The Jazz took it to the Thunder once again on Monday night, appearing primed to take a 3-1 series lead, but while the score was lopsided in favor of Utah for much of the night, it was an intense game that featured lots of dust ups and technical fouls.
The final kerfuffle of the night came after Jae Crowder got chopped across the chest, Ric Flair style, by Russell Westbrook who was frustrated for much of the night. Crowder took exception to that and when Carmelo Anthony came to usher him away from Westbrook, Crowder flung his elbow up while pulling his arm away from Anthony.
The problem was Steven Adams was right there as well, so his elbow connected cleanly with Adams’ face, even though Adams somehow barely reacted despite taking quite the shot.
https://twitter.com/_MarcusD2_/status/988643141564747776
Adams, to his credit, avoided escalating the situation further and seemed hardly fazed by the elbow to the nose. He calmly strolled away, adjusted his nose, and moved on.
https://twitter.com/_MarcusD2_/status/988643784526311425
The entire incident was the culmination of a lot of frustration on the side of Oklahoma City, as nothing was going right for them in the game and they were getting increasingly upset with both themselves and the Jazz. That led to the Westbrook foul on Crowder, who prides himself on being the “never back down” role guy, so naturally that became a whole thing.
