Kevin Durant’s Unique Triple-Double Matches Dream, MJ & AK-47

Last night, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves 113-103, behind a spectacular all-around effort from Kevin Durant. He notched his fourth career triple-double, scoring 32 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing a career-high 12 dimes. But his triple-double set itself apart even more by what he did on the defensive side of the ball.

According to Basketball-Reference, since the 1985-86 season, there have been plenty of triple-doubles. But only three players have recorded a triple-double while also acquiring 4 steals and 4 blocks. Kevin Durant joined Hakeem Olajuwon (4 times), Michael Jordan (1 time) and Andrei Kirilenko (1 time) as the only contemporary players to accomplish the feat when he recorded 4 blocks and 4 steals last night as the cherry on top of his fourth career triple-double.

While KD could always light up an opponent scoring the basketball — he’s got the smoothest jumper known to man, and those gangly arms casually drop buckets like a Gumby George Gervin — he’s slowly morphed into an all-around beast we tend to overlook because of LeBron James‘ greatness. But Durant is again in the running for MVP this season with another all-around gem, this time joining all-around stat stuffers, Dream, MJ and AK-47.

Watch as Durant blocks Nikola Pekovic at the rim and finishes with a pretty Euro-step at the other end before finding Russell Westbrook cutting backdoor for the layup. It’s just awesome, overall brilliance from KD.

What do you think of Durant’s big night?

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