Kiwi Steve in the NBA – Western Conference Finals, Games 3 & 4
THE KICK
Draymond Green hit Steven Adams in the, erm, groin area with a stray knee in game two. It was probably an accident. But that was one of a number of physical shots that Adams took in a brutal game, playing through the lot of them. His rivalry with Draymond in particular seemed to be boiling, as Green’s variety as an all-round player makes him a bit of a mismatch for Steve although the tough stuff suggests that Steve was doing his thing pretty well in disrupting him. Green responded by being as ‘disruptive’ as he could. Yeah, there was rivalry alright.
So lo and behold in game three, the clock reading 5:57 to play in the second quarter, and Adams fouls Draymond as he goes to throw the ball up. Draymond flails to sell the contact and his leg whips out and smacks Steve right in the bollocks.
He drops to the floor in pain. The refs go talk it over as the fans at the Chesapeake Arena begin chanting in unison: “Kick him out! Kick him out!” – in one way an unfortunate choice of words but the sentiment held up at least. He was not kicked out. It was deemed a flagrant one and Adams got to shoot a couple free throws, which he made, thankfully. He then shuffled slowly to the bench for a quick breather.
The Thunder went on to crush the defending champs and Adams didn’t need to play a huge role in that one, probably a relief to the system, but the kick became a major talking point in the aftermath. Hey Dray… did ya do it on purpose, bro?
Riiiight. Okay then. How about a second opinion?
Russell Westbrook: “I haven't seen it, but honestly, I think it's intentional. That's two times in the last two games. I don't think you can keep kicking somebody in their private areas. But he probably said he didn't do it on purpose, but I think the way I look at it, it looks intentional to me.”
Steve Kerr: “No, honestly. Stuff like that happens all the time. There's contact, people's arms, legs flailing. If they think it's on purpose, play the game, you know. This stuff happens all the time. Westbrook kicks out his feet on every three and there is contact, I mean, that's just part of the game. So I don't understand how that can be deemed a Flagrant 1. I think it should be rescinded.”
Billy Donovan: “I look at it more from a standpoint of what we can control. I was really, really proud of Steven just in both situations that he did not retaliate or get upset, you know, because I think it's easy to lose your emotion in a moment like that and he didn't. Steven's a tough guy. I think he's a team guy. Sometimes someone like him that doesn't necessarily draw attention to it, a lot of times maybe something like that doesn't get looked at.”
Steph Curry: “It just looked like he got fouled and was trying to show the ref he got fouled, maybe try to finish the shot and inadvertently got him. I was kind of shocked when they went to go review because I didn't know what happened. But there's no intent. Watching the replay, I think that's clear.”
The league did have a look at it, but they chose not to suspend Draymond Green. They did however upgrade the charge to a flagrant two with a $25,000 fine – so he hardly got off free. That also meant he was a single flagrant foul away from an automatic suspension. But what was weird about the whole thing was that the NBA chose to suspend Dahntay Jones for this nut-punch just a day earlier:
A wee bit inconsistent, you could say. But Adams didn’t seem to care, nor did Kevin Durant feel too hard done by in his comments.
Draymond, meanwhile, released a PR happy thing that included he and Adams shaking hands after the game as they left. Hardly a tea party but both dudes clearly embrace the ruthless stuff more than most. Draymond’s been doing these vids all playoffs:
Ethan Strauss/ESPN: “What's odd about a play that might swing the championship is that nobody, save for Adams, actually reacted to it in real time. The other players on the court started walking away, initially oblivious to the cause of Adams' pain. Thunder coach Billy Donovan stared ahead quizzically until the giant video screen showed a replay that left the crowd aghast. Officials took to the replay booth, resulting in Green's flagrant 1.”
A couple of cultural things here. Adams was on the wrong end of one such misunderstanding last week, here are a couple more from the USA side of things. First off the idea that Adams can take a hit because he played rugby. He can take a hit because he’s a tough bastard, comparing him to a professional rugby player is a bit of a stretch for a dude that probably didn’t play the sport past youth grades. Growing up in a sporting culture that idolises rugby makes a huge difference, granted, but it’s mostly just funny hearing Americans speak about the sport in hushed, admiring tones. Also not knowing in any way the difference between rugby union and rugby league (understandable but still funny). Case and point, from NewsOK’s Berry Tramel:
“But NBA basketball is square dancing compared to rugby, which in terms of physicality is American football without pads. Heck, just for fun, I googled ‘rugby’ and ‘low blows’, just to see what I would get. The first thing that popped up was this headline: ‘Low blows galore as Canberra topple Penrith.’”
Oh and the other thing is the recurring joke that Adams got kicked in the kiwis. Because they think over there that NZers are named after the fruit, since that’s the one they’re familiar with. Fair enough, even at the zoo it’s bloody impossible to spot a kiwi bird, zipping around in those dark enclosures, hiding behind the ferns.
By the way, if you were wondering about how the different media outlets managed to euphemise this situation, check out FiveThirtyEight’s little examination:
BOX SCORES
vs GSW, G3 (W 133-105): 18 MINS, 8 PTS (2/4 FG, 4/6 FT), 5 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 4 PF
vs GSW, G4 (W 118-94): 25 MINS, 11 PTS (2/4 FG, 7/8 FT), 7 REB, 2 AST, 2 STL, 1 BLK, 1 TO, 4 PF
GAME THREE
So now to the actual basketball. Having taken the first game the Thunder had seen the defending champs come back and tie it at 1-1 in the second. Now it was off to Oklahoma City. In front of their own fans, OKC shot out to a quick lead playing with high energy that put their opponents to shame. The lead got as high as 13 points in the first with a Serge three before Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala drew the game back towards parity, it was 34-28 OKC after one.
Adams helped the Thunder thoroughly out-rebound the Warriors in this one, he did a little bit of everything in the first (including sitting for a few mins in the middle). A little bit, not a lot. But right up there was a blocked Steph Curry hot from 26 feet. Given the troubles he (and every other NBA defender) had had with him ‘til then, that was a big confidence play.
Harrison Barnes tied the game at 38-38 in the second, as did Iggy at 40-40, though the Warriors never quite edged in front. It was 48-40 when Draymond Green caught Steven Adams in the nads. Kiwi Steve made both his FTs, as did Draymond, but then checked out for the last third or so of the quarter having picked up his third personal foul in the exchange. And then, in the wake of that big ‘ol dropkick, the Thunder went on a 24-7 run to close out the half, absolutely crushing the defending champs across a sustained period.
The difference was that Billy Donovan unexpectedly went small. Roberson came in for Adams and this with Anderson Varejao in the game for GSW. They caused them all sorts of troubles by going big against them in game one and now they called the Warriors’ bluff by going small in return at a crucial time. Man and they couldn’t miss, 72-47 up at half time… 25 points ahead!
Of course, no team has ever come back from a 25 point deficit at half time in a playoffs match. We know this already because this is what the Thunder did to the Spurs in their closeout game of last round. Curry and Thompson only had 22 points between them compared to 39 for Durant and Westbrook. Adams had a cheeky 7 points and 5 rebound in his 14 minutes.
That was almost it for Kiwi Steve, allowed to sit down and get a bit of ice on that wound. The Thunder stayed small through most of the third and while the Warriors were making shots finally, so were they, outscoring them 45-33 in the frame. They had 117 points after three quarters. The fourth was entirely garbage time.
Steph Curry scored 24, Thompson 18. In return Kevin Durant had 33 on 10/15 shooting and Westbrook 30 points with 12 assists and 8 rebounds. Shout out to Andre Roberson too with his 13 points. The Dubs have been leaving him unguarded most of the time he’s been on the court and he punished them for that here.
Daily Thunder: “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.”
More Daily Thunder: “How about Adams stepping out and blocking a step-back 3 from Steph? Don’t see that… ever.”
Thunder Digest: “The famous death line up 1-of-16 from the field for the Warriors, before that, they were shooting over 60 percent in the first two games.”
Billy Donovan on going small: “I just think because of our roster and the flexibility on our roster and the guys and just how invested they are, different series bring out different situations. Obviously we had a run there with Enes and Steven against San Antonio, and we still like that lineup. We still want to utilize that lineup. But also I felt like with Curry and Klay Thompson on the court and then Klay coming off, for us defensively, it may have been a little bit more in terms of us being able to guard. It created a little bit maybe more spacing for us on offense. We had several different ball handlers in there that could help contribute and make plays alongside Russell and Kevin. So there were some positive things. I think it gave Andre some room and space to do some things that was helpful. It gave Dion some opportunities.”
GAME FOUR
But just in case you thought 2-1 was a solid lead, the Warriors twice came back from that deficit in last season’s playoffs including in the finals against the Cavs.
First points came from Steven Adams. After grabbing an offensive board, he tried to post up Bogut and was hit hard on his bandaged right hand by none other than Draymond Green. Good hard foul, Adams seemed a little sore from the impact but he made both free throws. Also, Draymond was thoroughly booed by the crowd as soon as he touched the ball. And as if Adams wasn’t already pained enough, he took an inadvertent knock to the leg defending a Steph Curry drive, which required a bit of a rub of the ankle (he seemed to twist the right one as his leg bent on contact). He deflected away a Curry pass on the next defensive play (after some prime Durant) before leaving the game.
Dion Waiters then dropped a treble to put OKC up 15-8 and spark a timeout. The timeout did nothing either as the Thunder suddenly raged towards a 16-0 run before Curry hit a three. Adams came back out from the locker room with the all goods from the trainer and was back in the game with a little under five to play in the first. He marked it with a quick floater for two.
The Thunder had gone small without Adams in, super small. At one point it looked like Roberson was playing at the four. And they torched them. But they went back to their usuals before GSW could counter. However right at the end the Warriors got a few things to land, OKC pushed it a little too fast and GSW closed it to 30-26 – albeit with Steph Curry shooting a mere 1 of 7. His last effort was a deep one blocked by Steven Adams, get on up son!
Royce Young/ESPN: “Stephen Curry either isn't entirely healthy, or the Thunder are just doing an exceptional job on him. He's had 3 blocked by Steven Adams, and hasn't been able to finish at the rim. Just 1-8 shooting midway through the second.”
Curry even missed a couple of free throws, he was 5/7 while Adams was 5/6. Free throws were a big factor in the second. As the Warriors struggled to get going and find their rhythm, the Thunder dried up completely. The refs, on the other hand, really got going and there were endless stoppages – a few from coaches trying to sort out whatever was going on but most of them from two scrappy teams trying to stay competitive through a little slump. Oh, Draymond tripped up Enes Kanter too. This replay was shown over and over on the big screen, just in case those fans didn’t hate him enough:
After nursing a slight lead most of the quarter, OKC then found a bit of something good for a 13-3 run that included some Hack-An-Ezeli as well as a couple unexpected Steven Adams dimes, mate this is a fastball over the plate if ever there was one.
And you wanna know how far Adams is coming as a free throw shooter? He was on the court when Steve Kerr called for the intentional fouling of Andre Roberson. Although Robs missed both so that paid off.
At one stage it was 48-42 to the Thunder. A Russ three and a Serge two about three and a half minutes after that score put the Thunder up by their biggest lead of the game: 20 points. After 42 points in the third, OKC led 72-53 and were well in control not only of this game but of the entire series. 2013 was the last time the Warriors trailed by at least 15 points at HT in back to back games. Curry had 15 but was 4/14 FG. No other Dub was in double figures while Durant had 18, Russ 21 and Ibaka 15.
Thing about the Warriors though is that they can score so quickly. And that HT lead was hardly untouchable, the Dubs crept up slightly on it early in the third before Klay Thompson, who’d been close to anonymous in the first half (slamming his towel down on the bench at one stage, looking more than frustrated), got wicked hot all of a sudden. Three triples, swish – swish – swish. He had 15 points within six minutes of the quarter after having only 4 up until then – in fact he scored 19 in a row for the Warriors before checking out with four fouls.
That cut the Thunder lead down to 6 and led to some nervous moments. So here’s a happy update in the Australasain Supremacy battle:
Adams was having another quality one and Ibaka was playing one of his best all season to go with the usual Russ/KD stuff but the Thunder were back to shooting trash again. Durant semi-secretly was hitting less than a third of his efforts. Luckily they still had Dion Waiters to sink ‘em from nowhere close. And Steve slamming the gavel.
And rebounding 1 vs 5 – this led to Klay’s fourth foul:
Most of it was stemming from great defence. The Warriors were all over the place, bursting lungs just to get a decent shot off. They pushed it back out late in the quarter to go into the final frame up 94-82, slightly more comfortable than it looked like being but by no means safe. Westbrook had 31 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds after 3Q.
Klay hit a treble to begin the fourth. KD soon responded with one of these bad boys:
Then Oklahoma City just sorta stretched it out. Roberson made an open three, he made a dunk in traffic. That guy had a double-double, continuing some wonderful recent form, while Waiters wasn’t clogging the stats but he continued to play great off the bench as he has for a month now. With 4:21 left the lead was up to 20 points following the Warriors’ 20th turnover. Knowing that the Warriors had to go for it with their shooters and that they’d be looking for quick shots rather than working mismatches, Donovan went small again. And it worked beautifully.
Frankly, once this went in the writing was on the wall:
The final score was 118-94 and for the first time all season the Warriors lost in consecutive games. Westbrook ended a huge night with 36/11/11 while Durant also scored 26. Ibaka had 17p & 7r, Roberson 17p & 12r and Steven Adams, after a quiet second half, 11p & 7r. Crazy stuff, the defending champs needing to win three straight to stay in it now. Thompson scored 26 but Curry’s 19 came on 6/20 FG shooting and Draymond Green’s 11 rebounds came with only 2 assists and 6 points – at a -30 plus/minus. Once again, the Dubs got destroyed with him on the court. Good thing he wasn’t suspended then, right?
Russell Westbrook: “Steven's a great passer. He's made some big-time passes especially when the shot clock's going down. He has the ball in the middle of the plane. They practice that stuff in practice with the bigs. He did a great job making some passes tonight.”
Thunder Digest: “Adams, who was the victim of the notorious Draymond Green kick, was noticeably hobbling and certainly playing through a great deal of pain considering he had a testicular contusion. His defensive presence and athleticism shook Curry multiple times as he was unable to get away from the terror from New Zealand. Adams even blocked another Curry three tonight after blocking one in Game 3.”
Welcome to Loud City: “Durant's ability to both cover Green in space, guard him at the rim, and keep him off the glass, has been perhaps the most impactful factor in this series. Green is now 2-16 in the last two blowout losses for the Warriors with only 12 points and 5 assists against 10 turnovers.”
Eric Freeman/Yahoo Sports: “For whatever reason, Curry looks like a shell of his usual self, Green has become one of the worst players in the series, and Thompson has been able to succeed only intermittently. Their opponent — a No. 3 seed said to lack the depth and moxie to beat elite teams in crunch time — is suddenly one win from pulling off the most impressive run to the NBA Finals in league history.”