Kevin Durant made his Rockets debut on Wednesday night and he looked … well … like Kevin Durant, finishing with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 23 minutes as Houston defeated the Jazz, 140-127.
Durant missed his first three shots. Not to worry. He made his next seven and closed his night with 12 third-quarter points. His first bucket as a Rocket was the elbow pull-up we’ve seen him make thousands of times.
There isn’t too much to say about Durant. He did his normal thing. He looked exceedingly comfortable playing with his new teammates, and why wouldn’t he? This is one of the most malleable superstars the NBA has ever seen. He fits anywhere. With anyone.
But this particular combination of teammates in Houston is super intriguing for the different things they all bring to the table, notably what looks like the NBA’s newest Big 3 in Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson.
Do the math, and that’s a combined 52 points, 20 assists and and 14 rebounds on the night. Barring injury, all three of these guys could be All-Stars. But again, more than that, it’s about all the different things they do. This isn’t a situation like Durant and Kyrie Irving or James Harden or Devin Booker, where they are all, for the most part, on-ball scorers who occupy similar areas of the floor.
Thompson, the all-world athlete and perhaps the most uniquely gifted player the league has seen since young Ben Simmons, is nothing like Durant, who in turn is nothing like Sengun — something of a Nikola Jokić lite. With Sengun’s ability to handle the ball and orchestrate offense from any spot on the floor, the pick-your-poison two-man actions with Durant stand to be deadly.
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What are you supposed to do when Sengun is backing you down in the post with Durant one pass away? Play Sengun one-on-one and he cooks. Double down on Sengun, and he kicks to Durant for the jumper. Cover them both, and Thompson cuts down the lane while your collective attention is understandably distracted.
More Durant and Sengun:
And one more:
Sengun has racked up 32 points and 19 assists through 45 minutes of preseason action so far after opening a lot of eyes at FIBA EuroBasket this summer. He could be in line for a monster season, particularly as a facilitator, with Durant occupying so much attention and a bunch of long athletes exposing the cracks these two will create.
Meanwhile, Thompson, who now has 30 points, nine assists, nine rebounds, four steals and a block through two preseason outings, is going to be doing things like this on the defensive end and in the open floor.
So, get ready Rockets fans. The Fred VanVleet injury sucks, but this team is still ready for liftoff on the strength of this sensational trio, a still-stout defense, tons of size, and elite coaching in Ime Udoka. We got a look at all those things in Durant’s debut on Wednesday.