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Kevin Durant Hits NBA Season-High With 51 Points for Brooklyn Nets

Kevin Durant took his superlative season up another notch in Detroit on Sunday night.

Already leading the league in scoring, Durant put up 51 points in Brooklyn’s 116-104 win against the Pistons as the conference-leading Nets closed out a 3-1 road trip. Durant’s scoring average of 29.4 points per game through 27 games is his highest since he led the league with 32.0 points per game in his 2013-14 MVP season.

“It was very special,” said Patty Mills. “Obviously, special for him, but I think it’s special for everyone that was able to take part in that and be up close and personal to what happened tonight. It’s really special to see how he goes about his business off the court. Not a lot of people have the opportunity to see what goes into something like that. They see the result, and the result is unbelievable. But I think for me it’s special to see what happens behind the curtains and behind the closed doors, which makes it even more special I think. But an unreal game by him.”

Durant made 16-of-31 shots, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range, as well as 14-of-15 free throws. He added in nine assists, seven rebounds, and two blocks in an overwhelming all-around performance. It was the eighth 50-point game of Durant’s career, with one of those coming in the playoffs. It was the 10th 50-point game in Nets history, and the highest individual scoring performance in the NBA this season.

“Kevin was incredible,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “Not an easy night. They played extremely hard. Tons of energy. We were playing different lineups. Think there were different guys out there at different times trying to find the spacing and spots and where to be and so there were some challenges there for us. For him to be able to score 51 and nine assists, seven rebounds, two blocks, and steal. Unbelievable.”

After playing the entire first quarter and scoring 10 points, Durant returned to action midway through the second quarter and played all but the final 1:05 of the game the rest of the way, scoring 41 points in the game’s final 30 minutes. He made it to the finish even after picking up his fifth foul with 8:46 to go in the game. At that point, the Nets were in the middle of the decisive 19-1 run that opened the fourth quarter.

“We would love to get him out,” said Nash. “We’d love to get him some rest before he got his fifth foul. We debated it. He had it going. He had the look in his eyes that he wasn’t going to want to come out. We tried to ride him there and begged that we didn’t get that last foul.”

The Nets went on to limit the Pistons to 4-of-18 shooting in the fourth quarter. It was the third time in four games the Nets closed out a win on their road trip with dominant fourth-quarter defense and Nash cited Durant’s impact on that end as well.

“He was just outstanding,” said Nash. “His leadership, his willingness to keep us in it … his defense was unbelievable in the fourth quarter as well. I told the guys to start the fourth we’re going to win it on defense and that’s what they did.”