Thunder swing at the knees in Game 3, 133-105
It’s going to be hard to write this without making ball-related puns the entire way. But here we go.
The Thunder balled out in Gam —
Let me start over.
The Thunder… rolled… OK, we’re good… in Game 3 as Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant testicled the Warriors damn it. The Thunder just smoked the Warriors tonight. They got off to a great start, moving the ball all over the floor, utilizing space and taking advantage of the Warriors’ plan to not guard Andre Roberson. Nine assists in the first quarter, five from Westbrook.
But it was the ball-bagging by Draymond Green that seemed to ignite OKC. Midway through the second, OKC led 48-40 when Green was fouled by Steven Adams, and kick his legs out to catch Adams in his Dothraki balls. With the crowd chanting “kick him out!” a flagrant 1 was given to Green, but the Thunder threw a haymaker to Golden State’s junk after anyway. The Thunder went on a 24-5 run to end the half, then carried that over to 45 points in the third quarter to build a lead of as much as 41.
The last two home games, the Thunder crushed the Spurs, then stomped the Warriors. Led by 28 against the Spurs, and now tonight. They played with speed, intensity and confidence. They moved the ball, they got out and ran, they took care of the ball, they did basically everything. Except kick an opponent in the gonads.
NOTES:
- Billy Donovan is doing so much right. His adjustment to go small with the first sub, basically beating the Warriors to smallball, was brilliant. It supercharged the Thunder, and ran all over the Warriors’ death lineup. Donovan has taken the puzzle pieces Sam Presti has given him and managed them beautifully this postseason. Which is another area that needs to be shouted out: Presti’s roster building is showing off. Against the Spurs, it was the twin tower big lineup that swung the series. Tonight, it was smallball. Having that kind of roster versatility, and the kind of coach that can utilize it, is pretty unique.
- The Warriors’ death lineup was a -22 tonight.
- Not just that, but the tweaks they made offensively with Andre Roberson. More weakside movement, shifting him all over the floor, and then, Roberson paying it off. I watched Roberson airball three times in warmups tonight. Then he walks out and drops 3-5 from 3. It’s a mystery. Like if Draymond Gren meant to kick Adams in the balls.
- Westbrook was just sensational. Simply awesome.
- Is it as simple as when Serge Ibaka shows up on both ends the Thunder are near unstoppable? He played so, so well tonight. Was active all over, postered the hell out of Festus Ezeli, knocked down shots, protected the rim. He was great.
- How about Adams stepping out and blocking a step-back 3 from Steph? Don’t see that… ever.
- The free throw leveling tonight to close the halftime disparity was so shameless.
- It’s amazing how comfortable the Thunder are with Dion Waiters in the post against Green. And how good Waiters is against him there.
- OK, so about the nutting. I don’t think Green meant to do it. I can’t know. No one can. I just refuse to believe Green would intentionally do that on national television with everyone watching, knowing the risk involved. He may have done it on purpose. If so, he’s a huge tool. I’m just going to give him the benefit of the doubt.
- Also: The same people that are CONVINCED Green did that on purpose probably defended Ibaka for this one. You can’t know intent. Only one person does.
- Westbrook: “I haven’t seen it, but honestly I think it’s intentional. That’s two times in the last two games. You know, I don’t think you can keep kicking somebody in their private areas but he probably says he didn’t do it on purpose but I think, the way I look at it, it looks intentional to me.”
- Donovan on the kick: “I’m not here to say whether it was or was not intentional. I don’t know. But obviously it’s happened twice in the last two games, and that’s something the League will take a look at. I’m sure they look at probably precedent or things that have happened in the past and they go through it.”
- Donovan with a really interesting quote pregame about Waiters: “It took a lot of time to try to talk to Dion. I think in the beginning he had a little bit of a perception that maybe I, in particular, was trying to change his game, so to speak. It wasn’t about changing his game as much as it was about him being efficient and understanding shot-clock situations, understanding what he’s really good at. I think from an efficiency standpoint, just the way everything has gone with analytics now, those pull-up jump shots early, mid-clock, you probably can get those at different points in time. I think for Dion, because of his ability to drive the ball and his ability to pass, him staying away from that I think actually opened up more things for him. I think once he started to see and understand how to do that — again, Dion’s a young player, and when you get to this level by doing something, you think you can kind of stay doing it. But I give Dion a lot of credit that he saw for him to take another jump as a player, here’s something I’ve got to evolve and get better at.”
- I’ve said it a lot this season, but Donovan deserves credit for the development of Waiters. He’s coached him to his strengths, and helped eliminate his weaknesses.
- Green low-blowed the Warriors too. He stunk. Just 1-9 shooting and a -43 in the box score. Yikes.
- The White Flag was raised for the Warriors tonight. Kyle Singler with two points in nine minutes.
- OKC outbound 52-38. Yep.
Next up: Game 4 in OKC on Tuesday
