Durant hits 31,000-point mark as Rockets beat Suns

Kevin Durant became just the eighth player in NBA history to reach 31,000 career points during the Houston Rockets’ 117-98 win against the Phoenix Suns.

The 37-year-old started the game needing just four points to hit the milestone and took his tally to 31,000 points with a 10-foot jump shot midway through the first quarter.

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Durant, who finished the night with 28 points to move to 31,024 overall, sits behind Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James on the all-time list.

“As you’re coming up into the league, you look at these guys as heroes and you put them on pedestals, and you look at their accomplishments as sometimes unreachable,” Durant said.

“But then you get on that road trying to do your thing. That’s what I’ve done since 2008.

“I’ve been focused on trying to be the best player I can be, and they set a standard for each player when they left the league.

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“Guys like Wilt, Michael, Kobe – I’m missing so many guys – they just set a standard that I try to reach every day.”

Antetokounmpo out for up to a month

The Milwaukee Bucks expect to be without star player Giannis Antetokounmpo for the next month as he recovers from a calf strain.

The Greek power forward limped out of Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons after falling to the ground during a defensive play.

Initial scans indicated the 31-year-old could miss between two to four weeks.

But the Bucks say they will give Antetokounmpo added time to recover given the nature of the injury.

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“I feel like we should learn that with calves – make sure they’re healthy,” Bucks coach Don Rivers said.

“So that may take longer than we want. That even may make Giannis frustrated over it, but we’ve just got to try to get that right.”

Elsewhere, James and Luka Doncic were absent as the Los Angeles Lakers lost 126-105 to the Boston Celtics.

James, 40, continues to be troubled by a sciatica problem in his left foot, which saw him miss the first 14 games of the season.

Doncic, who missed the match for personal reasons, could return for the three-game trip against the Philadelphia 76ers this weekend.

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