Brooklyn Nets star forward Kevin Durant scored four early points in his team’s first-round NBA Playoff series against the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon.
In the process, the two-time NBA Finals MVP moved past logo himself, Jerry West, into eighth place on the NBA’s all-time playoff scoring list with 4,458.
Kevin Durant finished the first quarter of Sunday’s game shooting a mere 1-of-6 from the field as Boston’s defense honed in on him big time.
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Kevin Durant and NBA’s all-time playoff scoring leaders
- LeBron James: 7,631
- Michael Jordan: 5,987
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 5,762
- Kobe Bryant: 5,640
- Shaquille O’Neal: 5,250
- Tim Duncan: 5,172
- Karl Malone: 4,761
- Kevin Durant: 4,458
- Jerry West: 4,457
- Tony Parker: 4,045
Averaging 29.5 points per game in 151 playoff appearances throughout his career, Durant will soon pass Malone for seventh on the all-time list.
That will likely come this year should Brooklyn somehow advance past Boston in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
Of course, Durant’s three-year run with the Golden State Warriors from 2016-2019 played a major role in him ascending the all-time postseason greats. He scored 1,423 points in 48 postseason games with Golden State, earning two NBA Finals MVP awards in the process.
- Kevin Durant stats (2021-22): 29.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 6.4 APG, 52% shooting, 38% 3-point, 25.6 PER, 8.4 win shares
These Nets inched into the playoffs with a play-in win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. As the seventh seed, they are taking on a red hot Boston Celtics squad that dominated down the stretch of the regular season.
Needless to say, Brooklyn will be relying on Durant to continue scoring at a high level like we’ve seen throughout his NBA Playoff career.