By all accounts, Max Zaslofsky was a baller.
In 1947-48, back when the scoring champ was the guy with the most overall points (now it’s based on scoring average), Zaslofsky won the crown for the Chicago Stags, steamrolling such teams as the Philadelphia Warriors and, actually, the Providence Steam Rollers.
See, for 62 years, Zaslofsky held the record as the youngest scoring champ (22 years, 121 days) until last season, when the Thunder’s Kevin Durant won the title at 21 years, 197 days. And this season, Durant won the title again, this time as the third-youngest scoring champ, behind himself and Zaslofsky.
“To win the scoring title, it’s something as a kid you only dream about,” Durant told reporters recently. “Of course, as a kid you think, ‘I want to score as many points as I can.’ To do it on the highest level, it means a lot.”
And now, Denver has the daunting duty of defending Durant. This season, the Thunder forward averaged 31.5 points per game against the Nuggets. He is clearly the best player in this series (and, arguably, Thunder guard Russell Westbrook is the second-best).
“When you have Westbrook and Durant, about 80 percent of their game is dictated by those two guys,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “You just got to get more familiar of how we’re going to control them, double them and disrupt them — rather than let them control us.”
So, who’s going to guard Durant? Really, who’s not going to? Karl has an arsenal of looks he’ll throw at the youngster, hoping that at least one of them rattles the guy.
Guard Arron Afflalo and small forwards Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler will each spend time on Durant, while in the fourth quarter, look for power forward Kenyon Martin, a voracious defender, to get in his licks.
What makes Durant dynamite is he’s dynamic.
At 6-9, he can launch the 3-ball, making the 12th-most in the league this season. His mid-range game can change a game. And he gets to the line — he’s third in the league in free-throw attempts and 10th in the league in free-throw percentage (88 percent).
“He plays like a guard, yet he’s a very big and long forward,” Golden State coach Keith Smart said. “His early development, people saw him at the shooting guard position and couldn’t understand why you’d put that guy at the two. But when you look back, when he started off in Seattle playing shooting guard, well, now, at small forward you have a small forward who’s able to come off screens and can handle the ball.
“That’s the big thing now — he can shoot over guys and can run your bigs off screens. He’s a hard cover, and he plays the game from the 3-point line and in.”
In Oklahoma City, Durant has become nothing short of a local hero. One of these days, if he keeps winning scoring titles, maybe, just maybe, he’ll be mentioned in the same sentence as Sooners great Billy Sims (maybe).
The football-mad town has embraced the NBA’s Thunder star, who is humble and hard-working — a star who acts like a sixth man.
“I hear he’s fantastic. (Coach) Scott Brooks just raves about him,” Karl said. “Like being a Tim Duncan — low-maintenance, high-quality practice guy. That makes your ability to become special just faster and quicker.”
