In honor of KD passing Melo for 9th on the NBA's all-time scoring list last night... Check out this 2008 battle filled with buckets between Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant 🍿
The first two games of the NBA resumption after the All-Star break didn't went as the Phoenix Suns and of course, as Kevin Durant expected. Two painful losses for Phoenix againts the Mavericks and the Rockets, the first one due to the recent history between the two teams and the last one because it was a game that Phoenix should've won, given the difference in talent and aspirations. Nevertheless, KD achieved a new milestone in his career, surpassing none other than Carmelo Anthony, relegating him to the last spot in the top ten all-time scoring leaders.
A bittersweet achievement for Kevin Durant, who had a really good game against Houston, but missed a couple of important shots. Phoenix is now sitting at the 8th spot in the Western Conference, surrounded by really good and dangerous teams, like the Kings placed in the 7th seed, and chased by the Lakers (9th) and the Warriors (10th). From the way things are looking right now, there's a big chance for one of these legendary teams to miss the upcoming playoffs.
Despite all that, Kevin Durant's achievement is really important to mention, perhaps this accomplishment came later than everyone expected, given the offensive prowess of the two-time NBA Champion. That achilles injury cause Durant to miss an entire NBA season.
After the game, when asked about now being 9th overall among the all-time scorers, Durant answered:
"It’s hard to think about right now. We lost two games in a row. That sucks, but I don’t want to disrespect what that means to the game."
And referred to what it means to surpass Melo, KD declared: "He set the standard for me for a long time," Durant praised Anthony, with whom he has shared a good part of his basketball career, not only in the NBA but with team USA as well.
In honor of KD passing Melo for 9th on the NBA's all-time scoring list last night... Check out this 2008 battle filled with buckets between Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant 🍿