There are 285 players in NBA history who’ve appeared in at least 75 playoff games. Among them, only Michael Jordan has a higher scoring average than Kevin Durant, a two-time Finals MVP who might possess the most frightening offensive repertoire basketball has ever seen.
But in Game 1 of his first-round matchup against the Celtics—and a defense that’s overstocked with speed, length, athleticism, experience and toughness—Durant was a shell of himself. He needed 24 shots to score 23 points and turned it over six times. There was no rhythm, or overwhelming stretch where he dominates the game and takes what he wants.
According to Basketball Reference’s Game Score metric, which offers “a rough measure of a player’s productivity for a single game,” this was the fifth-worst playoff game of Durant’s entire career. Looking at his box score plus/minus, which measures the points contributed on a per 100 possessions basis relative to what an average player would produce, it was the worst.
