Kevin Durant Won’t Chase Scoring Title


With Kobe Bryant sitting out games due to a left shin injury, Kevin Durant has a chance to overtake him for the NBA scoring title (Bryant is averaging 28.1 ppg, Durant is putting up 27.8ppg), but the OKC Thunder forward would have to become something of a gunner to do so. KD says he’s unwilling to do that. From the Oklahoman: “Two-time NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant said he will not sacrifice team play for a chance at a three-peat. ‘I’ve noticed playing in this league for five years that if you force anything, that’s when bad results come,’ the Thunder All-Star forward said. ‘I never want to force nothing.’ […] Bryant has missed the last five games with a shin injury and possibly might sit out the remainder of the regular season. If Bryant does not play again, Durant would have to score 184 in the final six games of the season, an average of 30.7 points per game, to pass Bryant (28.075 to 28.071) for a third straight scoring crown. ‘That’s hard to do in the NBA, man,’ a smiling Durant said of averaging 30.7 points the remainder of the season. ‘That’s the farthest thing from my mind. I just want to keep being efficient, that’s what it’s about. Doesn’t matter if I have 21 points or 30 points, I want to be efficient.’ […] ‘I’m not going to sit him (Durant), but he’s not going to play the 37 or 38 minutes that he (usually) gets,’ Scott Brooks said. ‘If he can get it done (score enough points to win the title) in 28 minutes, then good luck.’ Brooks smiled and said, ‘We’ll go to him early … and often.’ Asked if he would do all he could to win a scoring title if it’s what his teammates wanted, Durant said: ‘That’s different then. It tends to sway you away from team concepts, and I think we’ve been playing good basketball all season on the offensive end, you know, so who cares? If it (winning a third straight scoring title) comes, it comes. If not, that won’t mean I had a bad year if I didn’t win the scoring title.'”