National Basketball Association

Scoring champ Durant preps for Kobe's Lakers

Published Apr. 15, 2010 7:19 p.m. ET

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Kevin Durant believes Kobe Bryant has helped make him the rising star he is today - even if he might not realize it.

From the days when Durant could only watch Bryant on television to the pair's time together training for the U.S. national team, Durant has been learning from the Los Angeles Lakers superstar for some time now.

Now, just days after becoming the youngest scoring champion in league history, Durant will make his playoff debut against Bryant when the Oklahoma City Thunder head west to face the defending NBA champions on Sunday.

``He's such a fierce competitor, can do anything on the floor. It's just amazing the things he does,'' Durant said Thursday. ``He's all about his team. A lot of people say this and that about Kobe, but he's a true teammate. Playing with him in USA Basketball and being around him there, he's just a good teammate and you can see why he has (four championship) rings.

``He's a great guy to learn from and I know playing in this series is going to make us better as a team and better as players as each game goes by.''

At age 21, Durant averaged 30.1 points to finish ahead of Cleveland's LeBron James, Denver's Carmelo Anthony, Bryant and Miami's Dwyane Wade in the NBA scoring race while leading the Thunder to its first playoff appearance in five years. That was when the franchise was still in Seattle, prior to moving south before the 2008-09 season.

Since then, the roster has been almost entirely flipped. Only forward Nick Collison remains from the SuperSonics' last playoff appearance in 2005, and starters Thabo Sefolosha and Nenad Krstic are the only others in the regular rotation that can provide Durant and his young teammates with perspective on the postseason.

``It's one of those things you've got to just experience on your own. You can't really ask any questions of how it is because different players were in different positions back then,'' Durant said. ``I know I'm different from a lot of guys.

``I just want to experience it myself, just go out there and approach it as a regular game but knowing in the back of my mind at the same time that it's not.''

A key lesson in Durant's development came during his rookie season in Seattle when he faced Bryant for the first time. He came away with a new outlook on Bryant's approach to the game, remembering how he never smiled on the court and was out to destroy whoever he was facing on both ends of the court.

Lesson No. 1 in playing in the postseason will come in Game 1.

``It's pretty cool. It's a guy I've been looking up to for a while,'' Durant said. ``It should be fun. I've learned from a lot of different guys every time I watch them, whether I'm playing against them or watching them on TV. He's another one of those guys that helped me without even knowing it.''

Durant, who was the college player of the year in his only season at Texas, has improved steadily since that Rookie of the Year season in Seattle. He has added just under 10 points to his scoring average in becoming the NBA's top scorer while also leading the Thunder in rebounds and steals.

The biggest change in his game this season: more frequent trips to the foul line, where he shot 90 percent and made an NBA-best 756 free throws. That's 232 more than he even attempted last season.

``I think he's a lot more comfortable kind of with who he is and his place in the NBA and also in our franchise and our team,'' Collison said. ``It's not easy to just say, 'I'm going to be more vocal. I'm going to be a leader.' You have to be comfortable in doing it. I've noticed a big difference with Kevin this year, and it shows in his game, too.''

Collison said the key to Durant carrying his success over into the postseason is solid execution by the rest of the Thunder, ``so he's not playing 1-on-3.''

``I think he'll be all right,'' Collison said. ``He's not afraid of the big shot or the big stage.''

It doesn't get much bigger for a first-timer than facing an NBA icon and the defending world champions right off the bat.

But it wouldn't be the first time Durant has done the unexpected.

``Not too many people think at 21 that you can help lead a team to a playoff berth,'' Durant said. ``That feels good to say that my leadership abilities and how we play, that I helped my team.

``It's just all about getting better from here and continuing to learn from my teammates and coaches each day.''