Thursday Bolts: 6.8.17

Enes Kanter’s father was released by the Turkish government: “The father of Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter has been released from police custody in Turkey, where he was detained as part of an investigation into alleged links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, according to media reports. The private Dogan news agency said university professor Mehmet Kanter was released Wednesday after five days in custody on condition that he regularly report to a police station.”

Erik Horne did an awesome Q&A with Alex Abrines: So, how was the driving test? Were you nervous?  “On the written test, I missed the first one and I was like ‘oh, s***.” But finally I got like 15 out of 16. That’s pretty good. I was a little nervous but I’ve been driving for a year here. I was more nervous for the writing test.”

Oklahoma State’s Jawun Evans will work out for the Thunder on Friday:

Doug McDermott’s dad has reportedly been offered the Ohio State job: “McDermott, 52, has spent the past seven years in Omaha, Nebraska, where he has taken the Bluejays to the NCAA tournament four times. He also spent four seasons at Iowa State and five at Northern Iowa. Creighton finished 25-10 last season and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Rhode Island. The Bluejays have been in the Big East for the past four seasons.”

The Warriors are up 3-0. KD was unreal. “He took over,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “You can tell he knows this is his moment. He’s been an amazing player in this league for a long time. He senses this is his time, his moment, his team.”

Andrew Sharp of SI on how a new era of NBA is almost upon us: “The Cavs were exhausted but they kept finding ways to score, and it really looked like they were going to pull it off. But the Warriors answered with offense that was as surgical as it’s been the whole series. With a combination of ruthless threes and effortless lay-ups, Golden State stayed close enough to make the fourth quarter stressful for the whole country. Then, they won the game when LeBron was a half-step slow picking up Durant at the top of the key in transition in the final minute, and KD drained the go-ahead three. Thirty seconds later, LeBron’s game-tying three was blocked, and he bobbled it out of bounds.”

Danny Chau on the Cavs’ best not being enough: “Despite holding the lead for nearly all of the fourth quarter, the Cavs would manage to lose, 118–113, in heartbreaking fashion. Despite a first half that was played at faster pace than either of the previous two games, by the fourth quarter the game had slowed to a (relative) crawl — something that most saw as the Cavaliers’ only hope of making this a series.”

James Herbert on why this is what the Warriors wanted from KD: “I told him earlier in the year,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said on NBA TV. “I said, ‘Man, it’s cool that you’re here, but we really don’t need you for the regular season, bro. We’re counting on you, gonna need you for the Finals.’ And he stepped up big and made plays for us.”

Farewell, Bob Stoops: “Stepping down after 18 years as the head football coach here at Oklahoma,” Stoops said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. “I feel like I’ve been absolutely the luckiest, most fortunate guy in the world and incredibly blessed to have experienced what we have over the last 18½ years.”