If MVP is selected now, who will you vote for?
Curry, who is ranked first on the NBA's official MVP competition list, belongs to the official number one candidate.
But when you watch the Nets and Pistons game, do you savor it?
Could it be Durant, because he played the Pistons, such a team that lost 11 consecutive games against the Nets and scored 51 points at the bottom of the league?
Let's start with the significance of those 51 points, which is the highest single-game score in the 2021-22 season and breaks Curry's season record of 50 points set against the Hawks on Nov. 9.
This is The first time since November 30, 2018, that Durant has scored 50+ points per regular season, coincidentally, the 2018 game was also 51 points, and the 2018-19 season, which was considered Durant's last peak, was seriously injured in the Achilles tendon that year, resulting in the subsequent 2019-20 season being scrapped.
From 51 minutes to 51 minutes, an interval of 1109 days, Durant once again proved that the "Death Scythe" in his hand was still extremely sharp, and although 50+ could not be said to be handy, as long as he wanted, he could do it.
For the Pistons, Durant did not want to take 50+ and could not do it, Irving was still "stubborn", Joe Harris was still recuperating, Harden was on leave, and Millsap was not on the job for personal reasons. Irving and Joha not playing for the Nets has become a habit, Millsap is a supporting role after all, but Harden's rest has a big impact, the Nets can't find a suitable offensive organizer outside of Adu, Mills can only take part of the work in this regard, and his technical style is not the type of ball holding core.
As a result, the Nets had five turnovers in the third quarter of 1 minute and 11 seconds, and Durant was so angry that Durant scolded on the sidelines.
Annoyed to be annoyed, the work to do Adu is the same a lot, he went to control the ball through the half, he went to meet the defensive shot, he went to the misplaced defense, he went to protect the penalty area, you can think of the game task, he did, 51 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks, the real Deng ge is not at home, Adu is a father and a mother.
"We're short of major generals, so I feel like I have to take a little more points." Durant said very Versailles after the game.
Objectively speaking, the Nets can win this time, can not be said to be all the credit of Durant, they also played a key role in the defense in the fourth quarter, but if there is no Adu offensive bottom, defense to take the lead, the Nets may not be able to hold up. This is also a bit of a helpless place for the Nets this season, through the offseason reinforcements, the team's defensive resources are better, the defensive efficiency of the league is fifth, much stronger than last season (22nd), but Irving's absence and the team's injuries have reduced their offensive efficiency from the first place in the league last season to the 13th place this season.
The Nets' original plan was that the offense had the protection of the big three, and the defense was put in order, and the team would be stronger than last season, which was a good idea, but who could have imagined that Irving and the vaccine were "not wearing the same day", Harden was not systematic because of the offseason recuperation training, and at the same time to adapt to the league blowing penalty scale, resulting in the offensive state being good and bad, Nash's planned offensive system was messy, and his way of coping was Adu Neng.T.
Playing against a team like the Pistons, which is the league's bottom-to-last team, the Nets also have durant to play 41 minutes, and he has averaged 36.5 minutes per game this season, and he is fifth in the league, averaging 29.4 points per game to lead the scoring list. The scoring champion is at best the icing on the cake for Durant, he has taken it four times, but the Nets' condition this season has forced Adu to produce the ability to produce the scoring king level.
The data does not lie, when Durant is on the court this season, the Nets can get 113.4 points per 100 rounds, which can rank second in the league in offensive efficiency, and when Adu is not on the court, the Nets' 100-round score drops to 105.6 points, the level of the 27th place in the league. With Adu, without Adu, the Nets' offense is like two teams.
Durant's 33.5 percent of the Nets' goals this season came from him, setting a new NBA career high for Adu, after a personal record of 33.1 percent, created in the 2013-14 season, when Durant was the leading regular-season scorer and MVP.
Speaking of the topic of MVP, on the NBA official competition list, Curry is first, Durant is second, which is also the competitive pattern presented so far since the beginning of this season.
Curry's first row is reasonable, after all, the Warriors have a better record than the Nets, and Curry has had some crazy moments this season, and is now approaching the glory of the historical three-point king, but Durant's performance has made the first-man battle this season suspenseful, especially considering Curry's recent shooting errors due to subjective and objective reasons.
From the data comparison in the above chart, it can be seen that Durant has better offensive efficiency than Curry, Adu has played 25 games this season, shooting no less than 50% of the shots in 17 games, accounting for 68% of the games, while Curry, who has also played 25 games, this proportion is 40%.
Curry's defensive intensity is great, but is Durant small? The NBA's official statistics set defenders 2 to 4 feet (about 0.6 to 1.2 meters) from the shooter as a tight defense, Durant has 70.3% of the shots this season are done under this defensive intensity, the shooting rate of this type is 51%, and Curry only 37.7% of the shots are in tight defense, shooting 49.7% is also very good, but both in quantity and quality are lower than Durant.
It's definitely not that Curry is inferior to Durant, but in terms of physical talent, Adu's stability in cracking high-pressure defense is better, Curry is also the top shooter in history, he created a basketball era, and Adu is a faction of his own, both are mavericks and have their own characteristics.
Curry's shot gives the impression that this is not a good opportunity, don't shoot, don't shoot, really in!
Adu's shot gives people the feeling: this is not a good opportunity, don't shoot, don't shoot, it's KD, then shoot!
There is no distinction between high and low, we are all epoch-making shooting masters, and we are all witnesses.
Durant and Curry's MVP battle may last for the entire season, no one can "knock down" the other side in the short term, Adu's 51 points this time is to blow the horn of the battle, just wait for Curry to give a response.
Good drama, still to come.