Kevin Durant made history as the Houston Rockets secured a 102-95 win over Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night at the Toyota Center.
Durant reached the 20-point threshold for the 1,000th time of his career, joining LeBron James, Karl Malone, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players in NBA history to do so.
Durant finished with 26 points on 8-of-22 shooting, connecting on three of his seven attempts from behind the arc. While he only dished out three assists compared to five turnovers, he also picked up three steals.
Meanwhile, Leonard scored 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds while shooting 7-of-19 from the field.
Fans were impressed with Durant’s performance.
The first half of Tuesday’s contest was particularly hard-fought, as neither team held a double-digit lead at any point throughout the first two quarters.
At halftime, the Clippers held a narrow 52-51 edge.
Los Angeles pushed its lead to three points early in the third quarter, but Houston immediately responded with a 12-4 run to jump back in front.
The Rockets were able to stay on top for the remainder of the third quarter largely due to their defense, limiting the Clippers to just 20 points in the period.
Houston continued to string together stops, eventually taking an 94-79 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Los Angeles responded by cutting the deficit to seven points with three minutes left in regulation, but couldn’t pull any closer before the game came to an end.
Alperen Şengün put together an efficient performance for the Rockets, scoring 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Şengün also grabbed seven rebounds and tallied a team-high five assists.
Reed Sheppard chipped in with 16 points off the bench as well.
Leonard didn’t receive much help from his teammates offensively, as John Collins was the only other Clipper to finish with a double-digit scoring total. Los Angeles shot just 26.7 percent from three as a team.
The Rockets moved to 33-19 with the win, while the Clippers fell to 25-28.
