NBA: Durant’s scoring streak stops at 41 games

SACRAMENTO, USA – Kevin Durant’s historic scoring streak came to a halt Tuesday, April 8 (Wednesday, April 9 in the Philippines) as the Oklahoma City Thunder toppled the Sacramento Kings, 107-92.

Thunder forward Durant finished with 23 points as his run of scoring at least 25 points ended at 41 games. He passed Michael Jordan last time out for the third longest streak in history. READ: Kevin Durant equals Jordan’s 25-point game streak at 40

Durant is relieved that it was over and the team can now focus on winning games.

“Sometimes it was a little bit more of a distraction to the team,” Durant said. “I don’t like all the attention on me when it is a team game.”

Durant, who is a strong candidate for most valuable player of the year, has also scored 20 or more points in 50 consecutive games.

The Thunder star who leads the NBA in scoring and has won the scoring title in four of the last five seasons last failed to score 25 or more points on January 5 against Boston.

Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson had a 46-game run of 25-plus points back in 1963-64 while center Wilt Chamberlain did it in all 80 regular-season games of the 1961-62 season while playing for the Philadelphia Warriors.

Those two streaks happened before the league had the three-point line, making Durant’s the longest of the so called modern era.

Beating Sac-town

Caron Butler came off the bench and made all six of his attempts from three-point range for 23 points while Serge Ibaka finished with 19 points for Oklahoma City who ended a two-game losing skid.

DeMarcus Cousins had a double-double with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Travis Outlaw also had 24 points while Ben McLemore added 11 in the Kings’ sixth loss in eight games.

Cousins matched Chris Webber’s franchise record of 50 double-doubles in a season. Webber achieved the feat in the 2001-2002 season. – Rappler.com