The good news for the Nets as they prepare to face the Thunder Friday night at Barclays Center is they managed to hold Kevin Durant to 24 points in their win in Oklahoma City on Jan. 2.
The bad news?
With Durant having scored more than 30 points in 16 of his last 18 games — including the last 12 in a row, a streak he continued by scoring 33 points in Wednesday’s 112-95 win over LeBron James and the Heat in Miami — they now have to try to do it again.
“Anything over halfcourt is an option,” Shaun Livingston said after Thursday’s practice, shaking his head. “It’s like a video game right now.”
It would be hard to replicate the video game-like numbers Durant has put up in January.
The Thunder is missing star point guard Russell Westbrook, who has been out since he put up a triple-double at Madison Square Garden on Christmas Day following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. It was the third surgery on the same knee in the space of eight months for Westbrook, but Durant has more than made up for his absence.
Since the start of January, Durant is averaging 36.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists while shooting 53.9 percent overall and 41.8 percent from 3-point range in 15 games. Those numbers have helped the Thunder, who enter the game with a 12-game winning streak, post a 12-4 record in January.
“He’s George Gervin and Dirk [Nowitzki] all mixed into one,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s [6-foot-9 but] he can put it on the floor. He’s shown he can pass, rebound. … He has the total package.”
Because Durant was able to score 33 points on 12-for-23 shooting, to go with seven rebounds and five assists against the Heat, even with James guarding him, no one envies Livingston, who likely will be the first player assigned to defend Durant.
The Nets used Livingston’s length — along with some effective doubling from Kevin Garnett — to force Durant to give up the ball in that win on Jan. 2.
That strategy was somewhat effective. Durant shot 8 of 13 from the field, but played just 34 minutes, spending much of the game in foul trouble.
“Honestly, it was a team effort,” Livingston said. “I tried to get up and make him feel uncomfortable. Russell had just gone out, so they were in different circumstances, but they were a totally different team, and he’s a totally different player right now.”
The Nets will employ their current starting lineup — with Livingston and Alan Anderson in the backcourt, along with Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce and Garnett. That will give them options defensively against Durant. The Nets will have Livingston’s length to bother Durant on the perimeter, and also can switch one of their other three long perimeter players onto him whenever they switch a screen.
“The whole team [has to guard him],” Johnson said. “You never know. You get switched onto him. You have to guard him. … It is what it is.
“But we don’t put it on one man. It’s a team deal and if you get beat, you have to know you have help.”
The Nets undoubtedly would like to use their best perimeter defender, Andrei Kirilenko, on Durant for at least stretches of the game, but his status is up in the air after sitting out of practice on Wednesday and Thursday because of a sore right calf. Kirilenko had an MRI exam Thursday, which came back negative, and he remained listed as day-to-day.
“I’m guarding him, so I don’t want to say that, ‘Well, this guy is going to get 30 on me,’” Livingston said. “But, at the same time, you know that he’s going to put up shots, and he’s going to shoot the ball and shoot a lot. He’s playing efficiently, so you try to make him play inefficient.
If he gets 30, you try to make him work for it, and hopefully he shoots a bad percentage and gets a couple turnovers, and that’s how we get a team win.”