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The New York Knicks and a sizable cohort of blue and orange faithful hit up Barclays Center for a subway series against the Brooklyn Nets. The superstar duo of Kevin Durant and James Harden emerged victorious, however, and sent a lot of ‘Bockers fans home feeling dejected.
The Nets are now 15-6, and for the time being hold a 1.5 game lead for first place in the Eastern Conference standings. But after the game, Durant revealed a little bit about his inner Mamba mentality and how much he loves this game.
To secure the big win, the Nets turned to their surprise identity on the defensive end of the floor. They held the Knicks to just 49 second half points. Alec Burks led the way for Tom Thibodeau's group with 25 points, while All-NBA forward Julius Randle kept the pressure on Brooklyn by pouring in 24 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
But the Nets' star power burned just a bit brighter.
Durant, squarely in the 2022 MVP conversation, dropped 27 points to go with five rebounds and nine assists. James Harden led all scorers with 34 points, 10 boards and eight dimes assists.
But one thing that has come up time and time again this season, especially without Kyrie Irving (unvaccinated) in the fold to shoulder some of the burden, has been how many minutes the Nets' stars are logging. You'd almost think they were the team coached by Thibs recently.
Harden logged 40 minutes. Durant played 41 minutes, just one game after playing a season high 45 minutes in the team's loss to the Phoenix Suns. Durant is averaging his highest minutes per game total since the 2015-16 season. And this is now after missing a full season because of an Achilles injury.
This season has been a very far cry from how careful the team was with their top scorer a season ago when the 2014 MVP only appeared in half of the regular season contests. But after the game, KD went full Mamba on us, channeling his inner Kobe Bryant with regard to resting.
Is he concerned with how many minutes he's logging?
"My basketball life is not that long so I wanna get the most out of it….I'm sure for the rest of the season I'm gonna try to sneak some of those 40 plus minute games in. Cause s–t, I like being out there."
Kevin Durant's love or the game comes out when asked about load mgmt. pic.twitter.com/cQ1NVCqOMQ— DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) December 1, 2021
“I'm a basketball player, I enjoy to play,” said the two-time Finals MVP. “Like I wanna play 48 minutes tonight. That's just what it is. I know a lot of people are, I don't even know if they're concerned or not I just think there's a conversation to have like I'm playing more minutes. I'm coming off an injury. And all this other stuff. But I like to play.
“If I can convince coach to play me the whole second half sometimes or put me in earlier in quarters I'ma do it every game. It don't matter. My basketball life is not that long so I wanna get the most out of it.”
Durant is now averaging over 35 minutes per game and in a virtual (28.6) points per game tie with his former teammate, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
“I'm sure for the rest of the season,” continued Durant, “I'm gonna try to sneak some of those 40-plus minute games in. Cause s–t, I like being out there.”
Somewhere Kobe Bryant is proud of Kevin Durant.
Bryant, who also recovered from Achilles surgery, was full throttle as well. Steve Nash is going to have to be very persuasive if he wants to get his best player to take a rest. But the Nets needed every bit of energy Durant had to give in this one because the Knicks played some very spirited basketball. The game came down to the wire and Durant threw the key pass to James Johnson for the go ahead free throws.
Somehow, some way, after major surgery, at 33 years old, in his 14th year, Durant is playing some of the best basketball of his career. No wonder he never wants to take a rest.
