Kevin Durant given NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors

Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant warms up before a game against the New York Knicks at Barclays Center.
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

When someone has a 53 point afternoon, they’ve got a good case for being a player of the week. When they do that following a 25 point performance in a dominating win then they all but deserve it.

That was the feeling of the NBA, which awarded Kevin Durant the Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors on Monday afternoon. Durant helped lead the Nets to a 3-0 week with wins over the Charlotte Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks.

Durant averaged 30.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists over the three-game span, and that includes an off night for him last Tuesday when he had just 14 points against Charlotte. The 53 points that Durant scored on Sunday was the second-highest scoring game of his career, trailing only a 54 point night he had on Jan. 17, 2014, when he was with Oklahoma City.

“It’s hard not to watch,” Bruce Brown said about Durant’s game on Sunday. “Man, that man is insane. He makes everything look easier out there.”

Durant is one of 27 players in franchise history to earn a Player of the Week nod and only one of nine players to receive it multiple times as a member of the Nets. He has earned the honor 29 times now over the course of his career.