BOSTON — Brooklyn Nets star forward Kevin Durant endured the worst statistical half of his career during Wednesday’s 114-107 Game 2 loss to the Celtics.
Durant went 0-for-10 from the field in the second half, the most field goal attempts without a make in any half of his career, according to research from ESPN Stats & Information. After finishing 4-of-17 on Wednesday, Durant is a combined 13-for-40 from the field in the series.
“It’s on me to just finish it and figure it out,” he said. “I’m not expecting my teammates or the defense to give me anything. I just got to go out there and play.”
1 Related
Durant still managed to score 27 points, mainly by getting to the free throw line, where he was 18-of-20. He said the Celtics are throwing multiple bodies at him wherever he goes on the floor.
“They’re playing two, three guys off me sometimes on me when I’m off the ball,” Durant said. “They’re mucking up actions when I run off stuff — I see [Al] Horford leaving his man to come over and hit me sometimes. Two or three guys hit me wherever I go. And that’s just the nature of the beast in the playoffs. I feel like I got a couple good shots there in the fourth that just didn’t go down, but I see a few of their guys around me every time I get the ball, and so I got to be more patient, but also play fast sometimes, too.”
The Celtics’ game plan on Durant has worked to near perfection as they have taken a 2-0 series lead. Boston’s Jayson Tatum called Durant “one of the most gifted scorers that we’ve seen,” and made it clear the Celtics are just trying to make things more difficult on him.
“It can’t be easy,” Tatum said. “Can’t give him open looks, rhythm shots and things like that. So you just follow the game plan — as best as we can try to make it tough for him.”
It’s a sentiment that Celtics coach Ime Udoka echoed after another strong defensive performance against one of the greatest offensive players the game has ever seen.
“I think we did that,” Udoka said of limiting Durant’s…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at www.espn.com – NBA…