Rockets approaching scary Kevin Durant reality his other teams couldn't escape

Kevin Durant still has it. He remains the unstoppable, three-level scorer he's always been, and when he's cooking, it feels like he can score any time. So why doesn't he take initiative when the game is on the line, late in the fourth quarter? Why is there ever a situation where Durant shoots 14 times in a game that went into overtime?

That's what happened in Monday's thriller against the Nuggets in Denver. That's far from a bad loss on the surface, but the Nuggets were missing two starters and lost Peyton Watson early in the contest. That should have been enough to give the Rockets an advantage — even still, losing to Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray is far from embarrassing.

But this game in particular was so frustrating because of how much meat was left on the bone — from Durant specifically. Alperen Sengun and Reed Sheppard both shot more than Durant did, while Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith both took nearly as many as Durant did too. I'm all for balance among the offense — but there's no reason for Durant to be another weapon on this team. He's Kevin Durant! Going 8/14 is great for the stat sheet, but it's also a pretty clear sign that he should have kept shooting the ball.

Kevin Durant's passivity has been a problem in his past two stops

It's hard to fault Durant for Monday's loss. He posted 25/5/7/5 blocks and shot 57 percent from the field. By all measures, that's an impressive performance. But he also shot the ball once in OT and passed up a good look at a 3-pointer in the game's waning seconds. That's frustrating! Does he deserve full blame? Certainly not. Is it fair to ask him to be more aggressive in the late stages of a game? Certainly! Stop me if I've said this before, but... He's Kevin Durant.

Durant's stats looked great in Phoenix and Brooklyn, too. But if you talk to Suns or Nets fans, most will echo the same sentiment; he was awesome, but didn't have much interest in taking over games. I'm not going to question his resume or his standing in the all-time discussion. I think most of that is silly.

I won't claim that Durant cares more about his own efficiency than he does about winning games — but right now, he's a little too content fitting in to the Rockets' offense instead of becoming the offense himself when necessary. Knowing he can do that but is electing not to is the most frustrating part.

Seeing Alperen Sengun become the Rockets' go-to scorer late in games has been awesome. He's the present and future of this franchise. Seeing Kevin Durant fully defer to him in closing time doesn't seem like the best way to operate in 2025-26, though.