BASKETBALL: Durant scored 38 more than Jordan

Kevin Durant scored 38
points to pass Michael
Jordan with his 41st straight
game of 25-plus, but it
wasn't enough to help
Oklahoma City beat Phoenix on Sunday.
Goran Dragic led a half dozen Suns players
in double figures with 26 points as the
Phoenix rallied past the Thunder 122-115 to
move into sole possession of eighth place in
the Western Conference standings.
Durant now has at least 25 points in 41
consecutive games to surpass the legendary
Jordan, who had 40 back in the 1986-87
season. Durant's streak is now the third
longest in NBA history.
"I don't really care about it," Durant told The
Oklahoman newspaper. "I wish it was over."
Durant last failed to score 25 or more points
on 5 January against Boston. Durant also
had 11 rebounds.
Heading into Sunday's contest the league's
leading scorer was averaging 32.1 points a
game. Durant has won the scoring title in
four of the last five seasons.
Oscar Robertson had a 46-game run of 25-
plus back in 1963-64 and Wilt Chamberlain
did it in all 80 regular-season games of the
1961-62 season while playing for the
Philadelphia Warriors.
Those two streaks happened before the
league's three-point era came into being,
making Durant's the longest of the so-called
modern era.
Phoenix led by three points late in the fourth
quarter when they turned it up a notch to
record the victory in front of a crowd of
18 422 at the US Airways Centre arena.
Eric Bledsoe stripped Durant and took it the
full length of the court before getting blocked
at the rim by Russell Westbrook.
Derek Fisher came up with the loose ball for
the Thunder, but P.J. Tucker ripped it from
him, drawing a foul on the veteran and
making two crucial foul shots with 43 second
left to make it 117-112.
Bledsoe finished with 18 points.
Tucker scored a career-high 22 points and
Gerald Green came off the bench to tally 24
as the Suns won for the eighth time in their
last 10 games.
"We had guys make plays tonight. It is as
simple as that," Suns head coach Jeff
Hornacek said.
© Sapa - AFP