Who?
I’m sure that’s your initial reaction when you see that Corey Joseph threw down the biggest highlight of the conference finals, but he’s on his way to becoming some sort of household name after this vengeful play over noted shot-blocker Serge Ibaka.
Prior to tonight’s game, Corey Joseph, the third year point guard out of the University of Texas at Austin, had only one dunk in his NBA career according to Basketball-Reference which came in his rookie year in the NBA. And going up, arguably, the best shot-blocker in the game and that the NBA has seen in some years, Corey Joseph prevailed where many have come up short.
Unfortunately, Joseph’s dunk and his 11 points weren’t enough to propel a comeback against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals as OKC defeated SAS 105-92 behind Russell Westbrook’s stellar performance of 40 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals, a stat line we haven’t seen in the NBA playoffs since Michael Jordan did it in 1989.
This series is beginning to look a lot like the 2012 Western Conference finals when the Thunder came back from 2-0 deficit to propel themselves to the NBA Finals. The Spurs, one again, are struggling to deal with the Thunder’s athleticism and with the return of Serge Ibaka who has fueled the Thunder’s interior defense, creating a brick wall at the rim, the Spurs’ offense hasn’t been able to contain the Thunder all-together.
Win or lose, we’ll always remember Corey Joseph’s fantastic dunk over Serge Ibaka. Odds are it’ll be the biggest moment of his career.