Kevin Durant’s Nets came up short against the Celtics on Sunday, but the 12-time All Star managed to enter an exclusive club in the process.
After scoring his 33rd point of the contest midway through the fourth quarter, Durant became only the 23rd player in NBA history to reach 25,000 career points. He finished Brooklyn’s eventual 126–120 loss with a team-high 37 points to go with eight assists and six rebounds.
Durant is the third active player to reach the 25K mark, joining LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony as the only active players on the list.
The milestone basket came after KD blew by Celtics forward Al Horford and drilled one of his signature pull-up mid-range jumpers with 6:10 remaining in the game.
Despite an efficient shooting performance by Durant—12–21 from the field, 4–9 from three—the Nets were unable to maintain a lead over the red-hot Celtics in a back-and-forth affair.
Led by superstar Jayson Tatum’s 54-point barrage, Boston withstood every Brooklyn response en route to its third-straight win. The teams exchanged the lead eight times in the fourth quarter alone before the Celtics pulled away with a 14–9 run in the final 3:14 of regulation.
Tatum, who scored 18 points in the fourth, made history in his own right on Sunday as the 24-year-old All-Star tied Larry Bird for the most 50-point games (4) in team history.
After squandering Durant’s big day in its third loss to the division rival Celtics, Brooklyn will have a day of rest before a pair of pivotal games. The ninth-seeded Nets (32–33) face LaMelo Ball and the eighth-seeded Hornets (32–33) on Tuesday before an anticipated meeting with the East's No. 2 seed, the 76ers (39–24), on Thursday.
