Kevin Durant being pushed by teammates to take more shots – NBA News
Kevin Durant is one of the best shooters in the NBA, and the reigning and three time scoring champion.
The Oklahoma City Thunder ace is making his first appearance in the Olympics this year for team U.S.A, and the 23 year apparently wants to shoot less in the company of such mega stars.
Durant deferred the ball on open shots that he would have gladly taken if he were playing for the Thunder in exhibition games for team U.S.A.
But on Sunday night, when Team U.S.A opened their Olympic campaign against France, Durant got back to his old self and finished with a team high 22 points and 9 rebounds for the night.
The U.S team came away with a comfortable victory on the back of Durant’s performance. And teammate LeBron James said after the game that he would like to see Durant taking more shots and being himself rather than being overshadowed
by the superstars in the team.
“I told KD (Durant) to just be himself. On a team like this you can kind of shy away because there are so many great players here. But KD’s on this team for a reason. He’s one of the best players the world has and he’s a three-time
scoring champ. So we don’t want the KD that defers. We want the KD that he is in Oklahoma City,” said James after team U.S.A won against France on Sunday.
Not only LeBron, but other team players have been pushing Durant to play more freely and be as aggressive as he is when he plays on the Oklahoma City Thunder roster.
“Sometimes coach was screaming at me. And Chris Paul was screaming at me more than anybody, ‘Shoot the ball!’ I guess I’ve got to be aggressive,” said Durant.
Team U.S.A is filled with players who can take the game away from the opponent with their scoring on any given day. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have made a career out of winning games by individual performances, and Chris Paul
and Russell Westbrook are also great scorers. However, it is Durant and Carmelo Anthony who are being given the responsibility of a chunk of the scoring, with the others deferring the ball more than they are used to.
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