The kick and 4 other highlights from OKC’s dominating performance
The Western Conference Finals took another pivotal turn in Sunday’s Game 3 as the Oklahoma City Thunder destroyed the Golden State Warriors.
To celebrate, cue up the music track for Faith Hill’s song “This Kiss” and join me for a quick karaoke session about one of the game’s most talked-about moments:
Adams doesn’t want another injury
He doesn’t need another turn to cry, no
He wants to win the western finals
Make his homeland say hey, that’s my guy
But he looks at number 23
And all he can do is sigh
It’s the way you fouled me
It’s a flagrant hit
It won’t be rescinded
It’s going to stick
It’s that powerful sneaker
It’s, ah, excruciating
This kick, this kick (intentional)
This kick, this kick
Steven Adams is a phenomenal player who attracts the wrong kind of news. Take a look at these examples:
Game 2 against the San Antonio Spurs: Instead of talking about Adams’ 17 rebounds and 5-for-6 shooting, the news was abuzz about the courtside fan who grabbed him in the final seconds.
Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors: Instead of talking about the 12 rebounds and 16 points Adams earned, the media threw shade at his poor word choice when he referred to the Warriors guards as “quick little monkeys.”
Game 3 against the Golden State Warriors: Instead of talking about the fact that Adams is a resilient superhero who fights through pain and wins the hearts of girls everywhere, we’re talking about The Kick.
That kick heard ‘round the world is a heated topic of debate for NBA fans, though for me, it’s pretty cut and dried.
For starters, Green’s claim that his “core’s not strong enough to stop” his leg is just ridiculous. Dude, if your core’s not strong enough to stop you from kicking your leg that high, you shouldn’t be in the NBA.
Secondly, let’s not forget that Adams is 7 feet tall. To make contact with the Kiwi King in such a way would require quite a high kick.
Further, when you evaluate something like this, you have to consider the source. If Kevin Durant had delivered this kick, it would be easy to evaluate his character and lobby for the fact that he would never do something to intentionally hurt another player. He has no history of that.
Draymond Green, however… I mean, this is the guy who kicked, in similar fashion, Steven Adams in the same spot just a game before. He’s also the guy who allegedly burst into a fit of rage in the locker room after playing none other than the Thunder back in February. He’s also the guy who is just a couple of technicals away from suspension.
He’s the guy whose fate now rests in the hands of the NBA officials. While we wait to find out if Green is (rightfully) suspended from the next game, here are some exciting things to focus on instead:
- Mark Cuban finally said something smart.
The Dallas Mavericks owner may have changed his mind about Russell Westbrook. In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mark Cuban revealed which team he thinks will take home the title this year.
“You know, I’m going to take a little bit of a long shot here and go with the Thunder,” Cuban said.
He didn’t admit that he was wrong about saying Westbrook isn’t a superstar, but it was pretty much implied.
- Fixed flaws.
After Game 2, I laid out the three reasons why I thought the Thunder lost . Those reasons include: turnovers, out-rebounding, and giving up free throw points. In Game 3, OKC fixed these flaws to dominate the court.
The Thunder limited their turnovers to 12, forcing 13 on the Warriors. After eight turnovers in Game 2, Kevin Durant only committed one this time around.
As for rebounds, OKC definitely won this battle and reminded everyone why they’re the highest rebounding team in the league with 52 rebounds (matching their Game 1 performance). Golden State only had 38 rebounds, flipping the script on Game 2 where the Warriors had 44 rebounds to the Thunder’s 36.
Finally, OKC proved to have spent time practicing their free throw attempts. In Game 2, the Thunder maintained a 73.7% free throw percentage. Sunday’s performance in Game 3 earned them an 89.2% free throw percentage.
89.2%.
Let me say that again.
89.2%.
This is coming from a team whose ’15-’16 regular season free throw percentage was 78%. Granted, neither Dion Waiters nor Kyle Singler attempted any free throws, but still.
- Adams may be a superhero.
Right before Game 6 against the Spurs, Adams battled a killer migraine that gave him blurred vision and nausea and led to a locker-room IV. He ended up with a double-double.
Last season, Adams broke his hand in the middle of a game. Before exiting the court, he stayed in and shot free throws with his other hand.
In his first three seasons, Adams has only missed 13 total games.
When asked about last night’s injury, Thunder Coach Billy Donovan said: “He’s a tough kid. He’s got a great pain threshold.”
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- OKC is another game closer to winning it all.
The Thunder’s 28-point win against the best team in the league—possibly, of all time—is proof that it can be done. When everyone on the Thunder roster is playing at his prime, making shots, defending well, grabbing rebounds…they are more than thunder, they are a tornado.
Of course, it would be nice if they could get fired up like they did in Game 3 for every game—without using Adams as bait for that fire.
Game 4 starts at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Chesapeake Arena.