Kevin Durant Responds to Rick Carlisle's Comments About Thunder's Physicality
Oklahoma City Thunder leading scorer Kevin Durant said Saturday he was "surprised" to hear comments from Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle about OKC's physical play.
Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman passed along Durant's response to a question about Carlisle's remarks concerning what he termed "non-basketball physical escalations" by the Thunder:
On Friday, Carlisle spoke out about some of Oklahoma City's actions in Game 3, per Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. He pinpointed an elbow Durant delivered to the chest of Mavs center Salah Mejri:
"There were four, what I would categorize as, non-basketball physical escalations that were initiated by them, including one intentional, unprovoked elbow at the free-throw line that I didn't understand, and I've never seen a guy like [Durant] ever do that to a player.
Ultimately, that led to two more escalations between the teams. So I'm concerned about that. There's no place for that in our game. They were clearly the initiators last night. And we got to be more aggressive.
"
Here's a look at the moment he was talking about:
Although there was no call made at the time, Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated reported later Friday that the NBA gave Durant a retroactive technical foul for a "physical taunt" on the play.
The Thunder went on to blow out the Mavericks in Game 3, 131-102, to take a 2-1 series lead and regain home-court advantage.
It's been a hard-fought start to the series with plenty of chippy play from both sides. Charlie Villanueva and Russell Westbrook exchanged verbal jabs after Game 2 because Dallas' veteran forward interrupted the Thunder star's pregame dance routine with Cameron Payne.
After seeing his team struggle to match the Thunder's physicality in Game 3, Carlisle was likely trying to set a different tone while also bringing the situation to the officials' attention ahead of Game 4. All of the back-and-forth comments through the media only add to the intrigue of the series.
The sides return to action Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET from the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Expect more fireworks as the Mavs try to even the first-round series.
