Kevin Durant draws praises from Utah coach Snyder

NEW YORK – Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder knew precisely what Kevin Durant would do against them. Yet his team couldn’t do anything to stop the inevitable force that smacked them Monday night (Tuesday, Manila time). 

“If there is one thing — rather than state the obvious that I think he’s one of the greatest scorers of all time — all you got to do is pick up the box score and then also look at how efficient he is. I think that’s what makes him so unique and the way that he scores in so many ways, that’s the thing that makes it even more difficult [to guard him],” Snyder said more than an hour before tip-off.

The Nets superstar did exactly like how Snyder described it. 

Durant destroyed every defender and every scheme the Jazz threw at him on his way to 37 points that carried the hobbling Brooklyn Nets to a 114-106 win in front of a sellout crowd of 17,887 at the Barclays Center. 

He made it look easy, hitting 15 of 23 shots as he surpassed NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West (25, 192 points) on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Durant moved into 22nd place with 25,213 points and moved closer to Reggie Miller’s 25,279. 

It was also Durant’s 20th 30-point game this season, tying John Williamson (1977-78) for the fourth-most 30-point game in a single season in franchise history. Durant could be the Nets’ record-holder by the season’s end. Only Bernard King (22 in 1977-78) and Vince Carter (24 in 2004-05 and 25 in 2006-07) are ahead of him. 

“[Durant] made a run on his own just based on our lapses in our strategy,” Jazz veteran forward Rudy Gay said afterward.

Playing on back-to-back nights, the Jazz only trailed by two at halftime and cut it to one even before the third quarter started as the Nets drew a technical foul for delay of the game. 

Already without Kyrie Irving (unavailable due to NYC vaccine mandate), Ben Simmons (herniated disc), LaMarcus Aldridge (hip), Joe Harris (season-ending ankle surgery), and late scratch Andre Drummond (non-COVID illness), the Nets further got decimated after Seth Curry limped out in the first half with a concerning ankle injury. 

The Jazz, Western Conference’s fourth seed, failed to capitalize as Durant took over in the second half. He was quick against Utah’s big men Rudy Gobert and Hassan Whiteside and shot over Gay and the other Jazz’s wings. 

“We heard they were starting to switch, so really it was just get him the ball and get out of the way,” said Bruce Brown. “We know [Rudy] Gobert and Hassan [Whiteside] can’t stay with him at all.”

“He took advantage of that. That’s what great players do,” Gay said. “When they see an opening, they take it. He made us pay.”

Durant had 22 in the second half, with 15 coming in the third quarter, where the Nets pulled away for good. He egged on the crowd after his back-to-back three-pointer made it 84-68. 

“It’s part of who I am at this point,” Durant said of that moment. “I like playing. I enjoy the competition. That’s one of the best teams in the league. They’ve got some great players on that team. They bring the best out of you.”

“I just want to be there for my guys and feed off the crowd, and I want the crowd to feed off me as well.” 

His supporting cast fed off him as well. 

Brown had 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Nic Claxton stepped up in Drummond’s absence. He produced 15 points, six boards, four dimes and two blocks playing against Gobert and Whiteside. Veterans Patty Mills and Blake Griffin added 13 and nine points off the bench. 

Utah drew big scoring nights from their backcourt — 30 points from Mitchell, 19 from Filipino-American guard Jordan Clarkson, and 18 from the returning Mike Conley, who rested in the previous night’s win against the New York Knicks — but still was not enough. 

Brooklyn extended the lead to 21 on a Durant 3-pointer with 6:09 left. But Utah made it interesting with a 19-4 run sparked by three consecutive three-pointers — two from Mitchell and one from Clarkson — to pull within six, 112-106, with 57 seconds left. 

Then Snyder’s another Durant premonition came true. 

“The thing is that after [Durant] made five in a row, and everybody, wants you to do something, and you have to try to go double team, and that’s almost worse because he’s so willing to give up the ball and let his teammates score,” Snyder said in the pregame. 

“It just makes it even hard enough that he can create the way he can, and then even when you try to impact that by putting more defenders on him, he’s so good at reading and is such a willing passer in those situations that you end up giving a wide-open three-pointer or a dunk because he not only can score but knows how to play,” he added. 

Coming off a timeout, the Jazz sent a double team, but Durant snaked his way around Rudy Gobert and Royce O’Neal and lobbed it to Nic Claxton for the exclamation dunk. 

Game over. 

The Nets won their sixth in their last seven games to move within two games behind the Toronto Raptors for the seventh seed and three games behind sixth seed Cleveland Cavaliers with still 10 games to play. 

Up next for the Nets are the Western Conference’s second seed Memphis Grizzlies led by the flamboyant Ja Morant. 

"He's a combination of players, I feel," Durant said when asked about Morant. "I think the greatest players in our game can transform into anybody at any given point. And I think Ja is on the way to that. When he's playing, I see like two or three, four different Hall of Famers in his game. From [Allen] Iverson to he might make a [Michael] Jordan-like layup, or he might run down the court like a Russell Westbrook or D-Rose. His float game is up there with some of the best that have ever played.”

“I don’t want to gas him up too much since we’re playing them next, but I think the sky’s the limit for him. The future is obviously bright. He makes everybody better, even opponents. It’s about the level that you approach that game, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Learn from Quin, Kevin. 

--

Alder Almo is a former senior sportswriter for Philstar.com and NBA.com Philippines. He is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and writes for the New York-based sports website empiresportsmedia.com.