Enes Kanter seems to be having a lot of fun both on and off the court since being acquired by the Portland Trail Blazers back in February. The Turkish big man is raving about the idea of playing with a playoff team and is excited to face Steven Adams and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.
In an interview with Joe Freeman of oregonlive.com, Kanter said that he will be ready for whatever Adams has in store for him in the playoffs.
“We know each other’s game. I know what he’s going to do, he knows what I’m going to do. I think the next step is, who’s going to be more focused, who’s going to put more effort into it.”
Kanter added that he can now be involved in the in-game trash talking because he's playing for a good team. He added that he wasn't able to respond to Adams' verbal jabs when he was with the New York Knicks because they were always losing.
“I’m going there with a good team, with confidence, and I’m going there comfortable because I’ve got good teammates that got my back. When I was with the Knicks, (the Thunder) were always up. We were down 20, 30 points. What was I going to say? But now with Portland, I will definitely talk back to him.”
The Blazers will be without Jusuf Nurkic for the rest of the playoffs because of the leg injury he suffered a couple of weeks ago. That means Kanter will play more minutes and will be the primary anchor of the team's defense. He will have his hands full against Adams, the guy considered by many as the strongest player in the NBA right now.
The Blazers-Thunder series will begin on Sunday.
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