Royce Young, who blogs for the Daily Thunder, and Jeremy Wagner, who covers the Nuggets for Roundball Mining Company, had a running e-mail dialogue while watching Kevin Durant's Thunder take on Carmelo Anthony's Nuggets.

Here are their thoughts after Anthony outscored Durant 30-19 in a 119-90 Denver victory.

Royce Young: Of course, on a night when we're assigned to kick back, enjoy two of the elite scorers in the game going head-to-head and talk about it as it goes, Oklahoma City tosses out a complete stink bomb, Kevin Durant plays only 26 minutes and the game essentially is decided five minutes out of the half. Things like to work themselves out that way. Regardless of that, two of the NBA's most talented players were on the floor Wednesday night, guarding each other. So there's something to take out of that, right? Right?

Jeremy Wagner: Halfway through the second quarter Carmelo Anthony is outproducing Kevin Durant 21-13, but both players have been very efficient. Watching these two teams face off I think Carmelo has a significant advantage in that he is surrounded by players who are above-average passers for their position. I think Carmelo gets more easy chances than KD.

Young: You know, honestly it was fairly visible early that Durant was tight to start this game. He missed consecutive free throws, which is extremely rare, then followed that up by missing two short open bunnies at the rim. Durant doesn't miss open looks from 20 feet very often, much less point-blank ones. It's easy to forget that he really hasn't played in high-level, high-importance games much in his three-year NBA career. With Oklahoma City trailing Denver by just 2.5 games coming in, and then, obviously, the Carmelo head-to-head, it felt like he was pressing. And his final line showed it.

Let me ask you about what's kind of become Melo's signature move. He catches the ball, midrange (16 to 20 feet) on either wing. He stands still, moves the ball in front of his defender, putting the fear of a baseline drive in his mind. Then in one quick motion he rises, fades slightly and knocks down the jumper. I mean, how the heck do you defend that?

Wagner: It takes more than one player to defend Carmelo, and his ability to shoot with accuracy or attack with a great first step is why. The Spurs send all four off-the-ball defenders into a help position as soon as Carmelo catches. The Lakers have proved to have the best combination of scheme and personnel. They deny and then crowd Carmelo when he has the ball, with a player like Ron Artest and direct him into pre-rotated help in the form of one of their long bigs who is planted on the block.

A significant difference between Melo and KD right now is the way defenses have to account for Carmelo immediately because of his abilities and where he receives the ball. Durant generally starts outside the arc and the defense is able to stay at home longer. What kind of schemes have you seen teams implement against Durant?

Young: Dallas actually used one of the best schemes to frustrate KD. They played him straight up, man-to-man, except when Durant was on the wing or put the ball on the floor. The Mavs would then run a second defender at him, forcing him to either give it up or try to make a play in traffic. If Durant has a weakness, it's his handle in traffic. He's so tall that his dribble has to travel a long way down to the floor and back up again. Add that to his slight frame and it's a way to really frustrate him. If you let him run off his screens or get clean, stand-still looks, he'll kill you.

Wagner: We make a big deal about the physical development of young stars. Are they developing a post game? Expanding their range? Working on their offhand? Perhaps the most significant development is how they handle being the man for an NBA team. Some players like Glenn Robinson never move beyond the "I have to score right now" mentality. Carmelo still goes through phases where he gets overly concerned with scoring or sucked into trying to embarrass whoever is defending him. Durant joined a terrible team as a rookie, but he has already moved beyond the score-at-all-costs attitude and rarely forces anything. Above and beyond his physical talents, that is the most impressive aspect of his growth to me.

Young: Maybe it's different from your perspective, but it didn't really look like Denver did anything to really frustrate or knock KD off his game. It seemed more like he forced things a bit early, missed a few good looks he typically hits, and then once his team fell in a massive hole started chucking shots to try to get them back in it. It's a shame, because we didn't really get a good look at the best of Durant and what makes him so dynamic offensively.

Wagner: You are right, Royce, he was flustered early when he missed the back-to-back layups and received less help from his teammates than the castaways did from Gilligan. It bears mentioning that this game is following on the heels of a 42-minute, 39-point, 10-rebound effort from Durant the night before.

There is a lot of talk that Durant could average 35 points a game. Do you see him becoming so efficient he could accomplish such a feat, or would he have to monopolize the offense to the point that his scoring could be detrimental?

Young: Really, the only way I see that happening is if KD gets to such an outrageous place efficiency-wise that he can't help it. He's not a guy that intently seeks out his own shot very often. Just once this year has he attempted more than 30 shots in a game, and that was in an overtime tilt. I think he's destined to be a 30- to 33-point guy, with outstanding percentages. He scores his points within the flow of the game and in the rhythm of the offense. He doesn't force shots, he doesn't monopolize the ball. That's why he's such a "quiet" scorer. Everything comes within the offense and is rarely forced. But he definitely has the ability to do it, because he's so consistent on a night-to-night basis. Of course I say that after a night he goes 5-for-14 for just 19 points.

Wagner: While we did not get the most entertaining game, we can look forward to numerous battles in the coming seasons between these two quality franchises built around two of the best scorers in the NBA.

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