Foul Trouble Costing Durant, Thunder
At least until he picked up his fourth foul as (Dwyane) Wade baited him into contact with a fake. (Kevin) Durant went to the bench after Wade’s first free throw and the Thunder never recovered.
“I knew he had three [fouls],” Wade said. “I knew this team was very athletic, so sometimes you go in there, you can’t leave your feet. So when I went in there and he jumped, I knew I had him for his fourth at that time.”
Not long after, Thunder coach Scott Brooks sat point guard Russell Westbrook for the rest of the third quarter because he was playing erratically. With Durant and Westbrook watching, the Heat outscored the Thunder 16-7 to close the quarter.
“I had a nice rhythm going on the offensive end,” Durant said, “and for it to just stop like that by me going out of the game because of fouls is kind of tough.”
Durant scored 21 of his 25 points in Game 3 before the middle of the third quarter. (Reuters)Should Brooks have gambled and left Durant on the court with four fouls?
“That’s coach’s call,” Durant said.
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