The last time Kevin Durant hit the state of Colorado, his stat line read like this: 37 points (13-of-23 shooting) and 17 rebounds. He was a freshman for the Texas Longhorns, who hammered CU that day.
His second time, as a professional with the Seattle SuperSonics? Not so great.
The rookie phenom recorded an uneven performance in his first regular-season game as a pro, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-22 shooting.
“I thought for a 19-year old kid playing his first game in the NBA he played well,” Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo said. “He’s not satisfied with that, and that’s good. He wants to play better, he’s capable of playing better, and he will.”
The first half was especially rough.
Durant struggled to find his shot, going 0-for-3 to start the game. His first bucket as a pro came with 4:31 left in the first quarter, but it didn’t stop the misses from piling up. By the end of the first quarter Durant was 1-of-5 with three points. When halftime rolled around, Durant’s shooting was a miserable 3-of-15 from the field for nine points.
But in the second half he seemed to find himself.
The shots that didn’t fall in the first half found their mark as his focus improved. He hit 4-of-7 second-half tries to reach his final tally, and added five rebounds.
“I think he relaxed a little bit more,” Carlesimo said. “I just think he was a little more comfortable the deeper he got into the game.”
Coming into the game, Durant’s ankle was a concern. He sprained it in the next-to-last preseason game, missed the final exhibition game and was questionable to play in the season opener, even though he vowed to be ready.
Wednesday, during the shootaround, Durant was pretty much pronounced ready to play. He was in the Sonics’ starting lineup.
“He’s not 100 percent, but he was OK,” Carlesimo said. “I don’t think we played him too many minutes because of the ankle.”
Always at issue in reference to Durant is his size. He is rail-thin at 6-feet-9, 215 pounds, but Carlesimo isn’t worried about Durant’s ability to put on weight.
“The biggest thing with Kevin is going to be just years,” Carlesimo said. “You can’t accelerate that. Two years from now he’s going to be a lot bigger and stronger than he is right now. That’s going to happen if he doesn’t set foot in the weight room.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
