Kevin Durant Wins Third Scoring Title

Sam Amick from Sports Illustrated reported on Twitter that Lakers Coach Mike Brown has opted to sit Kobe Bryant down for LA's final game of the regular season. If this report is correct, then Kevin Durant will claim his 3rd consecutive scoring title.

Durant had the smallest of leads over Kobe heading into the final night of the regular season, with Durant averaging 28.03 points vs Kobe's 27. 86. By virtue of Durant's 32 points against the Nuggets last night, Kobe would have needed 38 tonight in order to retake the scoring lead. That number is certainly not out of the realm of possibility, and first reports indicated that Kobe WOULD play tonight. However, with the playoffs starting this weekend, reasonable heads prevailed and Kobe will apparently sit out tonight.

According to Thunder Stats & Info:

"Durant scored 234 more points than Kobe on the year, despite the fact that Kobe took 39 more field goal attempts" #efficiency

CelticsBlog chief Jeff Clark asked me, "Is this the first time a scoring title was settled by a tweet?"

Given that Durant has made his own life so personable via the popular social media technology, it seems quite fitting.