10 Fast Facts from Last Night’s Games — Kevin Durant Drops 41, Phoenix Suns Exceed 2012-13 Win Total

The NBA’s elite scorers returned to action on Monday, January 27, continuing what has been a month of extraordinary feats. At least one player scored 40 points for the sixth time in seven days and a contender exceeded its 2012-13 win total.

Here’s everything that you need to know about last night’s action.

1. Kevin Durant continued his stellar scoring performances with a 41-point outburst en route to a 111-109 Oklahoma City Thunder win over the Atlanta Hawks. Durant capped it all off with a game-winning jump shot over three defenders with 1.5 seconds remaining.

Durant has scored at least 30 points in 11 straight games. That’s the longest streak since Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers did it in 16 consecutive outings from January 29 to February 28 of 2003.

2. Durant has three 40-point games in three of his past six outings. No other player has more than two in all of 2013-14.

3. Kevin Love overcame a 1-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc to score 31 points and lead the Minnesota Timberwolves past the Chicago Bulls 95-86. When he wasn’t shooting from beyond arc, Love was 7-of-10 on 2-point field goals and 14-of-14 from the charity stripe.

Love failed to record a double-double for the sixth time this season and the fourth time this month. Surprisingly, Minnesota is 5-1 when that happens.

4. Taj Gibson continues to step his game up. Against Minnesota, he posted 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls. It was Gibson’s fifth double-double of 2013-14, which matches the total that he posted in 2012-13.

5. The Los Angeles Clippers exploded from beyond the arc to take down the Milwaukee Bucks 114-86. Los Angeles combined for 14 3-point field goals, receiving five from Jamal Crawford, who scored a game-high 25 points.

Crawford is second amongst all reserves with five 25-point games. Only Nick Young of the Los Angeles Lakers has more with seven.

6. Jeremy Evans posted 14 points and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes as the Utah Jazz defeated the Sacramento Kings 106-99. Derrick Favors led the charge with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Marvin Williams tallied 16 and 11 to help lead Utah to victory.

This was Evans’ second double-double of the season after entering 2013-14 with just one in his entire career.

7. Utah attempted 53 free throws during its win over the Kings. Entering tonight, the Jazz were averaging 21.1 free throw attempts per game.

The last time a team put up at least 53 free throw attempts was January 12, 2012, when the Orlando Magic threw up 55.

8. Kyle Lowry and Paul Pierce dueled as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Brooklyn Nets by a score of 104-103 at the Barclays Center. Lowry finished with 31 points for the Raptors, while Pierce tallied 33 and Deron Williams came off of the bench for 11 assists for Brooklyn.

Toronto’s Patrick Patterson stole an inbound pass and hit the game-winning jump shot with six seconds remaining to help Toronto extend its Atlantic Division lead to 2.5 games.

9. With the loss, the Nets fell to 10-2 during the month of January after going 10-21 leading up to 2014. Brooklyn still possesses the best January record in the NBA.

10. Gerald Green scored 30 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field as the Phoenix Suns defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 124-113. Goran Dragic added 24 on 9-of-13 shooting and Phoenix improved to 26-18 overall and 11-11 on the road.

With their 26th win, the Suns surpassed their 2012-13 win total of 25.

Bonus Facts

• Kevin Durant’s six 40-point games in 2013-14 match his total from 2012-13.
• The Los Angeles Clippers are a Western Conference-best 11-3 during the month of January. Only the Brooklyn Nets have a better record in that period of time.