Ben DuBose

It led to the maxi layup that tied the game and ultimately sent it to overtime.

So just a huge flip.

Kevin Durant took accountability, and you could tell tonight.

Not just the shots that he made, but he was getting into it with fans, with the Detroit bench, a little bit in terms of the chippiness reminiscent of what he did with Tim Hardaway Jr.

and Bruce Brown in Denver in that game I referenced a month ago.

When the Rockets have this version of Kevin Durant, when he is locked in like he was tonight, they're going to win almost every time.

And if you want to believe in this team in the playoffs...

This is what you hang your hat on.

The fact that when the games are more meaningful and more spread out, you know, some will undoubtedly ask, well, why doesn't Kevin play like that every night?

Guys, the NBA season is marathon and he's 37 years old.

He's got to pick his spots.

This was a spot that he picked.

And if you want to buy in on the Rockets and the big picture, the idea is just get it to April, be relatively healthy, and have this version of Kevin Durant come out every second or third night when the stakes are at their highest.

I'm not saying for sure that's what's going to happen, but if you want to have hope, this is where you have hope.

It showed up in the all-star voting too.

The players, I think, had KD fifth and Shingun was basically in the just receiving votes.

I want to say 32nd, basically just one or two is what that means.

So you can tell based on the scouting report that regardless of the narratives that are out there,

Kevin Durant, and it's deserved.

This is a 15-time All-Star, about to be 16-time, former MVP that can still go out and put up 30, even on night two of a road back-to-back.