The only thing that can slow down Kevin Durant is a mercy rule.
Durant saw his streak of 12 straight 30-point games end Friday night in Brooklyn, but only because Oklahoma City got 26 points from him on 10-for-12 shooting in 30 minutes as the Thunder destroyed the Nets, 120-95, in front of a sellout crowd of 17,732 inside Barclays Center.
“If he cared about the streak,” Scott Brooks said afterward, tongue firmly in cheek, “he should’ve made those two shots.”
Durant might not have his streak anymore, but it was evident to anyone watching Friday night’s game he’s capable of doing whatever he wants on a basketball court right now. Even after finishing with 26 points and seven assists while sitting out the entire fourth quarter, Durant’s numbers for January were staggering: 35.9 points per game on 54.9 percent shooting overall and 43.5 percent from 3-point range in 16 games.
“Man, I’m glad that’s over with,” Durant said with a laugh of his now broken streak. “I’d much rather take the win.
“That’s my type of game. Just playing how the game is played, if they’re doubling make the pass. Play easy, not try to force anything. That streak was good while it lasted, but that was the last of my concerns. [I’m] glad we won.”
Durant wasn’t the only member of the Thunder (38-10) to go off, as Serge Ibaka finished with 25 points on 12-for-12 shooting, as the Thunder shot 63.6 percent as a team to win their 10th straight game.
“That’s the most important streak,” Durant said. “I’m glad we got the [win]. We just have to continue to play the right way on both ends of the floor, and help each other out on both ends.”
Like they did in their win over the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Jan. 2, the Nets (20-24) used Shaun Livingston against Durant, and Livingston actually played sound defense against the 6-foot-9 scoring machine for most of the game, outside of a pair of easy alley-oops in the third quarter.
But these days, there’s simply no stopping Durant. Livingston had a hand in Durant’s face on each of his first quarter baskets —a 3-pointer from the top of the key, a wing jumper, a spin move in the post and another wing jumper that Livingston fouled him on — and all were swishes. The Thunder star went 4-for-5 and had 11 points in the opening stanza.
It wasn’t much different in the second, when Durant checked in after a few minutes of rest and promptly made all four of his shots — including a step-back 3-pointer with Livingston right in his face once again to extend Oklahoma City’s lead to 61-30, the Thunder’s largest advantage of the game, and sent Durant into the halftime break 8-for-9 for 22 points.
“I mean, man … the way he’s shooting the ball, it’s tough,” Livingston said after leading the Nets with 16 points. “It’s one of those where you have to tip your hat to him.”
“That’s what he does,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “Durant can make shots with two people on him. We thought Shaun was there on a majority of his shots tonight, and he made some extremely tough shots. That’s the type of player Durant is. He can knock down those shots.”
While Durant was lighting up the scoreboard, the Nets couldn’t hit anything, falling apart after a Livingston strip of Durant at halfcourt and dunk cut the Thunder’s lead to 17-16 with 4:57 to go in the first quarter. The Nets shot 6-for-25 (24 percent) with seven turnovers over the rest of the half, giving up a 46-19 run that left them trailing 63-35 at halftime, as a broken Brooklyn squad let their heads drop after having several open shots rim out while seemingly everything was falling for Oklahoma City.
“That’s the kind of the tendency we had in the beginning of the season when we weren’t sure and we weren’t defending,” Deron Williams said. “I think that happened a little bit. That’s something that with this team can’t happen.”
With the game already decided, the only drama for the final 24 minutes would be whether Durant would be able to extend his 30-point scoring streak to 13 straight games. But after finishing a pair of alley-oop dunks in the third, Durant missed his only other shot — a short jumper from the left wing — before sitting down for the rest of the night.
“I guess you can say that in the last 13 games, I’m the only one who can stop him from scoring 30,” Brooks said.