Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle voiced his displeasure with how the Thunder conducted business during Thursday night's game.
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There was an obvious incident between Raymond Felton and Steven Adams that resulted in a double-technical, but Carlisle was more upset about other altercations that weren't caught by officials. One such moment was during the third quarter when Kevin Durant appeared to elbow Salah Mejri in the chest at the free throw line.
"There were four what I would categorize as non-basketball physical escalations that were initiated by them, including one intentional, unprovoked elbow at the free throw line which I didn't understand. And I've never seen a guy like Kevin Durant ever do that to a player," Carlisle said Friday to reporters. "Then ultimately, that led to two more escalations between the team, the fact that that was missed. I'm concerned about that. There's no place for that in our game."
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In addition to taking matters into his own hands, Carlisle also let a reporter do his dirty work for him. He got in an engaging back-and-forth with reporter Berry Tramel about the Thunder instigating these altercations.
This back-and-forth between Rick Carlisle and Berry Tramel, on the Thunder's instigation, was great: pic.twitter.com/N3UB5Av08g
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 22, 2016
The Thunder lead the series 2-1, and we can likely expect these two sides to stay aggressive throughout.
