Kevin Durant had an uncharacteristically poor second half in the Phoenix Suns’ recent loss to the Denver Nuggets. KD finished with 30 points and 11 assists on the night. However, 22 of his 30 points came in the first half and he remarkably converted zero of his 10 second-half field goal attempts. Durant’s 8 points in the final two quarters were a result of him converting all 8 of his free throws.
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Speaking after the game, Durant’s teammate Jusuf Nurkic claimed that his poor second-half display was not merely down to chance, as seen in this clip posted by Duane Rankin. Nurkic suggested that KD was not getting enough foul calls during the second half, after initially expressing his disbelief at how a superstar like KD doesn’t get such easy calls.
Nurkic was careful with his words to avoid a fine. However, he told reporters, “A lot has to do [regarding KD’s 0-for-10 2nd half showing] with him not getting extra calls. And he is Kevin Durant. It’s crazy!”
Nurkic also ended up giving KD his flowers. “Even when I was on the other side, I was like, it is Kevin Durant, like, that man is just amazing at what he do, as far as the sport of basketball is concerned. Sometimes you don’t get credit, be it fouls or when you hit that man every time but he is still scoring. But sometimes it is just like that,” the 29-year-old added.
While KD himself was frustrated with his performance, his teammate thought that the referees’ decision-making might have had something to do with his lack of scoring in the second half. Durant, of course, still had a decent game.
While he got 8 of his 15 field goal attempts on target in the first half, he was expertly restricted by Nuggets’ 21-year-old guard Peyton Watson in the second half. Durant scored only 8 points and converted just 1 shot out of 8 when he was guarded by Watson. Hence, while Nurkic might believe the referees had a big role to play, the Nuggets’ youngster also deserves credit.
Kevin Durant passed Moses Malone in the All-Time scoring list
While KD eventually failed to take his team past the defending champs, he had a decent game. Apart from finishing with a 30-point double-double, Durant also managed to break into the top-10 of the All-Time Regular Season scoring leaders’ list, passing Moses Malone.
Regardless, Nurkic was not the only one who thought Durant’s poor showing was at least partly down to the referees. Suns’ head coach Frank Vogel also had a similar claim and said that KD deserved to get to the free throw line at least 20-22 times during the game. Instead, Durant ended up converting all 13 of his free throws.
While Durant himself seemed disappointed with how the second half went, he will take solace from achieving his unique milestone. The Suns have had their struggles and are currently without both Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. While they lost against the Nuggets, fans will still be optimistic due to how close a game it ended up to be.
