Kevin Durant. AFP/Christian Petersen/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
SACRAMENTO — Kevin Durant’s historic scoring streak came to a halt Tuesday as the Oklahoma City Thunder toppled the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday 107-92.
Thunder forward Durant finished with 23 points as his run of scoring at least 25 points ended at 41 games. He passed Michael Jordan last time out for the third longest streak in history.
Durant, who is a strong candidate for most valuable player of the year, has also scored 20 or more points in 50 consecutive games.
Durant, who is leading the league in scoring, last failed to score 25 or more points on January 5 against Boston.
Oscar Robertson had a 46-game run of 25-plus points 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.
Durant has won the scoring title in four of the last five seasons.
Caron Butler made all six of his attempts from three-point range for 23 points off the bench and Serge Ibaka finished with 19 points in the rout for Oklahoma City who ended a two-game losing skid.
DeMarcus Cousins had a double, double with 24-points and 14-rebounds. Travis Outlaw also had 24 points and Ben McLemore scored 11 in the Kings’ sixth loss in eight games.
Cousins matched Chris Webber’s franchise record of 50 double doubles in a season. Webber did it in the 2001-02 season.
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