Thursday night, Jared McCain officially had his standout postseason moment both as a member of the OKC Thunder and, frankly, as an NBA player.
In just under 18 minutes of action, the sophomore dropped 18 points off the bench on a ridiculous 4-of-5 shooting from deep and 7-of-11 shooting from the field to help guide Oklahoma City to a 125-107 win over the Lakers and, more importantly, a commanding 2-0 semifinal series lead.
With his strong performance, McCain's name was trending on social media and became a hot topic of discussion among pundits. Following the game, he even served as the NBA on Prime panel's person of interest, taking part in an interview with their Nightcap team, where, after receiving praise and adulation, he took a subtle, tongue-in-cheek shot at his former employers, the Philadelphia 76ers.
At the end of his interview, Nightcap commentator and former NBA All-Star, Blake Griffin, called back to Sixers President Daryl Morey's controversial remarks following McCain's move to the Thunder at the February trade deadline, saying, "They didn't sell high enough."
After bursting out laughing, in a rather sarcastic tone, the point guard responded by simply saying, "shout out Philly!"
Jared McCain gives Thunder what 76ers are lacking this postseason
Ironically, the production that McCain is providing the Thunder is exactly what the 76ers are severely lacking this postseason, particularly in their semifinals bout against the Knicks.
While working around Joel Embiid's latest run-ins with the injury bug, Philadelphia has become heavily reliant on point guard Tyrese Maxey to keep its offensive punch afloat.
From an individual standpoint, the results have been quite solid for the All-Star, as he ranks eighth in playoff points-per-game with 25.2.
However, when he's off the court, the Sixers' scoring punch absolutely plummets, as their points production crashes to a team-worst standing while their offensive rating registers in at an abysmal 95.9 with him riding the pine.
Now, against New York in round two, as a result of their lack of self-creating, offensive weapons in the backcourt, the Knicks' defense has completely swarmed Maxey (averaging just 19.5 points on 37.5 percent shooting and 11.1 percent shooting from deep) and is daring his teammates to step up to make up for his inefficiency.
Down 0-2, clearly they've yet to find someone capable of doing so.
Ironically enough, Philadelphia would certainly benefit from the 15.0 points on 61.1 percent shooting from the floor and 80.0 percent shooting from deep averages McCain finds himself boasting here in the second round.
But, hey, at least they got 22 overall pick in this year's draft, right?
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