With three weeks left in the season and little mystery left except the Sonics' eventual lottery position, Seattle rookie Kevin Durant has put a stranglehold on the Rookie of the Year award with his play during the month of March.
With late support surfacing around the league for Atlanta's Al Horford and Houston's Luis Scola for the top award for rookies, neither has performed as well under the same intense scrutiny, being the face of a franchise facing uncertainty after season's end. The enormity of the circumstances Durant has had surrounding him this season is not lost on Seattle veteran point guard Earl Watson.
"I'm picking him 10 out of 10 times," Watson said. "The kid is 19 and he's put in so many tough situations. Kind of the irony of it is during the game sometimes I look, and it's a big shot and here he is with the ball, a year removed from high school in the NBA. He went from probably playing center in high school, to being a (shooting) guard within a year. So it's just funny sometimes.
"But you see the growth. And he takes it. He takes the knocks. He takes the criticism. You know, Charles Barkley on TNT criticized him, but he takes it, and the kid keeps rolling. I think in a weird way that helped him. That made him more efficient. That made him more focused. That made him more sharp."
Heading into Friday's game against Charlotte, Durant leads all rookies in scoring (19.8 points per game.) and minutes played (33.8 per game). And although the Sonics' record is woeful -- second worst in the league -- stopping Durant has been the defensive focus for every Seattle opponent this season.
BOBCATS 96, SUPERSONICS 93: Seattle fell behind 38-27 at the end of the first quarter and had to battle from behind most of the game Friday. Charlotte shot 10-of-19 from beyond the arc, with Jason Richardson leading the way. Richardson finished with 27 points, going 6-of-10 from the three-point line.
