Draymond Green was his talkative self at Golden State Warriors practice on Monday, but the All-Star forward’s mood was understandably heavier than normal.
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The Thunder can take a 3-1 advantage in the series with back-to-back wins if Oklahoma City can win Game 4. “But Green’s actions in this case warranted an additional penalty”.
He’s always on the edge, usually in a positive way, but on Sunday he might have put himself and the entire franchise into a very risky spot. It was the second time in the series Green hit Adams there – he hit him with a knee in Game 2.
With 5:57 left in the second quarter, Green kicked Adams after a foul.
“We’ve been successful in small ball because I can guard everybody on the court one through five”, Durant said. That don’t make sense.
“It’s happened before”, Adams said.
Adams, who crumpled to the floor after the groin blow, had mentioned Green before the game saying: “He’s peaked with annoyingness”.
The top-seeded Warriors are now trailing in the series with the third-seeded Thunder sitting on the front seat with a 2-1 lead. I can see how somebody can think it was intentional, but yet nobody can go in my head and say, “Draymond was thinking about kicking him and he kicked him”. I think it matters to him a lot to have an impact on the game. While a flagrant 2 foul could lead to a suspension, Green managed to escape spending any time on the sidelines. “I think it should be rescinded”.
“He’s mentally strong, so nothing that happened last night is going to affect Game 4 except light a fire probably”, Curry said.
Durant scored 23 in the first half while Westbrook added 16 as the Thunder leaped ahead in the second quarter and piled on more punishment in the second half, stretching the lead to 117-80 after three quarters and went on to match a club playoff scoring record.
Green and Kerr compared the kick to what Westbrook does in an attempt to draw foul calls.
He’s looking right at Adams when he’s delivering the “kick”. He was 1-for-9 shooting for just six points, and had just four rebounds and three assists to counteract his four turnovers.
The Thunder were embarrassed in game two in Oakland, and they made sure to return the favor in game three with a 133 – 105 smack down.
Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday in Oklahoma City. “They kicked our (butts). It usually helps me play well”.
They just know they don’t appreciate it.
“It’s all troubling”, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “So I sold the call”. “But that wasn’t why I was so bad in this game”.
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“There was no intent“, Curry said. He’s been a really good roll to the basket for us. They obviously won both last season against the Memphis Grizzly’s and Cleveland Cavaliers, but the Thunder may be the toughest task yet.
