Just as Curry was chasing Ray Allen's all-time record for three-pointers, a record he set this season has been rewritten by someone else. On December 13, Beijing time, in the Nets' away challenge to the Pistons, Durant broke out in full swing, playing 41 minutes in a single game, shooting 16 of 31, including 5 of 10 shots outside the three-point line, 15 of 14 of the free throw line, and one person cut 51 points. In this way, Durant also surpassed Curry to become the holder of the NBA's single-game individual scoring record so far this season.
Durant's 51 points are a new record for his individual single-game scoring since joining the Nets; Durant's 51 points also set a new scoring record for the Pistons' home field at Caesars Jr., which previously set a scoring record of 50 points per game set by Griffin; Durant's 51 points is the seventh game of his career to score 50+, since he entered the NBA in 2007, only Harden (23 times), Lillard (12 times), Curry (10) and James (9) have scored 50+ more games than he has.
In basketball, individual players who want to score high points in a game usually require the coordination of three elements. First of all, the player must have the strength to get high scores, and must have the motivation to score; second, the teammates must give the player enough space to play and ensure that he has enough shots; finally, the opponent of the game can not be too strained, and must keep the game situation glued, so that the player has a reason to continue to stay on the court to score.
Durant, who led the team to Detroit, just met these three conditions at the same time.
First of all, as the Nets' top player, Durant's scoring ability is beyond doubt. Don't look at the league's revision of the rules this season, resulting in many former scoring masters, this season have "dived", but Durant with his comprehensive skills and soft feel, scoring more often for him, it depends on whether he wants to, not whether he can or not.
At present, Durant's average score per game has reached 29.4 points, ranking first in the league, and 2.1 points ahead of the "alphabet brother" behind him. This, combined with his 52.9 percent athletic shooting percentage, 38.3 percent three-point shooting, and 87.7 percent free throw shooting, shows his personal strong scoring ability and a level ahead of the league.
In addition to his abilities, Durant also gained an extra boost of power before playing against the Pistons. On December 12, local time, the NBA officially issued a fine worth $25,000 to Durant. The reason is that in the previous Game between the Nets and the Hawks, Durant was not inferior to the fans.
The incident occurred 28 seconds before the second quarter of the game, when fans on the sidelines captured a video through their mobile phones in which an off-camera Eagles fan shouted at Durant on the field: "Durant, stop crying." Durant, who heard this sentence, immediately returned his mouth and responded with a few dirty words that needed to be silenced. The video was not only filmed, but also uploaded to social media. In view of the adverse reactions caused by Durant's move, the alliance made a penalty decision to fine.
That's the extra power Durant got before the game against the Pistons. In addition to these off-court elements, the situation inside the Nets is also one of the reasons why Durant must stand up and get high scores.
Before the game began, James Harden announced that the game would be suspended, which was the first time since the beginning of the season that Beard had missed the Nets. Not only can Harden not play, a game with the Pistons, Millsap is also absent for personal reasons, Joe Harris is still continuing to recuperate his left ankle, and the Nets have to send their 9th starting lineup of the season.
"We lost James (Harden), we lost Paul Millsap, so I felt like I had to score more points," Durant said, "and our opponents, the Pistons, didn't wrap up at me as often as other teams when they were defending us, so I grabbed that." ”
After the game, only 3 players around Durant scored in double figures. Patty Mills scored 18 points, but he was averagely efficient at 7-of-17 shooting; then there was Aldridge, who contributed 15 points, and Rookie Thomas, who scored 13 points. So on the court, there are too few teammates who can provide fire support to Durant. More often, Durant is left to rely on himself.
"Kevin (Durant) was fantastic," Nets coach Nash said after the game, "he played really hard, very energetically." We used different squad combinations for this game and a lot of players came on the pitch, hoping to open up space on the pitch and find their place. In the process, he alone scored 51 points, with nine assists, seven rebounds, two blocks and one steal. It's incredible. ”
Originally, facing the Pistons, who had previously won 4 wins and 21 losses and were at the bottom of the East, the Nets were still higher than their opponents even if the lineup was not in order. The game started in a direction that the Nets established a 13-point lead in the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter, they also led 31-24. However, as Durant took a break at the start of the second quarter, the Nets' offense began to become sluggish, and the Pistons, led by Cunningham and backup guard Frank Jackson, played an 18-8 offensive wave, but instead led the Nets by three points.
That's the third ingredient for Durant to get a high score: an indomitable opponent. Although the Pistons damaged Big Jeremy Grant, they still played tough and fearless against the Nets. "They found out that we were missing point guards and players who could hold the ball, so they wanted to put pressure on us in that regard," Durant said, "and we knew very well that they were going to put pressure on us after we served, but as soon as we dribbled through the half and started playing our own tactics, they would be relatively loose." After we slowly discovered their routine, we could play the game with ease. ”
Don't look at Durant's light words, but on the court, the situation once made people sweat for the Nets. The Pistons scored 30+ points in both the second and third quarters, and through those two quarters, they went from a 7-point side to a 5-point lead. Moreover, with 8 minutes and 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Pistons also created Durant's fifth personal foul, and as long as the referee blew a whistle on him, the Pistons could take the Nets, the strongest fortress.
But the result was that Durant not only stayed on the court until the end of the game, but also made the Pistons multiple fouls in a single quarter, one person standing on the free throw line 6 times, and scoring 13 points in a single quarter. Coupled with the Nets tightening their fences and strengthening their defense in the final quarter, the Pistons only scored 13 points in the single quarter, and also cut off the Pistons' hope of winning.
"I think we got enough points on the offensive end," Durant said after the game, "and on the defensive end, we stuck to the game plan that we had made before and played very tough." As long as the defense is solid, the offense will be complete. Our team's offense was a bit stalled at some point, so I realized I should play more aggressively. ”
Looking at Durant's 51-point game, he scored double-digit points in each of the four quarters. The craziest was undoubtedly the third quarter, when the Nets didn't go well, and the team scored only 26 points. Durant played the 12 minutes of the quarter and scored 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Among them, the Nets' first 13 points in this quarter were all arranged by Durant. If durant hadn't continued to fire for the team in the third quarter, the Pistons might have widened the point difference, and the Nets would have been able to reverse in the final quarter and be marked with a question mark.
"He's really special," Mills said after the game, praising Durant, "Obviously, it's a very special game for him personally, but I think this game is very special for each of us, and it's really special that we can be in a game like this, to be able to see everything that happens tonight so close." ”