Durantula matches The Blake Show with 47-point explosion

It takes a lot to overshadow a 31-point, 21-rebound effort by Kevin Love in his own gym, but Kevin Durant did it last night by dropping 47 points (15-28 FG, 13-14 FT) on the T-Wolves to go with 18 boards and OKC’s game-winning bucket in overtime … In the opening minutes of the game, it looked like Corey Brewer was going to give KD a battle — he was in Durant’s shirt defensively and threw down a couple of momentum-building dunks on the other end — but once Durant got rolling, Brewer might as well have been wearing a traffic cone costume. Whether staring him down for pull-ups, coming off curls for J’s, backdoor-cutting him for dunks, or baiting him into fouls, Durant was getting whatever he wanted … But thanks to K-Love and Mike Beasley (30 pts, 9 rebs, 7 asts), Minnesota withstood the body blows. Tied up with 30 seconds left in overtime, though, KD took on Brewer and a second defender and iced a step-back fadeaway for the lead. Brewer had a chance to tie it at the foul line in the final seconds, but he bricked the second freebie as the Thunder escaped with the win … Durant’s point total tied Blake Griffin for the NBA’s season-high output … The Jazz used to have their timing down perfect for these thrilling fourth-quarter comebacks, but lately they’ve been waiting too long. Hosting the Spurs last night, the Jazz had it tied early in the second quarter before Gary Neal scored 10 points during a 17-0 San Antonio run to blow it open. The Spurs pretty much kept that double-digit cushion until there the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter, when Utah remembered they can play with the best teams in the League … Deron Williams (39 pts, 9 asts) hit a jumper, Al Jefferson (22 pts, 9 rebs) scored inside, and C.J. Miles dropped in a nice reverse layup to suddenly make it a four-point game with 30 seconds left. That was still the margin with 20 seconds left, but after Manu Ginobili (26 pts, 6 rebs, 7 asts) added a free throw, Utah couldn’t get good enough looks at the basket or enough time put back on the clock to pull off the miracle … Are Raja Bell and Hines Ward long-lost cousins or something? They’re both adept at staying in front of their defensive/blocking assignments, they’re not opposed to delivering a dirty shot, they aggravate the hell out of their opponents while also earning begrudging respect, and they kind of look alike. The only difference is that Hines has like 950 catches in his NFL career, while nobody really checks for Raja on offense anymore …

In a welcome break from the constant Carmelo Anthony drama, Chauncey Billups‘ latest Detroit homecoming was the story of the day for the Nuggets. Every time he comes back, the Pistons look less familiar and more in shambles — it’s like coming home from college every summer and seeing your crew from high school slip further and further into becoming losers … Chauncey scored a game-high 26 points in a Denver win, which didn’t include the 35-foot hook shot he hit from Ghana after a non-shooting foul that would have impressed Billy Hoyle. In the final 1:30, Chauncey dropped three treys to put the Pistons to bed, which seemed almost cruel … J.R. Smith added to his dunk highlight mix with an up-and-under, rock-the-cradle hybrid jam in the first half, then a no-nonsense yet graceful one-hander in the second that forced Ben Wallace to shy away. A lot of people want to see J.R. in the All-Star dunk contest, but was he really that great in his first two appearances? Let’s just put him in the discussion for Best In-Game Dunker in the NBA and leave it there … Other stat lines from Wednesday: Dwight Howard put up 19 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks as Orlando beat Indiana; Chris Paul went for 18 points and 17 assists as New Orleans beat Golden State; Kyle Lowry had 20 points and 8 dimes to lead Houston past the Clippers; Corey Maggette‘s 22 points helped Milwaukee upset Atlanta; Marreese Speights posted 23 points and 9 rebounds off the bench as Philadelphia handed Toronto its 9th loss in a row; Anthony Morrow scored 19 off the bench in New Jersey’s win over Memphis; and Gerald Wallace put up 22 points and 10 boards as Charlotte knocked off Phoenix. And don’t look now, but Kwame Brown (12 pts, 10 rebs) has four double-doubles in his last seven games … One of our boys sent us this during Bucks/Hawks: “Delfino and Scott Skiles were arguing with the ref and Skiles got called for a tech. Camera zoomed onto Skiles giving the ‘Why?’ face. Then you heard him clear as day, ‘Would you have called that on Doc Rivers?'” … Jimmer Fredette‘s critics and skeptics wanted him to do something big against a big-time opponent, so Jimmer delivered with interest on Wednesday. Fredette dropped 43 points and 5 triples on 4th-ranked San Diego State as 9th-ranked BYU got its biggest win of the year … If you still haven’t seen Fredette play, just imagine Deron Williams’ ball-handling mixed with J.J. Redick‘s outside stroke and Stephen Curry‘s range. Not only did Jimmer outshine anything national Player of the Year competitor Kemba Walker might do this week, he also put some distance between himself and Mountain West/national P.O.Y. candidate Kawhi Leonard of SDSU, who had 22 points and 15 boards last night … And if you watched the game on the CBS college network, did you see Wally Szcerbiak beaming with pride in the studio whenever he got to talk about Jimmer? You know the kid reminds Wally of himself back in the day … We’re out like Gloria …

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