Rick Carlisle Criticizes Kevin Durant, Thunder for Physical Play

Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle voiced his displeasure with what he termed "non-basketball physical escalations" by the Oklahoma City Thunder, including superstar forward Kevin Durant, ahead of Game 4 of their first-round playoff series Saturday night, per Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman:

Carlisle pinpointed an elbow that Durant delivered to the chest of center Salah Mejri in the third quarter of Game 3 as a prime example.

Here's a look at the play in question:

On Saturday, Durant expressed surprise at Carlisle's comments, per Slater:

Although the intensity level always increases markedly during the postseason, this series has been chippier than most through three games.

There was some verbal warfare after Game 2 as well. Mavericks forward Charlie Villanueva stepped in between Thunder point guards Russell Westbrook and Cameron Payne during their pregame dance routine and later posted a Fox Pro Cast video about it (via Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com).

"If you want to go dancing and stuff like that, go to a nightclub," he said. "Go to a club and dance. Go to Dancing with the Stars and be a dancer. You want to battle and dance, we can battle, but not in a basketball game. Plus, they were in my way, too, so I wasn't necessarily interrupting their dance."

Dallas went on to win the second game to level the series, but Oklahoma City regained home-court advantage with a 131-102 victory on the road Thursday night.

Ultimately, Carlisle's remarks were a savvy move. He believes the Thunder have been getting away with overly physical play but also understands making negative comments about officials would likely net a fine.

So he managed to get his point across in a different way before Game 4. It's a vital contest for Dallas, which doesn't want to head back to Oklahoma City in a 3-1 hole. If the calls don't start going the Mavs' way, they must start utilizing more physical play of their own to slow down the high-powered Thunder offense.