Kevin Durant Makes History in Rockets Loss to Timberwolves

On Friday night, the Houston Rockets went to battle against the Minnesota Timberwolves, in a game that had major implications, as it pertains to their placement in the Western Conference standings.

With the postseason nearing, every game is pivotal. Houston was seeking to avenge their last loss against Minnesota last month. In that game, the Rockets held a 13-point lead in overtime with just a handful of minutes remaining, yet still lost.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the loss happened in front of a national audience. This time around, Timberwolves All-NBA guard Anthony Edwards played, in his first time facing off against this iteration of the Rockets this season.

Houston ultimately lost 136-132, despite facing a shorthanded Timberwolves team that was playing without Naz Reid, Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle. Edwards had 22 points for Minnesota in just 27 minutes of play.

On the Rockets' side of things, Amen Thompson exploded and had a career night, scoring 41 points on 17-of-22 shots, while also pouring in nine rebounds and seven assists. Thompson also went a perfect 7-of-7 from the foul line.

Kevin Durant had 33 points on 13-of-18 shooting, while also pouring in seven rebounds and seven assists. Durant made history in the loss, becoming the oldest player to score 2,000 points in a single season.

Durant also became the first player to eclipse the 2,000 point mark in their 18th season or later. The previous mark was held by Karl Malone during the 1999-00 season, as a member of the Utah Jazz.

Malone was 36 years of age at that time and had 2,095 total points during that season. All told, Durant has averaged 26 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 52 percent from the field, 41.3 percent from three, 87.4 percent from the foul line, 58.8 effective shooting and 64.1 percent true shooting.

He's sure to make an All-NBA team this season and may even make the First Team All-NBA, considering the injuries and amount of time missed by the aforementioned Edwards, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic and others, as the league's 65-game minimum mandate went into effect this season, in an attempt to mitigate load management by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

Interestingly enough, Durant has played 78 games, which is the most he's played in nearly a decade, when he played 78 games during his last season with the Golden State Warriors in 2018-19. Durant has also played the second-most minutes in the NBA this season.