Kevin Durant had a decent game on Wednesday night in Memphis.
And in this case, decent actually means spectacular.
The reigning two-time Finals MVP racked up 28 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals. He shot an other-worldly 12-for-13 from the field.
"He could have shot anytime he wanted and he only took 13 shots and he made 12 of them," Steve Kerr said on KNBR 680 on Thursday night. "And the one he missed, he got fouled on.
"I don't know that I've ever seen anybody play the game as smoothly and as easily as he does. And he just sort of, you know, decides what he's gonna do each game -- based on what's happening, circumstances, how people are guarding us.
"He's just an amazing, amazing talent."
Sports
Ain't that the truth.
When it comes to Durant "deciding what he's gonna do" -- here are some examples of his production over various stretches this season:
-Warriors' first seven games = 30.3 points, 55.6 percent shooting, 20.6 field goal attempts, 5.9 assists
-Warriors' next nine games = 24.4 points, 49.3 percent shooting, 16.4 field goal attempts, 6.6 assists
-Warriors' next seven games = 37.3 points, 49.5 percent shooting, 26.0 field goal attempts, 5.9 assists (Steph Curry and Draymond Green missed all these games)
Since he returned from missing games at Houston and at Oklahoma City two weeks ago, he hasn't been nearly as aggressive when it comes to scoring.
Outside of taking 25 shots against Dallas last Saturday, his attempts in the other five games: 18, 13, 9, 6, 13.
Yet Durant is so good that he averaged 6.3 assists during this stretch, while shooting over 57 percent from the field.
[RELATED: Kevin Durant is doing 'whatever he wants' against Warriors' opponents]
As he told NBC Sports Bay Area's Kerith Burke following the win over the Grizzlies:
Kevin Durant to @KerithBurke after the Warriors' win: "I played a little point guard there in the 4th quarter to kind of settle us down a bit, and I was able to get some good shots for myself and my teammates." https://t.co/E3c76VHHLV— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) March 28, 2019
An example:
Kevin Durant - who is 10-for-11 from the field - does a great job orchestrating the offense. It leads to a wide open Cousins jumper pic.twitter.com/zd0lfjj5kP— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) March 28, 2019
It will be very interesting and fun to see which version of Durant shows up on a game-to-game basis during the playoffs.
