

Game 4 will be tonight in Houston.

Apr 27, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) shoots during the fourth quarter as Houston Rockets power forward Terrence Jones (6) defends during game three of the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant put the Oklahoma City Thunder on his back last night leading the Thunder to a 104-101 victory over the Houston Rockets.

Durant had 41 points, 14 rebounds and four assists in 47 minutes of action in what was the first game in franchise history without Russell Westbrook.

It was clear that the team and Durant had one thing on their minds coming into the game and that was to win it for Westbrook.

Durant basically played point guard for much of the game. Twice, he went coast-to-coast bringing the ball up the floor and finishing with dunks over Houston big men. KD provided the finishing touches in the win too when he sunk a three-pointer with 41 seconds left after watching the ball bounce around the rim three times.

The three was meant to go in and the Thunder were meant to win this game. They willed their way to victory without their vocal leader. Durant stepped up.

Where does Durant’s performance rank among the all-time great playoff performances?

There have only been 10 times when a player had at least 41 points, 14 rebounds and four assists in a game since the 1985-86 season. LeBron James did it once, Charles Barkley twice and Shaq three times.

There was more riding on Durant’s game last night than any of the other’s except for LeBron. This was a statement by Durant that this Thunder team is not rolling over and dying.

It brought with it shades of Magic Johnson in his rookie season when he led the Los Angeles Lakers to an NBA title. After a devastating injury to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1980 NBA Finals, Magic stood up in front of his teammates and proclaimed, “Have no fear, Magic is here.” Magic then went on to have 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists in Game 6 as the Lakers beat the 76ers for the championship.

Durant and the Thunder are only in the first round but it was a similar moment for OKC. Everyone was ready to completely write them off after hearing news that Westbrook was done for the playoffs. Durant reminded everyone that he’s still healthy.

Last night was definitely the greatest playoff game in Durant’s career and he’s had some good ones. If the Thunder can make a run to the Western Conference Finals without Westbrook then everyone will remember last night’s game as one of the best ever.

For the Thunder, Durant will need to continue having these all-time great performances for them to keep winning in the playoffs. Until OKC learns how to get more production from Serge Ibaka and Kevin Martin, they will rely on Durant to put up gaudy numbers like last night just to stay in games.

If there’s one thing we learned last night, it’s that Durant is up for the challenge. We’ll be in for a show the rest of these playoffs. The Kevin Durant Show.

Apr 27, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) drives the ball around Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden (13) in the first quarter during game three in the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Phew. Can I breathe now?

Wait. Give me a second.

Ok. I’m good now. Well, I’ll just give you a run down of how this game went real quick. The Thunder looked dominate in the first half leading by as much as 26, blew the lead, were down, and somehow came out on top to take a 3-0 series lead. And, yeah, Kevin Durant was something else. He finished with 41 points, and 14 rebounds. Someone said something about him stepping up without #0?..

The first half could not of gone any better for the Thunder. To open the game, the Thunder went down 7-1 in early going. However, after the slow start, the Thunder responded to take a lead 16-9 with 6:18 to go in the first as they went on 13-0 run. Durant’s slam over Asik was the talk of the first quarter. At the end of one, the Thunder led the Rockets, 39-19. Durant was the high scorer with 17.  Oklahoma opened the second quarter on fire as they led 46-22 with 9:36 to go in the quarter. At the time, Houston was shooting 1-11 from deep. The Rockets showed spurts of life with big production from Francisco Gracia. Houston went a 14-6 run to end the half, but the Thunder still had a demanding lead going into the locker room, 66-49. Durant had 27 points at the half.

In the third quarter, the Rockets rallied themselves right back into the game. The Thunder led by 17, 73-56 halfway through the quarter. However, the Rockets went on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 13. Then, all things went South as the Rockets cut the lead to 9 with a Chandler Parsons three.  Francisco Garcia’s three made it an 11-0 run for the Rockets, but Durant’s three ending that run (his only points in the quarter). Heading into the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City led 80-76. In the fourth, the Rockets stayed in the game in the early going. The Thunder led by 2 with 7:49 to go in the game. The Rockets took a one point lead with 3:30 to go for the first time since the 9-6 lead in the first. Durant’s three with 20 or so seconds to go gave the Thunder the lead back by 1, and Derek Fischer’s two free throws gave the Thunder a three-point lead with 12.5 seconds to go. Harden responded with a quick two, but Reggie Jackson’s two free throws sealed the deal as the thunder survived, 104-101.

When Durant was asked what adjustments he had to make without Westbrook, he said, “Well, I gotta do whatever Coach needs me to do.”

Like I said, a win is a win, and the Thunder are up 3-0 in the series. See you Monday night for Game 4 as the Thunder try to bring out the broom and sweep the Rockets.

Behind the picture of Durant, text reads: “I’ve been second my whole life. I was the second best player in high school. I was the second pick in the draft. I’ve been second in the MVP voting three times. I came in second in the Finals. I’m tired of being second. I’m not going to settle for that. I’m done with it.”

Always being second in everything is a real thing in sports that happens to people. That would be the worst-case scenario for Durant’s career. It’s basically what has defined his career so far but he’s of course still so young and it would be very surprising if always being second is what ultimately defines him.

Durant would probably go down as the most talented athlete ever to be known as one that always came in second place. I guess it doesn’t matter how talented you are if you aren’t as talented as the guy ahead of you. in Durant’s case, that’s LeBron James right now and he’s as talented as nearly anyone who has ever played in this league.

This is just a nightmare to think about. Realistically, there is nothing to worry about with KD. He’ll get a rung one day. He’ll win an MVP one day. He will be thought of as the best player on the planet one day.

That day is just not now. Not yet. Not while LeBron is still around doing his thing.

Unfortunately, it looks like Durant won’t be going after the scoring title tonight when the Oklahoma City Thunder take on the Milwaukee Bucks.

Durant would have needed 70 points tonight to pass Anthony as the NBA’s scoring leader. Durant joked after the Thunder’s last game that he would go for it if everyone wanted him to.

Scott Brooks said though that his main guys wouldn’t be playing very much tonight and then guaranteed that Durant wouldn’t score 70.

Dropping 70 was a very long shot but not impossible to think about for Durant. It would have been very cool for him to come out and try and get it tonight.

The Thunder clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with their win over the Sacramento Kings Monday night, which has made this game pretty much pointless for them.

Durant played in all 66 regular season games last year and in 2009-10, he played in all 82. He has never played less than 74 games in a season.

The real disappointment will simply be for any Thunder fans out there who are going to see their first game. If Durant really isn’t playing, it will be too bad for them.

Apr 15, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) handles the ball against Sacramento Kings forward Travis Outlaw (25) during the first half at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant needs 70 points tomorrow night vs. the Milwaukee Bucks to pass Carmelo Anthony for the lead in points per game this season.

Durant would become only the third player in history (Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain the others) to lead the league in scoring four straight seasons if he does so.

Why not go for it?

We’ve seen it before when a player comes into the last game of the regular season and tries to go for a huge number to win the scoring title.

It first happened in the closest scoring race in history between David Thompson and George Gervin. Gervin scored 63 points in the Spurs’ final regular season game after Thompson had scored 73 early that day.

David Robinson did the same thing in 1994. He went into the last game of the season trailing Shaquille O’Neal by 33 points and went on to score 71 vs. the Clippers.

Durant, if anybody, is capable of going for 70 in a game, especially in a game vs. the Bucks that is meaningless for them.

Durant deserves this title too. After playing tomorrow night he will have played in all 82 games this season while Anthony has missed 15 games. Durant has scored more than Anthony this year by far and should be recognized with this title anyway.

Scott Brooks has said that his starters will play very limited minutes Wednesday. So unless something happens before the game where Durant’s teammates rally around him and tell him that they want him to score 70, it’s probably not happening.

Durant himself has said that he doesn’t care about the scoring title and just cares about winning a title. Of course that is fine but there would be nothing wrong with at least trying to drop 70 tomorrow night.

All Durant should try and do is shoot every time he gets the ball vs. the Bucks. Let’s say he gets 20 or more points in the first quarter. If he does then he should definitely try and get 70. If he isn’t making shots, then he can forget about it.

NBA fans love the scoring race for whatever reason. They don’t look down on Gervin and Robinson for the way they won it back when they did. And they wouldn’t look down on Durant either. It would just be so fun to see.

I think I speak for all Thunder fans here. Go for 70 Durant.

Last night vs. the Golden State Warriors, Russell Westbrook ferociously blocked Stephen Curry from behind igniting a fast break which Durant capped off with a big slam dunk.

After the slam, Durant did a little Mortal Kombat move with a throat slicing gesture.

This continues the pretty odd season for Durant in which he started picking up way more technicals and basically living up to the saying “KD is not nice.”

The gesture is something that you should expect to get a fine for. It pretty much crosses the line and Durant took it too far.

Somehow, it looks like Durant just did this in the heat of the moment and didn’t really think about it. Who knew this kind of move was something that could come out of Durant after a play like that?

The play was really amazing though and this fine lets us focus on that just a little bit more. It’s the kind of play that you really only see in Thunder games because they have the likes of Durant and Westbrook to pull it off.

But now KD is $25K poorer.

Apr 9, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) is introduced prior to a game against the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

With 4:30 left in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s game vs. the Utah Jazz, Kevin Durant found Russell Westbrook open for a three-pointer to give the Thunder an 82-70 lead.

That was Durant’s ninth assist of the game, leaving him just one away from getting a triple-double. Durant knew it and tried very hard the last four minutes to get it.

He only took one more shot in the game and made it. He was immediately looking for an open teammate whenever he received the ball and even seemed mad on one occasion when they didn’t immediately shoot what was a pretty open look.

This isn’t the first we’ve heard of Durant caring about his stats and being aware of them in the game. ESPN’s David Thorpe brought this up a few weeks ago recalling a time when Durant was upset because he wasn’t credited with a basket properly.

You can see it watching Durant too like last night or when he recorded his first triple-double of his career earlier this season vs. the Golden State Warriors. When he got that 10th assist in that game, he looked relieved and smiled about it.

It’s pretty much proven then that Durant is obsessed with his stats. This can’t be that bad of thing considering he is having his best statistical season of his career this year. But last night it did seem like it could have hurt the Thunder, Durant trying so hard for that triple-double, had Utah come back and won.

It is clear that Durant is chasing LeBron James in this regard. He wants to be a player like LeBron who is hyper-efficient with an all-around game. Again, nothing is really wrong with that but you’d like the game to come to Durant instead of him forcing it.

LeBron is actually another player that keeps track of his own stats. He admitted to it years ago and would say that if he had only a few assists at halftime then he would try and get his teammates involved more in the second half. Clearly, this has never been an issue for LeBron.

It is concerning though to know that Durant thinks this way. I guess it’s hard to imagine it ever coming in the way of winning, especially in the playoffs, but who knows.

The other interesting dynamic to this is that Durant plays with Westbrook, who clearly isn’t concerned of keeping track of his stats. I don’t know what it means but it is interesting.

Hopefully, we never think about this again once the playoffs start. We probably won’t.

April 5, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) goes up for a shot against Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert (55) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

This may have been the most impressive win of the year for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Coming off of a great win over the Spurs last night the Thunder faced one of the toughest and best teams in the east tonight against the Pacers. Well they not only beat them, but they beat them pretty easily. Led by Kevin Durant and his 34 points the Thunder handled the Pacers and came out with the best record in the west.

Early in the game the Pacers were hanging around because of their great size inside. Roy Hibbert and David West combined for 39 points and 13 rebounds and in the third quarter they made a run at the Thunder behind these two. However I was really impressed with the Thunder’s adjustments down low later in the game. Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins both played well down the stretch for OKC.

Offensively it was the Kevin Durant show for the Thunder. We really haven’t seen this KD in a long time. He was hitting shots from all over the floor, and they weren’t easy shots either. More importantly, he closed the deal for OKC. He took over the fourth quarter, and it is really something special to see something like that happen. The Thunder outscored the Pacers 25-8 in the fourth quarter and Durant had 15 of those points. The Pacers had absolutely no answer for KD, and that is what makes this team so special. They can just give the ball to Durant and he can finish the game for them.

Russell Westbrook contributed solidly as well, as he finished with 24 points 9 assists and 7 rebounds. Russ had 12 points in the first quarter and that really set the tone for OKC. Kevin Martin had a very quiet game, as he only had 9 points on 3-7 shooting. If Martin’s “no show” games continue, then the Thunder may have a tough time in the playoffs, and specifically against the Heat. Serge Ibaka hit quite a few deep jumpers early in the game as he finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds. Offensive rebounding was also huge for the Thunder in this game as they finished with 15 total offensive boards. That is really a crazy stat considering that the Pacers are one of the biggest teams in the league, and also one of the best rebounding teams in the league. If the Thunder can continue to hit the boards like this, then they will be tough to stop in this years playoffs.

Overall, I though this game was huge for OKC. It showed that they are tough enough to beat these “big” “bad” teams in the east, and as of right now, they now have the top seed in the west. They were also on the back end of a back to back and that makes this win even more impressive.

Player of the Game: This has to be KD. He closed the game out for the Thunder and he was lights out on the offensive end as he finished with 34 points on 13-21 shooting.

Kevin Durant will tell you that he doesn’t care about it. But he has a chance to become just the third player ever to win the scoring title in four consecutive seasons if he does so this year.

Carmelo Anthony just took a big leap last night toward Durant’s league-leading 28.3 points per game when he dropped 50 points on the Miami Heat.

Anthony is now averaging 27.9 points per game and is really the only player with an actual chance to catch Durant in the scoring title race.

Anthony and the Knicks have nine games left this season. Durant and the Thunder will play eight more games.

The Knicks and Thunder still have a reason to play hard the rest of the season. The Knicks are currently tied with the Indiana Pacers for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and the Thunder are just a game back of the San Antonio Spurs for the top spot in the Western Conference.

The Thunder and Knicks will also play each other one last time this season this coming Sunday at 1 p.m. EST.

Both Durant and Anthony will have reason to play a lot of minutes down the stretch this season and therefore, score a lot more.

By the looks of it – and especially because of last night – Anthony may be in more of a scoring groove of late than Durant is.

We may be in store for another great finish in the scoring race this season between two players that many call the two best scorers in the game (I know, go figure).

Thunder fans are definitely rooting big time for Durant to win this. His season has been very much overshadowed this year by LeBron James. If Durant can become the third player ever to win four straight scoring titles (and do so by taking less shots per game than Russell Westbrook) and become just the seventh player ever to shoot join to 50-40-90 club then it will be a great consolation prize for him and the Thunder faithful.

Feb 14, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) handles the ball against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) during the second half at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Most people look at Skip Bayless as a talking head that will do anything to gain attention. This is very true to an extent but it doesn’t mean that he is clueless and doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Bayless – a huge fan of Kevin Durant – has been very critical of him over the years. Most recently, he is calling KD out for having a “LeBron Complex.”

He is essentially saying that Durant is too nice and shouldn’t be allowing Russell Westbrook to play the way that he was, Bayless compares Russ to Kobe. It should be the other way around with Durant approaching the court with a Kobe-like mentality and Westbrook being more passive.

The way Bayless phrases this is what will have people up in arms. What he’s actually saying is something that probably everyone has agreed with at some point in time.

What we’ve seen this season is the most dramatic change in Durant’s game. He is trying to be more of an all-around player, improving as a passer, defender and rebounder. On paper, there’s nothing wrong with this and it makes total sense. But at times it feels like Durant has lost his identity somewhat and it isn’t helping the Thunder win.

It makes sense to try and imitate the best player in the league, which is seems is what Durant has been doing. But it doesn’t make sense if you can’t do it perfectly. If Durant can’t be as good as LeBron is playing his game, then it becomes a bad idea to try and be like LeBron. Even when LeBron was slightly not as good, he was still the best player in the league but he wasn’t good enough to win titles yet.

Durant becoming LeBron is something that will never happen and Durant needs to realize this. He needs to just be himself and if anything, more like Kobe.

Bayless is right on the money with this assertion of Durant and he will always be right unless Durant wins a title playing this way. That’s why this is a safe argument for Bayless to make because the only thing that makes him wrong is if Durant wins a title.

The Thunder look further from winning a title right now than they have all season. There is real fear in the minds of Thunder fans. There is fear that the Harden trade was a horrible mistake, Scott Brooks is not the right coach for this team and Durant is not playing the right way. None of those fears existed a season ago, at least not to the extent that they do now.

The regular season is almost over and the playoffs will soon begin. We know how the game changes at that point and it will be very interesting to see which Durant we see. Will he continue to keep imitating LeBron or will be become more Kobe-like? It really could be either.

Feb 12, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) and head coach Scott Brooks react to a flagrant 1 foul call on Durant during the second half against the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz won 109-94. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Scott Brook’s contract was going to be up with the Oklahoma City Thunder back on June 30. Then he signed a four-year, $16 million deal to stay with the team.

But there was a chance this wouldn’t happen.

The Portland Trail Blazers were among the teams courting Brooks back then. Brooks had reportedly turned down three-year, $11 million offers with hopes that an agreement could be reached with the Thunder.

One of the things that would sway Brooks the most to stay in OKC was a text message he received from Kevin Durant.

When the clock ticked inside of what could best be described as a harrowing final hour of contract negotiations between Scott Brooks and the Oklahoma City Thunder last summer, the thing that ultimately kept the team’s coveted free agent coach from now pacing the sidelines of the Portland Trail Blazers was a text message.

It came from Kevin Durant.

“It was like the day before they got something done,” Durant said. “I think that day was the toughest.”

The message moved Brooks, who had been tied up in tense on-again, off-again talks that had put his future with the Thunder in jeopardy.

Via Darnell Mayberry/The Oklahoman

You can’t blame Durant for supporting his coach and sending that text but now the Thunder have Brooks for the next four years and now, more than ever, that’s starting to look like a bad thing.

Criticism first came Brooks’ way a few years ago when the Thunder were called out for running predictable plays on offense. Despite the talents of Durant and Russell Westbrook, late in games they were unable to get good looks at the basket.

This kind of went away last year as the Thunder made their run to the NBA Finals. The Thunder still didn’t look like the Spurs offensively but they had definitely made improvements and became a team that could close teams out with good offense.

This season the Thunder were supposed to take, once again, the next step. They had made it to the NBA Finals the year before and now they were supposed to become that hungry team that looked poise to win it all.

A recent slump has made you feel otherwise about this team. The blame feels like it has to be completely on Brooks.

The other big criticism of Brooks has been his substitution patterns. It used to be about him playing Kendrick Perkins far too many minutes, especially because it was instead of Nick Collison.

Most recently it is Brooks’ affinity to playing Derek Fisher that is puzzling.

Fisher was signed by the Thunder after the trade deadline just like last year. Except this year, the Thunder have no need for Fisher since Reggie Jackson has emerged as a more than capable backup point guard.

Still, Fisher is finding 12-18 minutes per game and the Thunder seem much worse off when this happens.

It’s a stubbornness that must exist in Brooks to rationalize playing Fisher and Perkins big minutes despite the overwhelming evidence that there are better options on the roster.

It’s a coach who doesn’t see the big picture. He likes those guys because they are veterans and leaders and are always striving their best to make the right play.

Brooks doesn’t realize that closing a game out with Collison or Serge Ibaka at center instead of Perkins is a no-brainer. He doesn’t realize that Ronnie Brewer should be playing instead of Fisher. Even Jeremy Lamb should have been given a shot instead of Fisher.

Brooks is just too hard on some of these young guys. The reason has to be because they aren’t great defensively yet. They don’t always make the right rotations at the right time and don’t appear to be as locked in as Perkins or Fisher is while they’re out there.

It’s something that is really holding back the Thunder this year. They’re not using all of their talents and that’s something you can’t afford to do in this league.

You can’t expect anyone with a personal relationship with Brooks to understand that he is not the man for the job. It’s nearly impossible to be able to have that perspective.

Brooks has served his purpose with the Thunder. He was there with them while they were young and helped them grow up. Now, it’s time to turn over the reins to someone else, someone who can coach a championship team.

Brooks is very far from proving he is a coach that can do that. Soon, it will be Thunder GM Sam Presti’s duty to pull the plug on Brooks.

Maybe it will be after this season, or maybe after the next but it really does feel inevitable at this point.

The Brooks era needs to end. Maybe it could have already had Durant not sent that text.

Mar 17, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) with guard Russell Westbrook (0) during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have been sort of ball-hogs lately.

The Thunder lost their last two games first at home to the Denver Nuggets 114-104 then in overtime on the to the Memphis Grizzlies the next night 90-89.

In those two games, Durant and Westbrook combined to shoot 97 times with just 17 total assists between the two.

That’s a lot different from what we’ve come to expect from these two this season. Durant is averaging a career-high 4.5 assists per game this season and Westbrook is up to 7.5 assists per game this season from 5.5 the season before.

Recent turnover problems could be a cause for the dip in assists from the two. The Thunder have played against tougher opponents recently and the usually hyper-efficient Thunder offense has not been itself.

Durant had a zero assist game last week vs. the Utah Jazz in which he also turned the ball over eight times.

Coming up for the Thunder is a cupcake schedule for their next five games. They play at Orlando tonight then against Portland, Washington, Minnesota and Milwaukee.

Against teams like those, Durant has often played the role of distributor rather than 30-point scorer. He’ll probably do the same coming up and we should start seeing the more all-around stat lines from KD and the Thunder role players stepping up more.

Even though it will be against lesser competition, it is still good timing for a stretch like this to get some confidence into players like Serge Ibaka and Kevin Martin. If they can get into good shooting rhythms with the playoffs right around the corner, that will be huge for the Thunder.

The Thunder will need everyone and not just KD and Russ when the playoffs role around. We’ve already found out recently that even with those two scoring efficiently, this team can lose against top-level talent if no one else steps up.

Beyond Ibaka and Martin getting going these next few weeks, the next best thing that can help the Thunder get ready for the playoffs would be a turned ankle by Derek Fisher.

Mar 20, 2013; Memphis, TN, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) during the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum. Memphis Grizzlies defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in overtime with a score of 90-89. Mandatory Credit: Spruce DerdenUSA TODAY Sports

With the Thunder’s loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, and the loss to the Grizzlies yesterday, there has been a lot of talk regarding the Thunder saying that they are really missing James Harden. However I personally believe that the Thunder will be just fine without Harden, and will go far in the playoffs once again.

Russell Westbrook’s huge improvement from last year is the main reason why I say this. This isn’t the best time for saying this, as his game against the Grizzlies wasn’t very good at all. However, the improvement that I have seen this season is pretty incredible. Last year all of the concerns with Westbrook not passing to Durant and being a bit out of control were totally legit and were a serious problem for OKC. Coming into this season that was one of the main concerns I had with this Thunder team, but Westbrook has really impressed me with how he has responded this year, as he has corrected that problem for the most part. In the critical situations Westbrook makes sure that KD gets the ball. That was one of James Harden’s main responsibility’s last year and Westbrook has picked up where he left off in 2013.

Now, because of KD’s skinny frame it makes it tough at times for Westbrook to get him the ball. If Durant is unable to get it, then we know that Russ is extremely capable of taking the ball and scoring himself. Last year he was great at getting to the hoop, this year he is incredible. I seriously have never seen anything like him. His combination of speed, quickness, and athleticism is unrivaled in the NBA and when he is on, nobody can stop him. Looking at Westbrook’s stats you cannot tell much of a difference from last year, but when you watch him play it is obvious that he is much more under control this year, and he knows when and when not to try and score for OKC.

The second reason I don’t think Harden will be missed in the playoffs is because of just how insanely talented Kevin Durant is. Durant is a legit 6’10 and his wingspan is around 7’4. He is one of the best shooters in the NBA and it is pretty much impossible to stop this man from scoring. When KD wants to, he can take a game over and put the opposing team to bed. The 3rd quarter of last nights game versus the Grizzlies was a perfect example. Midway through the 3rd quarter Durant had only 12 points on 4-14 shooting. He then went on a tear scoring 15 straight points and getting the Thunder back in the game.

When you have two guys like Westbrook and Durant on your team, you will be just fine. Harden helped them “right the ship” at times during the 2012 playoffs, but with Westbrook being able to “control” his game much better this year, and with Durant’s ability to score whenever he wants, I believe the Thunder will be right back in the NBA Finals this June.

Recently, Magic Johnson sat down with Kevin Durant to discuss Durant’s childhood, and patterning his game.  Something that really gets me in this interview is to see how much respect Durant has for Magic. In the interview, Durant talks about a little bit of everything. From his childhood, to his idol as a basketball player growing up.

Magic inferred to Durant that he was a complete player already, and Durant, being as humble as he is, gave a great response: “I don’t think I’m complete just yet. I think that’s the best part about me. I can continue to keep getting better.”

The most interesting question Magic asked Durant in the chat was who KD patterns his game after. After Magic told Durant that some people say it’s the great George Gervin. Durant response saying, “Well, George Gervin is a little before my time.” Durant then said his idol growing up was the Celtic great, Larry Bird.

“How patient he was with the game. He wasn’t the most athletic guy in the league, but he made it work.”

He went on to say, “Larry Bird is just my type of player. A wing player that can shot the ball, can do it all, can dribble can pass can rebound can defend and just play with that edge every single night. Of course all of my friends gave me a little heat for wanting to be like Larry Bird, but, he’s one of the best players to every play the game. You got to give him his credit.”

Durant looking up to Larry Bird is a wise thing to do. They both exhibit that “edge” of competiveness and both have that long tall body to that with a great touch.

Magic joked around with Durant on his 12 technical fouls this year. His response was, “Man. I wish I knew,” he continued to say, “I get a little too emotional too riled up. Hopefully I stay under 16 by the end of the year.”

Feb 20, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Nick Collison (4) signals to a teammate during the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. The Rockets defeated the Thunder 122-119. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

When watching the Thunder two things stick out in my mind. The first is how much isolation basketball they play, and the second is how successful they are at doing it. In general you don’t want to see a basketball team just hand a player the ball and say “take this guy”. Normally it just does not work very well. However, most teams also do not have Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook at their disposal. These guys are so good with the basketball in their hands that it makes it alright to play one-on-one basketball. At times it seems that the Thunder can get through a whole game just by setting Durant on the high post or Westbrook at the top of the key. Durant is a mismatch for pretty much anybody in the league, even the one guy that seems to have a shot at guarding him, Lebron James, still allowed over 30 points to KD in the finals last season. The same type of thing applies to Westbrook. While he does not present the amount of problems as Durant does, Russell is a mismatch for pretty much any point guard that tries to guard him in the NBA. The combination of his athleticism and his ability to pull up in the mid range game is extremely deadly.

With this being said, when these two guys check out of the game the Thunder bench comes on the floor and, at times, really struggles. There is nobody on the second unit that can win the one-on-one match-ups as consistently as KD or Westbrook can. Kevin Martin is a superb player, but he is not on Durant’s or Westbrook’s level in terms of making his own shots. The one guy that may have a possibility of breaking down his defender one-on-one is Reggie Jackson. I really likeJacksonas a player, and I think if Westbrook weren’t on the squadJacksonwould definitely be starting for OKC. However, Jackson is a young guy and really is just beginning to realize his talent.

In my opinion the Thunder bench has to do one thing and one thing only to improve their production when they are on the floor. Pass the basketball. It is as simple as that. Because they lack the individual talent that KD and Westbrook have, they will need to rely on each other to score the basketball. They have the capability of doing it as well. As I said before, Reggie Jackson is a great young player that can get to the basket, and he has shown that he has the presence of mind to kick it out to Martin for a jumper. Of course you have to mention Nick Collison when talking about non selfish basketball. Collison is the epitome of playing for teammates as he demonstrates that every game with his willingness to pass and take charges. Overall, we have seen the Thunder bench do great things this year, but not nearly as consistent as they did it last year. Obviously that has to do with the departure of James Harden, but if the Thunder hope to get back to the finals and maybe defeatMiami, then they will need their bench to produce.

I am not saying that the Thunder bench has to all of a sudden turn into the best bench in the league. All I am saying is that they need to hold their own while KD, Westbrook, Ibaka, and the rest of the starters get their rest. When they go up against a team like the Spurs, who have a ton of depth on their team, KD and Westbrook can’t carry them for the whole game. The Spurs can just keep rolling out new fresh guys that know how to score the basketball while the Thunder keep relying on Durant and Westbrook. If the Thunder’s second unit can move the basketball and create open baskets for teammates, then I think they can take out the Spurs in 5 games or less.

Mar 13, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) awaits an inbound pass while being guarded by Utah Jazz forward Demarre Carroll (3) during the second half at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder are taking on the Orlando Magic tonight, a team that just had to go through one of the tougher things in professional sports.

Orlando saw its former star, Dwight Howard, return to their arena in a different uniform and torch them for 39 points and 16 rebounds last Wednesday night.

Nothing could have felt worse for an NBA fan.

Howard was loved in Orlando for many years. He led the Magic to an NBA Finals appearance in the 2008-09 season and he kept Orlando relevant among the elite teams in the league for many seasons. It wasn’t until the last few seasons that things started to get ugly.

Bolting for LA is nothing new for big, ringless stars in the NBA and that’s just what Howard did.

The Thunder have their own young stars right now in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Right now, it seems impossible to imagine one of them dawning a different jersey in their NBA careers. You could have said the same thing about James Harden a year ago though.

Durant’s contract will be up before Westbrook’s is. Durant is currently signed through the 2015-16 season and Westbrook through 2016-17.

Will the Thunder fans ever have to go through what Orlando fans have?

There’s one major difference that makes this comparison a little unfair and that’s that we are talking about Durant here. He just doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who could do to Oklahoma City what Howard did to Orlando.

But it’s not if Durant does exactly what Howard did. It’s just if there’s a chance Durant could not be playing for the Thunder after the 2015-16 season.

What if the Thunder don’t win a title during that time? What will everyone be saying about Durant and this franchise?

It would probably be a lot of talking heads saying Durant doesn’t have what it takes to win the big one. Or that Westbrook and Durant just don’t work together. Or that Durant needs LeBron to win a title.

It’s very reasonable to figure the Thunder could not win a title in that time span. Just watch LeBron play a few games and you start to think there’s no one out there that could beat him.

Durant may end up in the same position LeBron was in his last year’s in Cleveland. At that point, there may even be an opportunity to go play with LeBron whether it be in Miami, LA or even Cleveland. A lot can happen between now and then.

Thunder fans shouldn’t be too worried though. A huge reason why the James Harden trade was made was to ensure the ability to keep Durant past his current contract. If the Thunder were stuck trying to stay under the salary cap with Westbrook, Harden and Serge Ibaka also on the books in 2015-16, keeping Durant would have become extremely difficult.

Thunder GM Sam Presti has set this franchise up quite nicely for the future. He will continue to bring in young talent to surround Durant and be able to keep the realistic expectations as high as any team’s in the league.

You never know though. Nothing would be more heartbreaking for this city than seeing Durant leave. Let’s just now think about it.

Mar. 7, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) shoots a free throw against the New York Knicks during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant scored 34 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden last night 95-94.

It was a big win for the Thunder in what has been one of the most challenging stretches of the season for this team. They’ve risen to the challenge winning six of their last seven games and right now are happy with where they’re at.

“I’m happy with where we are right now,” Durant told SI.com. “We’re starting to hit our stride. We’re playing great defense, moving the ball, taking care of the ball. Of course, we want to be better. But I like where we are.”

…

“When you lose in the Finals, you just want to start the season off in the playoffs,” Durant said. “But we’re patient. We’re building habits here every single day. I like the direction. Guys are buying into what we’re doing. It’s an exciting time of year.”

Via Chris Mannix/SI.com

The biggest change for the Thunder this season was losing and replacing James Harden. They can’t replace him exactly but they’ve done a good job replacing his scoring punch off the bench with Kevin Martin and his playmaking with Durant and Russell Westbrook each getting better in that area.

The Thunder have the second-best record in the Western Conference right now and are just two and a half games behind the San Antonio Spurs for that No. 1 seed. The Thunder have a good chance of catching the Spurs too if you consider that Tony Parker is likely to miss the next month.

It’s not just about getting back to the NBA Finals this year for OKC but about winning it. Durant and his teammates know that it’s a process though and they have to take it one step at a time.

Mar 1, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) reacts during the second half against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. The Nuggets won 105-103. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant was called for a technical foul last Tuesday night when the Oklahoma City Thunder hosted the Los Angeles Lakers.

The NBA has since reviewed the technical foul – which they do for every technical – and decided to rescind it.

It would have been Durant’s 13th technical foul of the season so now he has 12. You receive a one-game suspension when you get to 16 technical fouls.

Durant said after the game that he hoped the NBA would rescind the technical. Referee Joey Crawford is the one who called it on Durant after Durant claimed he only said, “Can I talk to you?”

Crawford is notorious for handing out technical fouls for little things and it’s no surprise that Durant was probably telling the truth about this and the NBA agreed and that’s why they rescinded it.

The Thunder have 22 games left this season so Durant will have to try and keep his cool as to not pick up four more technicals.

The Thunder are only three games back of the San Antonio Spurs for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. OKC looks like they will have a really good chance of catching the Spurs since Tony Parker is likely to be out for the next month with an injury.

The Thunder will look to get their next win tonight as they travel to play the New York Knicks at 8 p.m. EST on TNT.

Feb 17, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Western Conference forward Kevin Durant (35) of the Oklahoma City Thunder reacts with Eastern Conference forward Carmelo Anthony (7) of the New York Knicks and guard Dwyane Wade (3) of the Miami Heat in the second quarter of the 2013 NBA all star game at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder will travel to play the New York Knicks tonight which means two of the best pure scorers in the NBA will be facing off.

Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony are each playing the best basketball of their respective careers this season and have their teams as legitimate title contenders.

Whenever the debate comes up about who is the best pure scorer in the NBA, Durant and Anthony are talked about the most.

To try and decipher this debate, let’s break down scoring into these categories: outside shooting, off the dribble and back to the basket.

Outside shooting

This is Durant’s bread and butter. He has earned a reputation as not just one of the best outside shooters in today’s game, but of all-time as well. Durant’s shot is essentially unblockable because of his height and length and his range is unlimited.

Anthony can heat up as quickly as any player in the league and he’s shooting a career-high 38.3 percent from three this season. He seemed to have carried over the momentum he had this past summer with Team USA into this season where he was such a deadly outside shooter.

Anthony can’t match Durant’s prowess in this area. Durant is shooting 42.1 percent from three this season which is also a career-high. Durant is 10th in the NBA scoring 1.31 points per possession (PPP) on spot-up plays while Anthony is just 66th in the league scoring 1.11 PPP on those plays.

Advantage: Kevin Durant

Off the dribble

Durant has come a long way this season scoring off the dribble. He’s always had an alarmingly skilled handle for his size and this year he has done a great job cutting down on the turnovers and becoming more efficient.

Anthony is also very good off the dribble. When he puts his head down and gets into the paint, he becomes one of the toughest things to stop in this league.

Durant is 20th in the league scoring 0.90 PPP on plays where he is the pick-and-roll ball handler. Anthony ranks 4th scoring 1.04 PPP on those plays. On isolation plays, Durant is 14th scoring 0.97 PPP while Anthony is 43rd scoring 0.87 PPP.

This one is close but you have to give the nod to Durant here again.

Advantage: Kevin Durant

Back to the basket

Durant has been trying to play more with his back to the basket the longer he has been in the league. Since he can shoot over anybody, the closer he gets to the basket the more deadly he will become.

Anthony is really known as one of the best players in the post in the league. He is relentless inside and gets a lot of buckets from offensive rebounds. He is so quick with his first step and has a fantastic spin move that he can pull off in traffic.

Durant is 5th in the NBA scoring 1.06 PPP on post-up plays this season. Anthony is 11th in the NBA scoring 0.98 PPP on those plays. Anthony does post up more though and scores more on putbacks.

Advantage: Carmelo Anthony

Conclusion

Durant takes home the title of best pure scorer in the NBA. You might have been able to make a case for Anthony in the past but what Durant is doing this season is truly special. He has improved in all facets of his game and become an unmatched efficient scoring machine.

Tonight we will hopefully get to see the two leading scorers in the league go head-to-head. Anthony missed last night’s game with a knee injury and is still questionable for tonight.

Mar 5, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) handles the ball against Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) during the second half at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

In the first half of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 122-105 win over the Los Angeles Lakers last night, Kevin Durant was called for a technical foul.

It as the 13th time this season that Durant has been given a technical foul, which ties him with Kobe Bryant for the league lead.

Durant didn’t think he deserved the call and had this to say after the game.

“Joey is a good ref and I respect him a lot,” Durant said. “But hopefully that gets rescinded. All I asked him was, verbatim, is ‘Can I talk to you?’ and he got me with one.”

Via RealGM

The NBA reviews every technical foul that they hand out and it sounds like this one possibly could get rescinded if what Durant is saying is true, and the league finds evidence supporting this.

Once you get your 16th technical of the regular season, you are automatically suspended one game which Durant is getting closer to.

This has not been the case with Durant throughout his career who hardly ever got technical fouls before this season. Durant was ejected for the first time ever in a game this season as well.

Durant has spoken publicly about trying to tone it down. He’s said that he just thinks he’s getting too frustrated out there and needs to find a way to keep his cool.

Even Durant’s grandmother has gotten involved with this telling Durant that he needs to watch his language when in the game and on TV.

It feels unlikely that Durant will get to 16 technicals this season but if he isn’t careful, he could end up there and end up with a suspension.

Feb 25, 2012; Orlando, FL, USA; Western Conference forward Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder (left) Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers (right) chat during the 2012 NBA All-Star team practice session at the Orange County Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Today at 3:30 p.m. EST, the Oklahoma City Thunder will travel to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers.

It’s not only a meeting between two of the top teams in the NBA today, but two of the best individual closers as well.

Kevin Durant and Chris Paul have each made a strong case to be considered the best closer in the NBA.

Paul looked like the definite best closer in the NBA for much of last season. In his first year with the Clippers, a predictable offense often left Paul going one-on-one late in games and rarely did he not come through.

Once the playoffs came around, it was Durant who really started to stand out late in games. In the Thunder’s first playoff game, he hit a game-winner at the buzzer to sink the defending champs.

In the next series vs. the Lakers, Durant had a number of clutch shots including one in which he walked up and drilled a three in the face of Metta World Peace.

Durant would prove impossible for the Spurs to stop in the Western Conference Finals as the Thunder rolled to four straight wins against San Antonio after losing the first two in the series.

It looked like Durant might be able to lead the Thunder to a title when OKC beat the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals while Durant dropped 17 in the final quarter.

Durant and Paul go about their business in different ways but when the game is on the line, they are more similar.

Durant is the most elite scorer in the NBA right now and can score in such a variety of ways. He is the game’s best shooter making it nearly impossible to decide which way to defend him, especially late in games.

Paul is always a threat to find any open teammate and he then has the luxury of knowing he won’t be doubled. He’s as crafty a player in this league and can get to whatever spot he wants as well as anyone.

We might get an answer, at least for now, as to who the best closer in the NBA is when the Thunder and Clippers meet up this afternoon. It’s the kind of game that you’d be surprised if it wasn’t close.

So who you got? With the game on the line are you rolling with KD or CP3?

In the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 105-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets last night, Kevin Durant had one of the most ridiculous shots you will ever see.

Durant channeled Dr. J and George Gervin in the first quarter as he took off from the left block and then went for the up-and-under layup after seeing JaVale McGee come over.

What happened next is something that only Durant can pull off. At his size and length, his skill is unmatched and it all came together on this play as he somehow got his right arm to the other side of the rim and gently kissed a layup off the glass and in.

This really is one of the great shots of all-time and of Durant’s career. It was a move that would be nearly impossible for Durant or anyone in the league today to ever replicate.

Durant finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds in the game and struggled shooting the ball for most of the night. He went just 9-for-20 from the field and missed three of his last four field goal attempts in the fourth quarter.

The Thunder’s three-game winning came to an end and it only gets harder for OKC in their next game as they will travel to LA to take on the Clippers tomorrow afternoon.

Even in a loss, the Thunder still find a way to be one of the most entertaining teams in the league thanks to shots like this one courtesy of KD.

Feb 22, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) handles the ball against Minnesota Timberwolves forward Dante Cunningham (33) during the first half at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant recorded his third triple-double of the season last night as the Oklahoma City Thunder demolished the New Orleans Hornets 119-74 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

In just 27 minutes, Durant finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He only took eight shots in the game and made five of them including 2-of-3 from behind the three-point line.

The scoring and rebounding have always been there for Durant and double-doubles were never hard to come by for him. But it’s the assists and passing in general that has been the greatest improvement in his game this season.

Is this a good thing for the Thunder though having Durant play the role of distributor instead of scorer all the time? Is he able to appropriately balance the two vital roles on this team?

He is definitely still learning. The Thunder have won two of the three games in which Durant had a triple-double. In the one loss vs. Houston, James Harden had 46 points against the Thunder while Durant had just 16. The Thunder might have been better off that night if Durant was a little more selfish.

There was also the game back on Jan. 23 when the Thunder played at Golden State. Durant finished with 33 points and nine assists in a 104-99 loss. He had nine assists with six minutes remaining in the game however and proceeded to turn the ball over three times down the stretch trying to make tough passes for assists.

Overall it is a good thing that Durant is getting more assists and getting his teammates involved more. But you don’t want him to forget that he needs to score too.

This isn’t close to happening yet but in that Golden State game it seemed to somewhat be the case. The Thunder needed Durant to do a Kobe impression instead of a LeBron one, and it cost them a win.

Last night Durant connected on multiple passes for assists that were of high difficulty. They were the kind of passes that look flashy and LeBron-like and work against the Hornets.

We haven’t seen Durant really have success with those kinds of passes against stiff competition yet. Against the elite teams in the NBA Durant still turns the ball over frequently and this season he’s been doing so when trying to make plays like he did last night.

So while Durant developing as a playmaker is a good thing overall, it may not be the best thing for the Thunder to win a title this season. If he gets into this playmaking mode and has success with it against the inferior teams in the league, it won’t matter when the Thunder are facing the Heat or Spurs.

We will continue to see Durant work on this aspect of his game this season. The key will be if he is able to flip the switch and start trying to score at all costs late in games even when facing double teams. The Thunder still need that Durant and they definitely will in the playoffs.

Feb 14, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) handles the ball against Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) during the second half at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier in this NBA season, it looked like Kevin Durant was the frontrunner for the MVP award.

Durant was having a career year accepting more responsibilities on the floor and improving in multiple areas.

There was really no doubt that this award would be a two-man race between Durant and the three-time winner and defender of last year’s MVP, LeBron James.

Even though LeBron still had the better all-around numbers than Durant did, Durant still looked like he could win the award for a couple of reasons.

1. Durant had dramatically improved his game while LeBron was just continuing what he did the past few seasons.

2. Voters are always looking for a fresh face and for a player to make some kind of leap and give the award to that guy.

3. The Thunder were playing better than the Heat and if they had a significantly better record then that would give Durant a really good chance.

These reasons why you could call Durant the MVP this season instead of LeBron are losing their strength.

Durant isn’t struggling or anything like that and he is still playing the best basketball of his career this season. He’s well on his way to leading the league in scoring for the fourth straight season and he’s averaging a career-high in assists per game.

Durant is also looking to become just the seventh player ever to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from the three-point line and 90 percent from the free throw line for a season. Durant would be the first ever to do this while leading the league in scoring too.

Durant is also right there with LeBron in terms of win shares this season as both have 13.5 so far.

But LeBron is increasing his advantage in PER. He now has a PER of 31.6 while Durant’s is 28.7. If LeBron can keep his PER at this level, it will be one of the seven best seasons ever in the NBA in that regard.

LeBron is also shooting lights out this season which is diminishing Durant’s usual edge in that arena. LeBron is shooting an insane 56.7 percent from the field and career-high 41.0 percent from the three-point line.

LeBron is also averaging a career-high 8.1 rebounds per game, 7.1 assists per game (which is the most he’s averaged in a season since he played in Cleveland) and for the first time ever less than three turnovers per game (2.9).

LeBron is simply having one of the great seasons in NBA history. Not even Durant will have a chance to upset that for an MVP award.

The biggest reason why LeBron has to win the MVP this season instead of Durant is the head-to-head matchups.

The Miami Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder both times they played this season and each time was in convincing fashion for the Heat. LeBron was on top of his game while Durant seemed to still be trying to figure out how to beat him.

LeBron has the advantage in every way this season. He is the best player in the NBA right now and his numbers reflect exactly that.

Durant’s not in the conversation yet and simply has no chance to dethrone the King for the MVP this year.

Feb 17, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Western Conference forward Kevin Durant (35) of the Oklahoma City Thunder dunks in the second half of the 2013 NBA all star game at the Toyota Center. West won 143-138. Mandatory Credit: Eric Gay/AP-Pool Photo USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant became the first player in NBA All-Star history to score 30 or more points in three consecutive All-Star Games Sunday night as the Western Conference beat the Eastern Conference 143-138 in Houston, Texas.

Durant scored 30 points on 13-of-24 shooting in the win. He also added six rebounds as he played a game-high 31 minutes.

Chris Paul was named the MVP of the game for his 20-point, 15-assist, 4-steal effort. Paul shot 7-of-10 from the field and made 4-of-5 threes.

This game is always dominated by point guards and Paul was the best one last night. We knew he would get the assists but scoring 20 as well made him a no-brainer for the MVP.

LeBron James 19 points and five assists and shot 7-for-18 from the field which is ironic considering his gaudy shooting numbers coming into this game.

Kobe Bryant started checking LeBron late in the fourth quarter and actually blocked his shot twice, once from behind when LeBron went for a pull-up jumper and then on a drive Kobe would swat a LeBron layup attempt out of bounds.

This was the first time since the trade that Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden played together on the same team. They played together for a few minutes in the first half and displayed some of the chemistry they had back when they were teammates most notably when Harden found Westbrook for an alley-oop.

Westbrook had 14 points, four rebounds and three assists. Harden – in front of his new home crowd – had 15 points, six boards and three assists.

The Eastern Conference amazingly shot under 50 percent for the game.

The teams will be off today as well then the regular season will start again on Tuesday. The Thunder will play next in Houston Wednesday night.

The trade deadline is coming up Thursday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m. EST.

Feb 16, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Western Conference forward Kevin Durant (35) of the Oklahoma City Thunder reacts during practice for the 2013 NBA All-Star game at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The 62nd NBA All-Star Game will take place tonight at 8 p.m. EST in Houston, Texas.

The Western Conference won the game last year 152-149 and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant was named the MVP with 36 points.

Durant will come into this year’s game as the favorite to win the MVP award again. LeBron James is a close second but when it comes to winning MVPs in All-Star Games, Durant is the best.

Durant has the all-time highest scoring average in All-Star Game history at 28.3 points per game. He also became the first player to score 30 or more points in consecutive All-Star Games last year.

Durant even has the all-time scoring record in the Rookie-Sophomore Game with 46 points back in 2009.

Durant, who has led the league in scoring three straight seasons and doing it again this year, will likely light it up again tonight. Durant only knows one speed when he is on a basketball court. While most players tone it down a little in games like this, Durant’s version of that is still one that fills it up in a heartbeat.

The only way you are winning the All-Star Game MVP is if your team wins the game. The one man that may stand in the way of Durant winning this is his teammate: Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard.

Howard is the complete opposite of Durant in these games. He doesn’t take them seriously at all and will be more interested in shooting threes and handling the ball on the perimeter than winning. There’s nothing wrong with having fun during this game but when doing so keeps you from competing and giving the fans a good product on the floor, it’s a huge problem.

A big reason why the West got out to a big lead on the East last year was Howard. Howard had nine points in the game and went 0-for-4 from three-point range.

The West will have to try and overcome a silly Howard to come out on top tonight and give Durant a chance to win the MVP again.

There’s a good chance the MVP and the outcome of the game will come down to a showdown between Durant and LeBron. They will be guarding each other from the start in this one and should be down the stretch as well if the game is close.

LeBron also scored 36 points last year in a loss and is the second all-time points per game leader in All-Star history at 25.9. He’s been on another level this season and especially lately when it comes to shooting. If he can carry that momentum into tonight where there is less defense than ever then he could really challenge Durant for the MVP.

We could also see a more passive Durant in this game. He’s been more of a passer this season trying to emulate LeBron to a degree. If he lets up even a little and plays that role tonight, it could cost him the MVP.

Coverage of the game will begin at 7 p.m. EST on TNT. The game will tip-off shortly after 8 p.m. EST.

Feb 16, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; From left, New Orleans Hornets forward Anthony Davis, and Western Conference guard Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Western Conference forward Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Western Conference guard James Harden of the Houston Rockets watch the 2013 NBA All-Star three-point contest at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

One of the coolest things about this year’s NBA All-Star Game is that it will be the first time that Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden play together on the same team since the trade that sent Harden packing at the start of the season.

For Oklahoma City Thunder fans, this will be something to reminisce on.

Durant, Westbrook and Harden made up one of the best trios in the NBA last season. They weren’t only great playing together on the court but off it they were best friends.

The trio still refers to themselves as brothers and they could be seen sitting together enjoying the All-Star Saturday Night festivities last night.

It’s kind of hard to watch and it will be a little weird tonight too. Western Conference head coach Gregg Popovich will undoubtedly find minutes for the three to play together tonight. If they strike up the same chemistry together they had back in OKC, it will be a little tough for Thunder fans to watch.

It was easy to get over the trade relatively quickly this season as the Thunder had so much success and Harden the same in Houston. It felt like the Thunder may have really made the right move and Kevin Martin was doing an admirable job replacing Harden’s production.

But when the Thunder lost to the Miami Heat again last Thursday night, regretting the Harden trade and wondering about what it would have been like if they would have kept him were thoughts in every Thunder fan’s mind.

This year the Miami Heat will have three players starting in the All-Star Game. The Thunder could have been the next team to be able to do that had they kept Harden.

Kobe Bryant is saying he will probably only play a few more seasons and Harden is next in line behind him to start in these games. Chris Paul is starting to drop off a little bit too which would open the window for Westbrook to become a starter.

It wasn’t easy for anyone in the Thunder organization to make this trade. Harden’s potential was through the roof and it’s already looking like he plans on reaching that potential.

Instead of finding out what this trio of All-Stars could have accomplished, we will now only be reminded of it once every year when they play side by side again in All-Star Games.

Dec. 25, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) and Oklahoma City Thunder small forward Kevin Durant (35) look up for a rebound during the first half at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

All eyes will be on the NBA Finals rematch tonight when the Oklahoma City Thunder host the Miami Heat at 8 p.m. EST.

It’s the second time this season that the Thunder and Heat will play. The Heat won the first meeting in South Beach on Christmas Day 103-97.

LeBron James and Kevin Durant will be squaring off tonight and the MVP award may be on the line.

LeBron has been on an historic run and if he sweeps the season series vs. Durant and the Thunder, it will be tough for Durant to overcome.

Durant is right there in the MVP race this season and if he can outplay LeBron tonight and the Thunder win, he will be in prime position to win the award.

For most of the season so far, Durant was thought of as the frontrunner for MVP. The Thunder had a better record than the Heat and they looked improved from last season despite losing James Harden.

The biggest reason for this has been the development as Durant into more of an all-around player. Durant has a career-high 29.24 PER this season which isn’t that far behind LeBron’s league leading 31.29 PER.

Durant also has a chance to become just the seventh player in NBA history to shoot 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and 90 percent from the free throw line for an entire season. Right now he’s sitting at 51.9, 43.2 and 90.4.

If the Thunder end up with a better record than Miami and possibly the best record in the league, the MVP award will likely go to Durant. But even if they do that and if LeBron outplays Durant tonight and the Heat win, it will be hard to argue for KD over LeBron.

LeBron has been putting on a show during the Heat’s six-game winning streak that they have entering tonight’s game. During that stretch, he has scored at least 30 points in every game while shooting at least 60 percent from the field, something no one has ever done before.

This recent stretch has brought LeBron’s shooting percentage to an unfathomable mark of 56.5 percent on the season. He’s shooting a career-high 42.0 percent from beyond the arc as well.

Both Durant and LeBron are so close when it comes to this MVP race. Some will argue that LeBron is the best in the league and therefore the award is his. But Durant has made great strides this season and if he can prove that on any given night he can outplay LeBron and lead his team past the Heat, he will be just as deserving.

It’s not just a regular season game tonight. There is much more on the line. That includes the MVP award.

Feb 6, 2013; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) congratulates Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) after a play against the Golden State Warriors during the second half at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

You don’t need to do much more than watch a few games of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to know how awesome each is.

STATS LLC is using a new player tracking system called SportVU that tracks everything individual players do on the court. The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of 15 teams in the league using this technology.

Zach Lowe of Grantland looked at these stats and had this to write about Durant and Westbrook:

Post-ups? Durant is 26-of-37 from the floor when he catches a pass within 12 feet of the rim, which is the current STATS definition of “post touch.” The Thunder average nearly 1.6 points per possession when this happens, a top-10 mark among camera players, and a stat that makes you think Durant should get more than the paltry 1.27 such touches he averages per game.

That’s the thing about Durant: Scroll through these categories one by one, and you’ll say to yourself, “He should be doing this particular thing more often!” Then you realize you’ve said that for every category — drives, post-ups, elbow touches — and you just shake your head.

As for Westbrook, his numbers are merely “good,” but they also contradict the (dying) notion that he’s an irresponsible ball hog. Westbrook has attempted a shot on just half of his drives, a below-average mark for a high-scoring guard (and in general), and has coughed the ball up on only 5 percent of those drives.

…

Here’s one that surprised me: Serge Ibaka averages only 1.59 elbow touches per game, the fourth-lowest number among nearly 90 players with at least 40 total elbow touches…But Ibaka knows what he’s there to do: shoot. He has jacked it up on 50 percent of his elbow touches, the highest such rate in the league. Ibaka has hit 41 percent from there so far, which is solid, but certainly not great.

It’s not surprising that Durant is a monster like this. Everyone is always screaming for him to get more touches and take more shots. This year when you’re shooting split are 50-40-90, it’s no surprise that means you are great from anywhere on the floor.

The Westbrook stats are nice to see too because his driving and kicking has been one of the biggest improvements in his game this year. He’s not taking as many reckless shots at the rim anymore and doing a much better job of finding teammates which has resulted in his assists going back up from 5.5 a year ago to 8.1 this season.

And Ibaka has been extremely aggressive looking for his shot this season. It would be nice to see him starting to get more touches but it’s hard to ever make him the focal point on offense with Durant and Westbrook around. Still, the Thunder are doing it a little more this season and Ibaka is taking advantage.

Lowe also noted some things about James Harden in this piece. Basically, teams score more often when “drives” take place in the offense. Harden drives to the rim almost as much as anyone in the league and when he does, the Rockets are more efficient than anyone.

It confirms the notion of getting into the paint to make things happen. Drives don’t just result in shots for the driver but they can mean kick-outs for threes, getting fouled or simply making the defense work a little bit harder. Westbrook ranks third in the league (among teams with cameras) averaging 9.3 drives per game.

These stats are cool and confirm a lot of things about how great the Thunder have been this season. We will be sure to keep an eye on them and update you on any more statistical trends throughout the season.

Foot Locker has had a nice run this year with ads starring NBA players. Remember before the season when it was Russell Westbrook and James Harden for the “tear-away” beard spot?

Now we have Kevin Durant starring in one with the tagline being “KD is not nice.”

Durant is pretty solid with commercials. He looks comfortable in it and delivers his lines in a funny way.

It is true too that KD is not nice. Not this year at least. Durant has shown his mean side this year leading the league with nine technical fouls on the season.

It’s a new edge to Durant that is part of his improvement this year and why he is an MVP candidate.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant injured his ribs Saturday night when the Oklahoma City Thunder were on the road vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was kneed in the back inadvertently by Alonzo Gee and had to go back to the locker room.

Durant returned in the fourth quarter and scored 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting but it wasn’t enough as the Thunder lost 115-110.

After the game, Durant was diagnosed with a rib contusion and looked to be in a great deal of pain. A rib contusion is essentially a bruise but can be very painful and Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman said he would be surprised if Durant suited up tonight.

Durant is a gamer and he will start tonight vs. the Dallas Mavericks as the Thunder are back home at 8 p.m. EST.

Sorry about previous message. @kdtrey5 said he will start vs. Mavs tonight.

— John Rohde (@RohdeOK) February 4, 2013

Don’t expect to see Durant limping around or anything like that. He will likely not be milking this injury at all or even showing any signs of it.

If Durant gets hit hard on a foul or falls down hard, keep an eye out to see how he looks getting up. But it can’t be too much of a risk for Durant tonight. Scott Brooks sat starters Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha for a few nights earlier this season when they had minor injuries.

Durant has torched the Mavericks this season. The Thunder have beaten Dallas in overtime twice this year. Durant had 40 in the first win then a career-high 52 the next time back on Jan. 18.

Dirk Nowitzki was also questionable coming into tonight but will also be playing.

David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Durant was injured in the third quarter of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s game Saturday night on the road vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was kneed in the back by Alonzo Gee and went back to the locker room for treatment.

Durant returned for the fourth quarter and scored 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting but he still looked to be hurting after the game.

Durant appeared to be in significant pain and discomfort after the game. He downplayed the injury, but the medical staff was still tending to him and he was moving slowly and gingerly in the locker room long after the game. The team officially labeled the injury as a right rib contusion. Asked how it was feeling, Durant said “If I can play, I’m all right. I was good. I came (back) in and played so that’s all that matters.”

Via Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman

Mayberry went on to say that he would be shocked if Durant played Monday night at home vs. the Dallas Mavericks.

Durant hasn’t missed a game this season or the last. He played in 78 games in the 2010-11 season so it has been awhile since Durant has been sidelined.

A contusion is basically a bruise so it’s nothing terribly serious. But when your ribs are involved it can really affect your breathing and running up and down the court.

Earlier this season we saw Serge Ibaka miss two games with a chest contusion.

Durant is going to try and play no matter what. He’s the type of guy that hates sitting on the sideline.

The Thunder have played the Dallas Mavericks twice already this season and won both games but needed overtime in each one to do so. In their last meeting back on Jan. 18, Durant scored a career-high 52 points.

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

LeBron James and Tony Parker have been named the January Players of the Month. LeBron has won the award in every month this season in the Eastern Conference while Parker joins Kevin Durant and Chris Paul as winners from the Western Conference.

Parker averaged 21.9 points and 7.9 assists per game while shooting 56.3 percent from the field. He led the San Antonio Spurs to a 12-3 record in the month.

Parker had a great month but not as great as Durant did.

Durant averaged 31.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the field, 39.8 percent from three and 91.7 percent from the line while attempting 9.8 free throws per game. Durant led the Thunder to an 11-5 record for the month and had three games of 40 or more points including setting a career-high with 52 points.

This was really one of the best months Durant has had probably in his career and seeing him get robbed of this award was simply shocking.

The NBA was clearly looking for someone other than Durant to give the award too. They were also really caring about team success because that’s really the only thing Parker had over Durant in January.

Durant is already off to a bad start in February as the Thunder are 0-1.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Over the past few seasons we’ve seen the Oklahoma City Thunder grow into one of the best teams in the NBA. They were so young and so talented a few years ago that this rapid rise to the league’s elite surprised no one.

It’s hard to believe that it was just two seasons ago when the Thunder looked like a young, inexperienced team getting destroyed by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. Now, it’s the Thunder that always look like they’ve been there before when the game is on the line.

Let’s define “when the game is on the line” as the score being within five points with five minutes or less left in the game. This is the time when a team can rise to winning a title or wilt to disappointment.

The Thunder and head coach Scott Brooks went through a lot of criticism in these situations a few years ago. The ongoing joke was that the Thunder didn’t run any kind of offense late in games with point guard Russell Westbrook unable to initiate the offense and get the ball in the hands of Kevin Durant.

The Thunder have made great strides in this arena the past two seasons and now have a completely opposite reputation. They are great in the clutch and Durant has established himself as one of the game’s best closers.

There was a time where it appeared like Westbrook had the ball too much late in games but that isn’t the case anymore. Westbrook sees a slight increase in usage percentage during clutch situations but it is still much less than Durant.

Throughout the rest of the game, Westbrook always has a slightly higher usage percentage than Durant. That flips in the clutch which is what everyone always wanted to see from this team.

This is a good thing too because Westbrook is still unable to make great decisions with the game on the line. His shooting percentage drops quite a bit during these times while Durant’s only slightly drops and is very good overall (63.2 true shooting percentage down to 61.4).

This was most evident in the playoffs last season where in 51 clutch minutes, Westbrook had a true shooting percentage of just 33.4 (50.6 overall in playoffs). He also saw a big drop in usage percentage all the way down to 24.8 percent from his playoff average of 30.5 percent.

This was because James Harden was emerging as the Thunder’s primary ball handler late in games. This wasn’t the case in the regular season last year for the Thunder as Harden had a usage percentage of just 6.5 during clutch time. In the playoffs, that went up to 17.5 percent and for good reason because he had a true shooting percentage of 67.1.

Harden is gone this season and many people said the Thunder lost one of their closers. That is kind of true because it was going that way for the Thunder in the playoffs last year but it still comes down to Durant in clutch situations more often than not.

Durant has the highest usage percentage he’s ever had in clutch situations this season at 44.3 percent. Compare that to 32.3 percent for Westbrook and 7.9 percent for Kevin Martin.

Durant has been great in the clutch this season with a true shooting percentage of 63.2. Westbrook’s is 53.7 percent which isn’t too horrible and Martin’s is an amazing 89.3 percent. Martin has only taken 10 shots in the clutch this season however and made six of them including all five of his 3-point attempts.

During the clutch is where we’ve really seen the Thunder grow up as a team. Last year in the regular season they had a net rating of 3.4 in the clutch compared to an overall net of 7.2. Then in the playoffs that went up to a net of 11.2.

This season, the Thunder have a net rating of 16.4 in the clutch compared to their overall net rating of 9.7. Two years ago in the playoffs the Thunder’s net rating in clutch situations was -21.0.

Despite the Thunder losing Harden this year, they are still one of the best teams in the NBA at closing games. Durant is the biggest reason for this. Westbrook isn’t holding him back anymore.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

There are some changes going on with how Kevin Durant carries himself on the basketball court. It has led to the new tagline #KDIsNotNice.

Durant has picked up seven technical fouls this season, was ejected for the first time in his career, is getting texts from his grandmother telling him to stop cussing and has been seen recently going back and forth with teammate Serge Ibaka.

Durant and Ibaka have yelled back and forth at each other in games recently while disagreeing on something.

“We’re just trying to help each other out. At the end of the day, that’s all we’re trying to do,” Durant said. “It’s times when I mess up and he tells me. It’s times when he messes up and I tell him. We both got to do a better job of responding to each other and just helping each other out.”

Asked if the frustration is from the defensive end or offense end, Durant said “it’s both ends.”

“I think it goes back to us wanting to be so perfect,” Durant said. “Sometimes we both got to just calm down and play the game.”

Via The Oklahoman

This seems to happen mostly on the defensive end when there is a breakdown and the Thunder give up an easy basket.

Ibaka and Durant both aren’t the best defenders in the league but have been making strides to get there. There is a considerable drop off in the Thunder’s pick-and-roll defense when Kendrick Perkins or Nick Collison is not on the floor.

The yelling at each other is probably pretty harmless. There’s no way either has and resentment towards the other and if anything, it’s probably a good thing that they are able to call each other out.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The team with the most efficient offense in the NBA stubbornly plays a lineup more than any other that is holding them back.

It’s common knowledge now that the best time to outscore the Oklahoma City Thunder is when their starting lineup is on the floor.

When do the Thunder become the scariest offense in the world? When Kendrick Perkins takes to the bench and Kevin Durant plays the four spot.

The Thunder starting five has played together for 698 minutes this season. They have an offensive rating of 106.8 and defensive rating of 98.6, a net rating of 8.2. That’s not bad but it’s less than the team net rating of 9.7.

When the lineup is Russell Westbrook, Kevin Martin, Thabo Sefolosha, Durant and either Serge Ibaka or Nick Collison, the Thunder reach new heights.

With Ibaka at the five the offensive rating goes to 120.3 and defensive rating to 99.0, a net rating of 21.4. That lineup posts a true shooting percentage of 65.6.

It gets even better with Collison in at center as the offensive rating is 137.6 and defensive rating 108.4, a net rating of 29.2. That lineup has a ridiculous true shooting percentage of 68.3.

We know why this is. It’s really, really hard for teams to match up with Durant when he is playing the four. So the Thunder offense explodes when they can spread the floor with these lineups. More open 3-point shots are available and the improved floor spacing also leads to a much higher offensive rebound percentage compared to the starting five.

The defense does suffer a little but the overwhelming improvement on the offensive end clearly makes up for that.

What these stats tell are simple. Scott Brooks has a philosophy that the Thunder will win a title because of defense. That’s why Perkins is valued so much and it is true that the Thunder are better defensively with him out there.

So Brooks sees the defense deteriorate without Perkins and he feels this is more important than the fact that the offense is so much better without Perkins. Then whenever Perkins scores a few baskets, gets an offensive rebound or sets a great screen, it makes Brooks lean to the starters even more.

But the numbers don’t lie. Teams can’t keep up with the Thunder when Durant is playing the four. They’re just too good offensively and it’s by far been OKC’s best lineups.

The good news for Thunder fans is that the problem isn’t really Perkins. The Thunder are great with Perkins at the five and Durant at the four too, with a net rating of 22.3 in 40 minutes this season.

But given the way the Thunder rotation goes, it can make it hard to concentrate more minutes with Durant at the four especially when Brooks cares about having the best defensive lineups out there all the time.

This was the case yesterday against the Los Angeles Lakers. Durant hardly played the four at all and it lowered the Thunder to the Lakers’ level.

The challenge for Brooks is the decision between trying to develop a strength (becoming an elite defensive team) or taking advantage of a strength (Durant at the four makes the OKC offense unstoppable).

One reason why Brooks might be smart to not totally commit to Durant at the four is that the Miami Heat will almost undoubtedly be waiting for the Thunder in the NBA Finals again. And they are the only team in the league that have a better version of the small ball lineup right now.

January 27, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook (0) turns the ball over against the defense of Los Angeles Lakers small forward Metta World Peace (15) and center Dwight Howard (12) during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Well. It definitely hurts to lose a big game, on a big stage, against your rival Los Angeles Lakers. I guess you could say the Lakers caught the Thunder on a “bad night” and the Thunder got the Lakers on a “good night.” Russell Westbrook was 6-22 from the field, and Kobe Bryant just had an MVP type game with 21 points and 14 assists.

The Thunder fell to 34-11 on the year with a 105-96 loss to the Lakers.

The first consisted of poor shooting with six ties, and five lead changes. At the end of one, the Thunder trailed the Lakers, 27-23. Serge Ibaka had six points and Kevin Martin gave the Thunder a boost with four points only four minutes. The Lakers ended the quarter on a 6-0 run and shot 45% from the field in the quarter.

To open up the second, Scott Brooks had Liggins, Jackson, Martin, Collison, and Thabett on the floor. Oklahoma City cut the lead to 4 with 8:42 to go in the second with a Durant and-1. The Thunder re-took the lead with 7:11 to go with a Durant floater to go up 38-36. The Thunder carried that momentum to go on a 7-0 run late in the quarter. At half, the Thunder led the Lakers 53-52 behind Kevin Durant’s 18 points.

In the third, the Thunder had trouble defending Bryant and Early Clark. Kevin Durant lifted Oklahoma City offensively with big baskets. At the end of the quarter, the Thunder and the Lakers were tied at 75.

In the fourth, it was just the Mamba show. Bryant blew by Sefolosha on most possessions and either finished himself or found somebody cutting to the basket. Oklahoma City couldn’t seem to get stops nor put the ball in the basket.

However, it’s only one game and like I said before, Oklahoma City didn’t play well and quite frankly the Lakers played really well. Plain and simple.

The Thunder will look to bounce back against Memphis at home on Thursday.

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The reserves for the NBA All-Star Game were announced Thursday night as selected by the coaches.

For the Western Conference, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Zach Randolph, LaMarcus Aldridge and David Lee were selected. They will join the starters Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and Tim Duncan.

In the Eastern Conference, Chris Bosh, Paul George, Jrue Holiday, Kyrie Irving, Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Tyson Chandler made the team. They are joining Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett.

Westbrook joins Durant as the second Oklahoma City Thunder player to make the team. Serge Ibaka had an outside shot to make it but it is understandable that he didn’t.

Harden was an obvious choice in the Western Conference. He nearly made it a year ago coming off the bench for the Thunder and now as the top dog in Houston gets the nod.

The biggest snub in the Western Conference has to be Stephen Curry from the Golden State Warriors. In the Eastern Conference we aren’t seeing Paul Pierce, Brook Lopez or Brandon Jennings making the team.

An early prediction for the game has to go to the Eastern Conference. The reason is simply that they won’t have Dwight Howard wasting 5-10 possessions dribbling the ball and taking stupid 3-point shots.

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the best young teams in the NBA. So when ESPN.com is putting together its list of the best 25 players under the age of 25, the top of that list is full of Thunder players.

Kevin Durant is obviously first on the list. Russell Westbrook is second and Serge Ibaka is seventh. James Harden is fourth on the list right behind Blake Griffin.

Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference.com looked at the best and worst case scenarios for these players today. This is a statistical projection of the players’ careers, not necessarily incorporating the style of play for each player.

For Durant, his best case comparisons are Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. It doesn’t get much higher than that. Before you go crazy about comparing Durant to MJ and Magic, remember how young Durant is and how much potential he has and how much unknown there is about his future still. Also remember that MJ and Magic didn’t even play full careers. If Durant has a chance to play close to 20 seasons in the league, in that statistical sense he would have a decent chance of catching those guys.

Durant’s worst case comparisons were Michael Finley and Joe Dumars. Okay, there’s no way Durant is turning into one of those guys.

The most likely comparisons for Durant were Patrick Ewing and Dominique Wilkins. I think he has a good chance of passing both of those players when it’s all said and done.

Westbrook is next. His best case scenarios are Gary Payton or John Stockton. Payton and Stockton are two of the best point guards ever, both who were great defenders as well.

Worst case for Westbrook is John Starks or Mitch Richmond. Those actually don’t sound so bad for Westbrook which just goes to show how great he has been this early in his career if that’s the worst you can project him.

Most likely for Westbrook is Isiah Thomas or Tim Hardaway. Again, this kind of feels generous, especially Thomas.

For Ibaka, his best case is Ben Wallace or Patrick Ewing, who aren’t very similar at all. Ibaka is pretty unknown at this point.

Worst case for Ibaka is Ralph Sampson or Kendrick Perkins and most likely for him is Anthony Mason or Juwan Howard. I think Ibaka can be better than Mason or Howard but definitely won’t be remembered like Ewing.

We have to take a look at what they said about James Harden too. His best case was Clyde Drexler or Paul Pierce. If he ever reaches those levels, the Thunder may be really regretting trading him.

Worst case for Harden is Dale Ellis or Cedric Ceballos and most likely is Grant Hill or Chris Mullin.

Thinking about the potential of this Thunder team is one of the most fun things to think about in the NBA. They are still so young and really do have insane potential if all goes well.

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The three-time defending scoring champion is now back in the lead in the NBA scoring race this season.

Kevin Durant has passed Kobe Bryant and is now averaging 29.5 points per game. Kobe and Carmelo Anthony are each averaging 29.2 points per game.

Durant only averaged 26.5 points per game in November but has really turned it up lately. He averaged 31.0 points per game in December and is averaging 32.3 points per game in January so far.

Durant’s recent scoring run has included a new career-high for him when he scored 52 points in an overtime win against the Dallas Mavericks last week.

Durant is putting up his huge scoring numbers in more ways than ever before this season. Durant is still a great outside shooter but now is scoring in the post as efficiently as anyone in the league and picking his spots better in other areas too.

Durant has a ridiculous true shooting percentage of 65.5 this season which is something that really seems impossible for someone who plays the way he does. He’s also looking to become just the seventh member ever of the 50-40-90 club. He’ll be the most prolific scorer to ever shoot 50-40-90 since Larry Bird.

It’s amazing too that Durant has been this efficient while playing more minutes than anyone in the NBA so far this season. Only Luol Deng averages more minutes per game at 39.8 compared to 39.7 for Durant.

Durant’s scoring and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s best record in the NBA has made Durant the leading candidate to take home the MVP this season. This year has already been impressive and it will be even more so if he can keep it up.