Oklahoma City Thunder News 2015: Billy Donovan Says There Are No Plans to Sit Durant for Back-to-Back Games
Kevin Durant missed a bulk of last season after suffering a foot injury and it is expected that the Oklahoma City Thunder will give him some rest in the event of back-to-back games and stretches. However, rookie coach Billy Donovan feels there's no need to.
The Thunder is heading into this week with a schedule of four games in five nights. After winning at home against the Denver Nuggets the other day, they dropped their next one against the struggling Rockets last Monday. After Tuesday's off, they will be hosting the Toronto Raptors and travel to Chicago to face the Bulls on Thursday.
Although it certainly looks like a grind this week, Donovan is confident that his superstar is more than willing to play.
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Durant clearly is looking a lot healthier at the start of the season, but he shouldn't be logging in tons of minutes this early. For one, he played 54 minutes in a double overtime win against the Magic last Friday. He could have rested a bit, but his team was facing an 18-point deficit at one time, forcing Donovan to increase his star's minutes.
Asked about Durant's intended minutes for the upcoming stretch, Donovan said, "There's no 'OK, after tonight we're going to rest him.'"
The six-time All-Star produced stellar numbers as usual against the Nuggets, scoring 25 points and dishing out five assists in 28 minutes. In their loss against Houston on Monday, he logged in 35 minutes, scoring 29.
Durant himself looked pissed when asked about facing a back-to-back for the first time since his injury. "I'm really tired of y'all talking to me like I'm a 19-year vet, man; I was out a year — not even a whole year. I'm all right. I can play those minutes. It's not like I'm struggling the next day," he told a bunch of reporters.
