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DETROIT — Kevin Durant sighed as it seemed like he was being disrespected, then turned his face sideways to eliminate all doubt on how he was feeling.
The notion his age would prevent him from having enough juice down the stretch of an arduous NBA season, the suggestion he’s a mere mortal by NBA standards was as humorous as it was preposterous —how dare someone.
“I ain’t a regular 36-year-old,” Durant told Yahoo Sports. “I condition my mind, my body, to be a pro. So what else am I gonna do? Burn out?
“How many people playing at this level at my age? So you can’t compare me to anybody who’ve burnt out. It could happen, but does it look like it right now?”
It didn’t Sunday afternoon, when Durant shook off an ugly first half to close out the Detroit Pistons on the road — scoring 30 of his game-high 36 points in the final 24 minutes, with seven rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals.
If there’s any belief the Suns can be better than their current projections, it lies with having two shot-makers, Durant and Devin Booker, who can create outside of the offense late in games.
“Tonight was scripted,” Durant said. “We wasn’t just out there, rolling the balls out, and each possession trying to figure out what to do. No. We knew exactly what we wanted to do, where we wanted to go, and make plays.
“That’s what confident teams do, in the fourth quarter especially when things are going haywire, stay on the same page. Each fourth quarter game is helping us.”
His production and efficiency is wild to consider. He’s still shooting well over 50% from the field, right at 38% from 3-point range and averaging his ho-hum 27 points, six rebounds and four assists.
One supposes he has every right to feel whatever combination of adjectives popped into his head, given his basketball excellence, even if the Suns sit in this muck of Western Conference teams who in a week’s time can go from the play-in to firmly having homecourt in the first round.
The Suns are .500 halfway through the season, but that number feels slightly misleading. When Durant plays, the Suns are 20-12 — a mark that if…
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Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2025-01-22 20:20:00
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