When Russell Westbrook required a third recent surgery on his right knee, it looked as if the Thunder were in serious jeopardy of falling from atop the Western Conference. Then Kevin Durant decided to turn into Superman.
Take a look at these stats for Durant in 13 games in January: 36.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.8 blocks while shooting 53 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point range and 89 percent from the foul line – all while picking up a supporting cast of young or offensively challenged players.
It’s just the latest chapter in Durant’s remarkable career, during which he’s developed into the unquestioned second-best player in the NBA — at times even pushing himself into the conversation with LeBron James for who is the best player in the league.
That conversation has begun regarding this season’s MVP race, and deservedly so, given how Durant has the Thunder atop the Western Conference while Westbrook has played only 25 games and James’ incredible numbers have dipped slightly across the board.
If Durant can keep up his first-half overall performance – 31.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 5.2 assists on 50.7 percent shooting overall and 41 percent from 3-point range – and the Thunder remain on top of the loaded West, it’s going to be hard for voters to deny him his first MVP award.
(Last week’s rankings in parentheses)
1. Thunder (4): After posting wins in seven straight games – tops in the NBA – the Thunder get a pair of interesting road tests this week, first in Miami against the two-time defending champs and then in Brooklyn against the equally hot Nets.
2. Pacers (1): After deserving to lose to the Kings on Friday, Indiana did lose to Denver. Most importantly, however, the Pacers remain three games ahead of the Heat in the loss column for first overall in the Eastern Conference.
3. Heat (6): The Heat have gone 12-2 against the loaded Western Conference – including Sunday’s blowout win over the Spurs – but just 20-10 against the East. That speaks to a lack of motivation/focus against bad teams.
4. Trail Blazers (2): With Russell Westbrook sidelined, this was Portland’s chance to make a run in the West and open up some space atop the Northwest Division. Instead, the Blazers are now two games behind Oklahoma City as Westbrook’s return draws closer.
5. Clippers (5): As impressive as the Thunder coping without Kevin Durant has been the way the Clippers have done without the services of Chris Paul.
6. Nets (12): In the space of a month, Jason Kidd has gone from being on the hottest of hot seats to being in line to earn Coach of the Month honors for January. This has turned into an upside-down version of the 2012-13 season for the Nets.
7. Grizzlies (8): Memphis keeps on rolling with big back-to-back wins over the Rockets. The Grizzlies – now with Marc Gasol back – are even in the loss column with Dallas for the final playoff spot in the West.
8. Spurs (3): San Antonio’s 1-11 record against the top seven teams in the league is certainly cause for concern. The bigger issue, though, is coping with the loss of Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Tiago Splitter all at once due to various injuries.
9. Warriors (7):Â After going 5-5 in their past 10 games, the Warriors have a chance to get on another hot streak with upcoming games against the Wizards, Bobcats, Bulls, 76ers and Jazz.
10. Mavericks (11): As the Mavericks continue to plod along in eighth place in the West, Monta Ellis has begun to revert back to his career norms (46 percent shooting overall, 30.8 percent from 3-point range) after his hot start.
11. Raptors (9): Toronto suffered its first significant injury of the season when leading scorer DeMar DeRozan went down with a left foot/ankle injury just in time miss a trip to Brooklyn for a showdown with the Nets on Monday night.
12. Suns (13): Jeff Hornacek continues to do an incredible job, keeping the Suns in a playoff spot despite playing without hyper-athletic point guard Eric Bledsoe. Goran Dragic probably won’t make the All-Star team, but has a good case.
13. Nuggets (14): Despite all of the craziness that has happened in the Mile High City this season, first-year coach Brian Shaw still has managed to keep his team within 2.5 games of a playoff spot out West.
14. Rockets (10): The league’s most up-and-down good team continues to confound. A three-game winning streak – including a win over the Trail Blazers – was followed by back-to-back losses to Memphis.
15. Bulls (12): The Bulls keep soldiering on, heading into this week’s action tied for fourth place in the East.
16. Hawks (18): Atlanta continues to hang onto the third seed in the East even after the loss of Al Horford for the season. Paul Millsap is deserving of a trip to New Orleans for the All-Star Game.
17. Wizards (16): Strange stat: the Wizards are 0-6 in chances to get over .500, including losing the last three to teams with worse records than they have.
18. Timberwolves (17):Â Minnesota continues to fail to make up ground in the Western Conference, now in 11th and 3.5 games out of the final playoff spot. At some point you have to start wondering whether the Timberwolves are just stuck in neutral.
19. Jazz (22): After starting out 1-14, the Jazz have gone 14-15, which surely is a credit to the play of rookie point guard Trey Burke, who is averaging 13.5 points, 5.7 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.
20. Knicks (23): Anyone who is complaining about the way Carmelo Anthony scored his 62 points in Friday’s win over Charlotte needs to stop. Whether or not he had any assists, Anthony’s performance was both efficient and transcendent. Most importantly, it may be the spark this team needed to finally get going.
21. Cavaliers (21): Acquiring Luol Deng hasn’t done much to move the needle so far in Cleveland. The Cavs still are in 11th place and a couple of games out of the eighth playoff spot. You’d think they make a run at some point, though … right?
22. 76ers (24): This is how bad the Eastern Conference is these days: Philadelphia has dropped eight of its last 10 games and still managed to move up two spots in the power rankings. It’s ugly out there, folks.
23. Bobcats (23): Even after giving up 62 points to Anthony on Friday, Charlotte still sits in eighth place in the East past the halfway mark. That’s not a place many people expected the Bobcats to be at this point, and most of the credit goes to first-year coach Steve Clifford.
24. Pelicans (24): New Orleans finally picked up a couple of wins to snap a long skid, but at 6.5 games behind the Mavericks for the final playoff spot in the West, this season is quickly turning into a race to try and keep their draft pick.
25. Pistons (19): Losers of four straight, Detroit has fallen out of the playoffs in the East and appears to be unraveling. There’s a decent amount of talent on this team, but it doesn’t seem to have any idea what it’s doing.
26. Kings (20): The Kings fall this far almost exclusively for how they gave away Friday night’s loss to the Pacers at home. Winning by four – without Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins, to boot – in the final seconds, you simply can’t foul a 3-point shooter in the act.
27. Lakers (28): The Lakers have lost 16 of 19 after falling Sunday to the Knicks in a matinee at Madison Square Garden. Kobe Bryant says he wants to come back and play this season, but what’s the point?
28. Magic (30): The Magic finally got a win in January, but with Nikola Vucevic sidelined indefinitely with a concussion, this is one terrible basketball team.
29. Bucks (29): Hopefully Giannis Antetokounmpo’s back spasms won’t be a lingering thing, which would deprive Bucks fans of one of the few enjoyable things about this team.
30. Celtics (26): With the Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett reunion over and done with, the Celtics – losers of 17 of their last 20 – have nothing to look forward to but the draft lottery in May.