Kevin Durant Scores 40 Points To Lead Warriors Past Thunder

For the second time this season, what was supposed to be a marquee matchup turned into a laugher, as Golden State pummeled Oklahoma City 121-100 Wednesday night. Durant vs. his former team.

The first came shortly before halftime of the Thunder-Warriors game, when Durant took the ball down a wide-open lane and soared for the easy jam. “Apparently I guess they talk a lot of trash now, but we’ll see how that goes”. Only Stephon Marbury (1999-2000) and Danny Ainge (1989-90) matched that total during their careers. With a second consecutive magnificent performance in decisive wins over his former Oklahoma City teammates, Durant may be adding a nickname.

“We never looked at it that way, like we could be best of all-time”, Durant told Slater.

“Yeah, it was previous play I got elbowed, but we had a foul to give and [he was] playing pick-and-roll”.

Davis, who started after suffering thumb and hip injuries in a loss at in on Monday, got another scare, missing much of the second quarter to have his left hand X-rayed. All I care about is winning, man, honestly. Despite his 34.4 minutes per game being a career-low, he is averaging 26.2 points, a career-high 8.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. When he’s on the court this season, OKC has the scoring margin of a 57-win team. He eats triple-doubles for breakfast and dunks on defenders for dessert.

He’s only two triple-doubles shy of tying Larry Bird for fifth on the all-time list. In doing so, he became the first player in franchise history to score at least 40 points on 16 shots or fewer since the shot clock era. Kevin Durant will return OKC for the first time since leaving for Golden State on February 11. After outrebounding the Cavs 58-35, the Warriors led the category 46-36.

The Thunder are a solid team who have exceeded expectations so far this season, but they are nowhere close to the class of the Warriors. So far, the team ranks fourth in the National Basketball Association in rebounds per game (45.5) and 10th in points per game (106.3). The teams met last postseason in the Western Conference Finals, which the Warriors won in seven games. But they’re 19th in the league in assists per game (21.5). Golden State wrapped up a stretch of more than three weeks at home that included only a bus ride to Sacramento for a lone road game in a 10-game stretch since December 26.