Kevin Durant Had His Legacy Game: Unchecked

Kevin Durant's legendary performance elevated the Brooklyn Nets and his all-time status.

People wanted a legacy game from Kevin Durant. Well, they sure got one. Not only did KD have the best performance of his career and the best in Nets history, but he was as good as anyone has ever been.

Kevin Durant finished with a Game Score of 50.4

Michael Jordan's best in a playoff game: 49.8
LeBron James's best in a playoff game: 44.7
Kobe Bryant's best in a playoff game: 43.6

When you combine the efficiency with volume, that was a top-5 playoff performance ever.

— Micah Adams (@MAdamsStatGuy) June 16, 2021

Durant was so brilliant that he may have elevated not just his teammates but his all-time status as well. Because if Brooklyn goes on to win, we will always remember, as we have with career-defining moments from other legends, what KD did in game 5 against Milwaukee.

Kevin Durant gave us a Mount Rushmore performance tonight!! 🔥🥵 @KDTrey5

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 16, 2021

It’s not like anyone should have needed to see Durant play the whole game and score 49 points on 70% shooting to go with 17 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks in order to know he is a generational one of one talent.

We just witnessed the greatest playoff game of Kevin Durant’s career.

49 PTS
17 REB
10 AST
3 STL
2 BLK
16-23 FG
4-9 3P
13-16 FT

— Played all 48 minutes
— 0 seconds of rest
— No Kyrie
— Hobbled Harden
— Scored/assisted last 43/52 Nets pts
— First 45/15/10 playoff game ever pic.twitter.com/itM8uwUFHB

— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 16, 2021

However, his time with the Warriors did skew how he is viewed for some. Fair or not, the rings he won in Golden State are not always given the significance of others since he joined what was already a 73-win team. And it is true that Durant has played with as good a cast of teammates as any star could ask for.

But in doing what he did to the Bucks, with Kyrie Irving out and James Harden gutting it out on one wheel, Durant showed he can certainly carry a team to a must-win...if anyone was still wondering.

List of NBA players to record 45+ points, 15+ rebounds and 10+ assists in a playoff game:

1. Kevin Durant

That’s it. That’s the whole list.

Legendary. pic.twitter.com/E7kytHWzl7

— Boardroom (@boardroom) June 16, 2021

KD was simply legendary, which should shut any critics up, and was enough to have two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo declare him the best player in the world.

Giannis Antetokounmpo on Kevin Durant: "He's the best player in the world right now."

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) June 16, 2021

It makes sense given he just watched Kevin Durant play as good a basketball game as the world has ever seen.