HOUSTON (AP) — Kevin Durant knew Sunday exactly how close he was to surpassing his idol, Dirk Nowitzki, on the NBA’s career scoring list.
Durant needed the 17 points to move past Nowitzki into sixth place on the all-time scorer list. Durant got those points and finished with 18 in a 119-110 win over New Orleans. The 15-time All-Star scored his final two points from the free throw line with 15.2 seconds remaining and added another career highlight.
Durant has 31,562 points, two better than Nowitzki (31,560), with Michael Jordan in fifth place at 32,292.
“To be up there with Dirk, somebody I looked up to, I idolized, I competed against,” Durant said. “We had some great battles. He always was supportive of my career and my game. So, you know to be up there with a legend like that, it’s just insane. And be right under Michael Jordan, it’s crazy man.
“I want to continue to keep stacking, keep climbing up the charts, just see how I finish. It’s been amazing so far.”
Durant's collection of milestones isn't lost of his teammates.
“He’s passing people nightly,” Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. said of Durant. “He’s passing people in every category. He just keeps accomplishing milestones and he just acts like it’s nothing. He doesn’t celebrate it, he’s wasn’t out there trying to hunt and go get it. He’s just out there hooping and it just happens organically.
“He’s a testament of what a basketball player is supposed to be.”
Durant reflected on the earlier years of his career when he and Nowitzki had “meaningful battles,” including the Western Conference finals in 2011. Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks beat Durant and Oklahoma City 4-1 and went on to beat the Miami Heat for their first NBA championship.
Then, the next year, when the Mavericks tried to repeat, Durant and the Thunder swept them out of the playoffs.
“There were times going into a series I hated Dirk, you know what I’m saying. I’m sure it was vice versa,” Durant said.
As Durant grew in the league, he idolized Nowitzki.
Durant wanted to the same respect Nowitzki received.
“I tried to emulate as much as I can all the great players, but I took a lot from Dirk,” Durant said.
After the Rockets victory on Sunday night, a special message from Nowitzki was played on the video board.
“It’s been incredible to watch his career,” Nowitzki said in the video. “Like I said, he’s one of the purest scorers this game has ever seen. And so congrats KD, keep it going. Move up a couple more spots and keep it up.”
Durant appreciated the message from Nowitzki.
“For him to take time out of his day to send me a message on passing him on the charts is pretty cool," Durant said. "It speaks to how humble Dirk is.”
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