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Per Arizona Sports:
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant continues to climb up the all-time scoring list.
With his 17th point on Friday against the Denver Nuggets at Footprint Center, he moved past former No. 1 overall pick Moses Malone for No. 10 on the all-time list.
Durant made a layup with 50.1 seconds left in the first half to push past Malone.
Durant finished 8-for-25 from the field with a 3-pointer and 13-for-13 from the line for 30 points.
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant has been diagnosed with an isolated MCL sprain of the right knee. The injury occurred during the third quarter of last night’s game at Miami.
Durant will be reevaluated in two weeks.
Durant has recorded averages of 29.7 points (sixth in the league), 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 blocks (ninth in the league) in 36.0 minutes per game (12th in the league), while shooting a career-high 55.9 percent from the field, 37.6 percent from 3-point range and a career-best and league-leading 93.4 percent from the free-throw line.
Among the players in the league’s top 10 in points per game, Durant has registered the highest field goal percentage and the fewest shots per game (18.8), and he is one of just two players in the league to rank in the top 10 in both points per game and blocks per game.
Durant ranks second in field goals made (410), third in total points scored (1,158), tied for sixth in blocks (58) and eighth in free throws made (267).
In addition to shooting a career-high 62.2 percent from 2-point range, Durant is in the midst of an incredible season-long midrange performance, shooting a career-best 57.1 percent, which also represents the best midrange field goal percentage in a season among all players with at least 200 attempts across the last 25 seasons.
He is tied for the league lead in 25-point games (32) and leads the league in 25-point games while shooting 50.0 percent or better from the field (25), which is only three games shy of matching a single season Nets record in the category.
Durant has also continued his climb up the NBA’s all-time scoring list, passing Alex English, Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, John Havlicek, Paul Pierce, Tim Duncan and Dominique Wilkins this season to vault from 22nd to 14th place with 26,684 career points.
Twice-honored as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week this season, Durant has led Brooklyn to a 27-13 record, good for the second-best record in the league.
The Nets have won 10 games in a row. Tonight’s win, a tight 108-107 victory against a short-handed Atlanta Hawks team who were without Trae Young, Clint Capela and supporting cast players, was too close for comfort. But the win streak continues. Via the New York Daily News:
“[Winning 10 in a row] sounds good, especially since there’s just been an up and down vibe with our team the past few years,” Kevin Durant said postgame. “So it’s good to win a game and have some fun.”
The Hawks built a 15-point second-quarter lead in part due to Jacque Vaughn’s first truly confusing move since taking Steve Nash’s post as head coach in Brooklyn. His rotations have traditionally been tight, even tighter when it comes to the two superstars: Durant normally plays the entire first quarter, while Kyrie Irving traditionally sits the final few minutes of the first to lead the reserves in the second quarter while Durant gets a rest.
On Wednesday, Vaughn veered from the norm. He played both Irving and Durant the entire opening period — and sat both of Brooklyn’s stars to start the second quarter.
Of course the Hawks went on a run and built a lead five points shy of 20. Vaughn had a lineup of Patty Mills, Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Yuta Watanabe and T.J. Warren on the floor until taking a timeout at the 5:25 mark of the second quarter.
Via the New York Post:
Kyrie Irving had a team-high 28 points while Kevin Durant added 26. The pair combined to double Hawks star Dejounte Murray — who had 24 — into the fateful, final miss at the buzzer, preserving the rally.
“They’re playing great basketball and as I said to the team, they’re hot as a firecracker,” Atlanta coach Nate McMillan had warned. “They have of course, Kyrie and Durant that are elite players; but the supporting cast is playing really good basketball, shooting the ball extremely well from the floor.
“They’re playing a lot of guys, they have a lot of dangerous guys that are playing off of those guys. So they’re playing, I think they’re becoming the team that a lot of people thought they would be. And right now they’re playing the hottest team.”
Via Boston.com:
The Celtics defeated the Nets 103-92 on Sunday, extending the team’s record to a league-best 19-5. Boston faces the Raptors tonight in Toronto at 7:30 p.m…
Following the Celtics’ win over the Nets on Sunday, Jayson Tatum was asked about facing Brooklyn superstar Kevin Durant.
“That’s like a brother to me,” Tatum said of Durant. “Somebody I’ve gotten really close with. Obviously competed against a lot in the playoffs recently. Known since I was in high school, won a gold medal with, worked out with a lot this summer. So somebody that I respect a lot.
“We talk often,” Tatum added. “And those matchups always you enjoy. Somebody that has played at a high level — the highest level — for as long as he has, it brings the best out of you. So you always enjoy those matchups with one of the best players to ever play.”
Via the New York Daily News:
Steve Nash wants fans to think that the Nets’ playoff aspirations aren’t just dependent on Kevin Durant; his team’s success is a result of good teamwork rather than the superstars they signed to max contracts.
The Nets’ 114-107 Game 2 defeat to the Celtics, as well as a regular season that spiraled while both of those stars were unavailable, proved otherwise. The Nets’ supporting cast couldn’t handle the weight in a game where none of their stars showed up.
Durant, a two-time NBA Finals MVP and four-time NBA scoring champion, bowed to the pressure and intensity of the league-best Celtics’ defense for the second game in a row. And the Nets paid the price with a loss for the second game in a row, which hurt even more than the buzzer-beating game-winner that lost them Game 1.
In Game 2, Durant turned the ball over six times after missing 15 shots and turning the ball over six times in Game 1, and he shot 4-of-17 from the field for 27 points, almost all of which came at the foul line. He went to the free throw line 20 times, converting on 18 of them.
With the NBA playoffs starting this weekend, there is no reason to expect that Ben Simmons will make his Brooklyn Nets debut anytime soon. Via ESPN.com:
As the speculation surrounding Ben Simmons’ potential debut for the Brooklyn Nets continues to be a talking point inside the NBA, Nets star Kevin Durant admitted Thursday that he is preparing as if Simmons won’t return as the Nets get ready for their Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup with the Boston Celtics.
“I’m not expecting him to play,” Durant said after practice Thursday. “That’s easier for me. I’m not putting any pressure on Ben to come out there and hoop. So I’m not expecting him to do anything but just to get his body right and get healthy as fast as he can. So in my mind, I’m preparing as if we’re playing with the team we have.”
Simmons, who was acquired by the Nets just before the February trade deadline from the Philadelphia 76ers, has not played in an NBA game in almost a year after requesting a trade from the Sixers last season, citing mental health concerns. Simmons has been dealing with some back soreness since late February and has not been cleared to participate in a practice since coming to Brooklyn. Nets coach Steve Nash said Thursday that Simmons still isn’t doing any “basketball conditioning” and continues to do individual rehab work.
The NBA announced today that Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from Monday, March 7, through Sunday, March 13.
The honor is Durant’s third as a Net and the 29th Player of the Week award of his career.
Durant led Brooklyn to a perfect 3-0 week, recording averages of 30.7 points on 52.2 percent shooting from the field, 36.4 percent shooting from 3-point range and 87.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line, 7.7 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.3 steals in 38.2 minutes per game. Durant was one of two players in the East to average at least 30 points, five rebounds and five assists for the week and finished the week ranked first in the East in plus/minus (+53), sixth in points per game, seventh in minutes per game and eighth in assists per game. Durant opened the week by totaling 14 points, three rebounds and seven assists in 40 minutes in Brooklyn’s 132-121 road victory over the Charlotte Hornets on March 8. He followed up that effort by registering 25 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and two steals in 32 minutes in a 129-100 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center on March 10. Durant finished the week with a brilliant performance in a 110-107 home victory over the New York Knicks yesterday, scoring a Nets season-high 53 points to go along with six rebounds, nine assists and two steals in 43 minutes. The 53 points were the second-most scored in a game in Durant’s career, trailing only a 54-point performance with Oklahoma City versus Golden State on Jan. 17, 2014. The 53 points also represented the third-most points in a game in Nets NBA history, trailing only Deron Williams’ 57 points on March 4, 2012, at Charlotte and Kyrie Irving’s 54 points on Jan. 31, 2020, versus Chicago.
As for Doncic, this marks the second time this season (Feb. 7-13, 2022) and the sixth time in his career he has received the honor (Nov. 18-24, 2019; Jan. 4-10, 2021; March 29-April 4, 2021; April 19-25, 2021). Dirk Nowitzki (16 times) is the only Maverick to win the award more times.
Dončić (6-7, 230) has now been named Western Conference Player of the Week in two of the last three weeks, in addition to being named Western Conference Player of the Month for February. Dončić led the Mavericks to a 3-1 week with averages of 30.5 points (.494 FG), 11.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.0 blocks in 36.5 minutes.
The 23-year-old began the week by posting game highs of 35 points (12-23 FG, 5-11 3FG, 6-7 FT), 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals to go with 1 block in 38 minutes in the Mavericks’ 111-103 victory over Utah on Mar. 7. It marked his first career game recording 35-plus points, 15-plus rebounds, 7-plus assists and 3-plus steals, and he became the first player to hit each of those benchmarks in a game this season.
A game after Dončić posted a game-high 31 points in the Mavericks’ loss to New York on Mar. 9, Dončić posted game highs of 30 points (9-19 FG, 5-11 3FG, 7-10 FT) and 14 rebounds to go along with 6 assists and a game-high-tying 2 blocks in 36 minutes in Dallas’ 113-100 win in Houston on Mar. 11. The performance marked just the second time in his career he reached those numbers in a game (34 points, 20 boards, 12 assists, 2 blocks at SAC on 8/4/20). Dončić also became one of seven players to achieve that stat line in a game this season (joining Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Julius Randle, Karl Anthony-Towns) and the only guard to do it in 2021-22.
Dončić capped the week by helping the Mavericks snap Boston’s 5-game win streak with a game-high 26 points to go with 8 rebounds and a game-high 8 assists in the Mavericks’ 95-92 win on national television. The three-time All-Star helped Dallas erase a 13-point second-half deficit for their league-leading 14th double-digit comeback win to improve to a season-high 16 games above .500 (42-26).
The Nets will likely have Kevin Durant, out with a leg injury, back in action in the near future. Via the New York Daily News:
Durant’s return is near, and the Nets hope the cautious approach will pay dividends in keeping him on the floor for their playoff and championship run. The team’s All-Star captain has missed the last 21 games with an injury he got in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors. He is the most critical piece to a championship jigsaw puzzle: A two-time Finals MVP averaging 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game, but has only appeared in 19 games this season.
“Him missing significant time, we miss him. We can’t wait for him to get back, literally,” Kyrie Irvng said. “But we’re all staying patient. We know what he brings to the table. We know the respect that he garners from all of us in terms of a leader on our team, but we’ve got to figure it out, game-to-game, until he’s back.”
The Nets are 33-15 this season, which is the best record in the Eastern conference.
Their leading scorers so far in 2020-21 are Durant at 29.0 points per game in 19 games played, Irving at 28.2 ppg, and James Harden at 26.1 ppg.
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum will replace injured Nets forward Kevin Durant as a starter in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game.
Tatum had previously been named an All-Star reserve.
Also today, it was announced that Durant’s injury replacement on the All-Star team is Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis.
The Nets today announced that Durant will remain out through the All-Star break.
Indiana Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis has been named by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to replace injured Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant in the 2021 NBA All-Star Game, which will be played on Sunday, March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Earlier today, the Nets announced that Durant will be out through the All-Star break. It’s presumed that this is mostly for precautionary reasons.