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With 1:47 to play in the Nets’ win over the Sixers on Thursday night, star forward Kevin Durant took the ball up with Tobias Harris defending and the game tied at 103. The Nets had led by as many as 20 points in the game, but a second-half rally had Philly looking to pull off another NBA comeback.
Durant sized up Harris and, near the top of the 3-point arc, launched a 3-pointer with 16 seconds on the shot clock. Harris jumped into him, fouling Durant, but Durant still rattled the shot home. With the foul, the Nets went up by four points and the Sixers never threatened again.
That shot was the second of Durant’s step-up 3-pointers in the final five minutes of the game, and it is a shot he has perfected over time. After the game, he was asked how much he practices that look.
“A lot, sh**, I mean, since I was a kid,” Durant said. “I did that move so many times in real games. It’s second nature to me at this point. Sometimes I settle for those and sometimes they’re good shots. I thought those two I took were good ones. Tobias was so aggressive in trying to contest my shots, I knew he would try to land in my heel, get in my landing area. And, you know, I was able to stay focused and knock the 3-pointer down, give us a four-point lead.”
Kevin Durant Has Been the Nets’ Top Playmaker
It was not only the second 3-pointer of the quarter for Durant, it was his second 3-pointer of the entire game. He had attempted one in the first quarter that missed, but tried only three total for the game. He took 24 shots overall and made 13 of them, scoring 34 points, and continued to excel as a playmaker with James Harden out because he has landed in the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols.
Durant had eight assists and is now averaging 9.3 assists in the three games since Harden went out. And he, as always, has that step-in 3-pointer when he needs it.
“Just keep working on that shot, keep going downhill which may open some of that stuff for me, too,” Durant said. “It’s just a, you know, I have got to keep playing aggressive at the end of the game.”
KD: ‘I’ve Got to Be Prepared for Anything’
The run Durant has been on since COVID-19 ran through the Nets roster, knocking out seven players so far, has been particularly impressive. Not only are the Nets without Harden, but they’re still missing Kyrie Irving, who has refused toe COVID-19 vaccine, and shooter Joe Harris, who had ankle surgery three weeks ago.
That means three of the Nets’ Top 4 offensive weapons are out. Yet Durant has them on a four-game winning streak. But it has not been easy.
“It’s a challenge knowing how you are going to come into the games,” Durant said. “A lot of these teams, they scheme for me a little different. We watch film on how teams play other opponents on defense, and I look at that film and think, ‘They might not guard me like that, it might be something different.’ I have got to be prepared for anything coming into a game.
“A team might trap me, they might not trap me. Pick-and-rolls, they may trap, sometimes they may play in the drop. I just gotta be prepared for anything at any given time. So I try not to distract myself with anything else but the next possession. That’s really my mindset when I step on the floor.”
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