Things have gotten rather testy in the playoff series between the Mavericks and the Thunder, and Dallas coach Rick Carlisle has taken aim at Oklahoma City by calling out Kevin Durant and the rest of the team for perceived dirty play.
The two teams had several scuffles during Oklahoma City’s game three win on Thursday night, and Carlisle pinned the blame solely on Durant and the Thunder for playing outside of the rules.
“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,” Carlisle said, via Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “And I’ve never seen a guy like Kevin Durant ever do that to a player. 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.”
Carlisle went on to have a testy exchange with Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman, who brought up the perception that Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams and Serge Ibaka are regarded as dirty players in some NBA circles.
A classic exchange between @BerryTramel and Rick Carlisle: pic.twitter.com/XUvDLwffWL
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 22, 2016
Carlisle levied similar criticisms against the Houston Rockets during last year’s playoffs, which led to this amusing moment. Of course, this isn’t the only Western Conference playoff series that has gotten physical.
