Forget LeBron, Kevin Durant Is on His Own Mission for a Title

Over the last two months, the main consensus revolving around Miami Heat star LeBron James is that he's so locked into his game that it's clear he's on a mission to win a championship.

The numbers don't lie. James won his third MVP trophy, has dominated in the playoffs up until this point and he's gotten a third chance in the NBA Finals to finally get the job done.

But as he and his teammates continue to silence the doubters, Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder continue to remind everybody why they are the Western Conference representative in the finals.

Game 1 was a good starting point.

In his first NBA Finals game, the three-time scoring champion erupted for 36 points and eight rebounds as the Thunder rolled through Miami 105-94 to take a 1-0 lead in a championship series that will decide the future of two franchises that have plenty of questions surrounding them.

Even on the sport's biggest stage, though, the hype has begun shift from James to the 23-year-old superstar Durant.

And over time, the nagging question has become just how good can this man be?

Time and time again this postseason, when the Thunder have trailed for a significant part in a game, Durant has led the charge and has pulled OKC back almost single-handedly. Tuesday was another one of those occurrences as Durant scored 23 second-half points in OKC's comeback win.

Here's the thing: We shouldn't be surprised.

No one should be surprised by now that this man, who hasn't even hit his prime yet, is putting up numbers the likes of which can only be duplicated by a younger Kobe Bryant or an up-and-coming Michael Jordan.

We've gotten to the point where any time Durant puts up 30 points in a game, it's our duty as basketball fans to just nod our heads and move on. The only thing he's yet to do is pull up from 45 feet and swish a three-pointer. Then, we can say he's done it all.

His performance in the run to his first NBA Finals has truly been a magnificent one. And though his age is a shocking factor in some ways, Durant is on a mission of his own to show the rest of the world that he's the best player in the league right now.

The road that Durant and his teammates have traveled over the last three years has not only become a testament to how much he's grown but how quickly he's realized that the work is never finished until you hold up that gold trophy.

There aren't enough words to describe the growing pains that the Thunder went through after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in last year's Western Conference Finals. The fact that they had the lead in the fourth quarter in two of those games only to lose them was disheartening to see, let alone experience.

But as this year has progressed and the playoffs have become a war of attrition, Durant's play has skyrocketed to new heights.

He was at the heart of every comeback that OKC put together against Dallas in the first round, including the game-winning shot in Game 1. Against the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round, he led the Thunder through multiple comebacks in Games 2 and 4 that sucked the life out of the once-dominant powerhouse.

Finally, against the Spurs, where hardly anyone believed the Thunder would win, Durant's leadership and ability to take over a game rubbed off on his teammates, and OKC won four straight to earn this spot in the finals.

Not only has Durant's leadership elevated the play of his game, but the play of his teammates has risen a great deal as well.

Russell Westbrook has been playing outstanding over the last month as he's slowly becoming the point guard that everyone wants him to be. James Harden has not only become the best sixth man in the game, but he's become the second option in clutch situations for OKC.

Last year, you couldn't say that about the Thunder because they were such a young team. But that notion gets thrown out the window when you experience the kind of success they've had over the last three years, and it can only continue to escalate as the years go on.

It's still too early to crown this OKC team a dynasty because they need to win something first. But if Durant continues to do what he's been doing for the first five years in his career, then it's only a matter of time before the mission is complete.

If he can keep up the mentality of never stopping on a basketball court, then we'll need to start thinking of him in the realm of the greatest players of all time.

But again, it's too soon to lay that claim. Just give him some time, which is what LeBron doesn't have.