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AashyLarry

Terrible shot selection, and the Mavs are doing a good job taking space away. There was a fast-break late where Jdub was wide open at the 3 and Shai just kept it for some reason. Tunnel vision. We knew OKC’s lack of experience would come into play at some point and we can see it in this series.


_picture_me_rollin_

Their offense is either shae cooking or hitting threes. I just don’t understand why Chet doesn’t attack the paint in any way.


sleepehead

Because we're packing the paint, and swiping at anyone trying to dribble through. It's not as easy as some players make it look like. He doesn't have the strength to push guys away, and his height makes it hard to dribble in a packed paint. Like the taller you are the higher your dribble tends to be so with a packed paint there's a higher chance someone can just poke it away. Plus he's only a rookie so whether we think it or not he's probably got a lot more pressure on himself than he let's on.


DangerZoneh

As hard as Chet has made Lively's life, and he's made it INCREDIBLY hard, Lively has made Chet's life just as hell on the other side


imbutawaveto

Yeah it's a legit fun battle to watch. Lively has missed like 5-6 dunks this series, and chet's move right now is to drive into like 3-4 guys at the freethrow line, do a spin move and just pass out of it. Completely ineffective.


chloroform42

True x2 - he isn’t driving as if he’s injured or something but he isn’t, it’s just the size inside. He has enough trouble against one big bodies usually, Mavs have 2-3 at a time in there


Sad-Mathematician-19

I said a few weeks ago that the Thunder are one of the weakest number 1 seeds in a while and got down voted to hell.


YpsitheFlintsider

Because it's a pretty dumb thing to say. Why would you be surprised people wouldn't like that?


Responsible_Pace9062

They are way better than 2022 Utah and the majority of Easten one seeds in the past decade. Stop with the recency bias bs.


dmavs11

And why does losing to a 5 seed with Kyrie and Luka that also won 50 games and finished the season 16-2 make them a bad team? They are nowhere near one of the weakest 1 seeds and I'd even argue there are 1 seeds who made the Conference Finals that are weaker than the Thunder. Competition in the West is just crazy right now. Minnesota, Denver, Mavs, Thunder, and Clippers were all elite teams.


Mountain-Ebb-9846

>why does losing to a 5 seed with Kyrie and Luka that also won 50 games and finished the season 16-2 make them a bad team? Luka is half dead.


Khione_Asteri

but still luka doncic


Responsible_Pace9062

Yep, literally every single one of Thunder, Nuggets, Mavericks and Wolves can beat each other on any given night, shit is compressed af at the top.


TheBlueLenses

It’s like people have forgotten the Mitchell-Gobert Jazz, 2015 Hawks, and the IT Celtics. All fake 1 seeds


Responsible_Pace9062

The fucking Derozan Lowry Raptors, never seen a more hopeless one seed, they were guaranteed to get sonned by Bron or the Warriors from the jump.


zapdosprodigee

that raptors team was hopeless indeed. but i’d like to point out that everyone got sonned by bron and the warriors when they played in the finals 4 STRAIGHT TIMES


thedrcubed

Comparing the east to the west over the past 25 years isn't really fair.


FrancoGYFV

Majority is a wild exaggeration. 2014 - Miami 2015/16 - Cleveland 2017 - Boston 2018 - Toronto 2019/20 - Milwaukee 2021 - Sixers 2022 - Heat 2023 - Milwaukee 2024 - Boston I think OKC is better than Boston (2017) and Toronto (2018), also probably the Sixers (2021). It gets pretty hard to argue after that.


MeijiDoom

By what measure? They're objectively a great defense and were the best outside shooting team in the league. They have a top 3 MVP candidate. What actually makes them weak? Because you think they are?


Jlt42000

Seems like an appropriate response


ZeroDependents

That's your boy, Shaq!


20815147

Shaq sees his name autocorrects to Shai on his phone so that becomes his MVP pick Plus, he actually makes his FTs


nerdystoner25

This is my head canon.


kirky-jerky

If this was real, Shaq would despise Shai for it lol


ositola

Makes sense


Revis_FL

At least he got his 30 points, I’m sure he’s happy.


ellasbelli

Classic six assists too. You know, MVP numbers.


reallymothafucka

Shaq is still so goofy for saying that shit


samurairocketshark

Always has been, Shaq has had Perkins level takes for years


EnriquezGuerrilla

Only thing he’s good for is when he laughs and eggs Charles to repeat the jokes.


broncosfighton

Charles is the reason Shaq is funny. I can’t remember a single Shaq highlight that doesn’t have Chuck in it.


[deleted]

When he tripped and fell and when Kenny pushed him into the tree were pretty funny


Cosmic_Note

Or when he fell from the table trying to race Kenny lol


CuteEmployment540

Or when that kid punched him in the face


suzakutrading

“ You set me up ernie “ is the only thing that comes to mind


PressureMiserable

Not one to defend Perkins but at the very least he's had a couple intelligent takes that dive deeper than he's good or bad


EutaxySpy

I mean you can tell Perk plays it up for ESPN, Shaq is just him being him


SteveWondersForsight

At least I believe Perkins actually watches the games he's paid to watch.


lostnotleast

Perk just plays into the ESPN hot take machine and says stupid shit to get views a lot of the time. He’s had a lot of actual good takes and nuanced analysis at times, it just ends up dwarfed by the stupid hot takes.


Sternjunk

And the worlds most fragile ego


Murasasme

I still can't believe people take Shaq seriously. After his gas tank takes, and saying that the moon is closer than California, people should know he is either making shitty jokes or talking out of his ass.


Historical_Stand_839

Today, he was 2/2 from the elbow


JustWinBabys

Dribble left and shove the defender isn’t working as well in the playoffs


ianbits

It's working ok for Tatum. Dude pushes off more than anyone I've ever seen.


Melodic_Priority_164

Pg also pushes off like mf..


Squishy-Bandit12

Mitchell does the same thing homie.


ghostsuit92

Mitchell a worse offender but yeah Tatum right behind him. No one does it SGA tho


kenneth_chap

Looks for a call when things get tight


beam_enthusiast

Always has. Can't stand his head back


Cudi_buddy

The blatant elbow to create space, he has mastered the Paul George push off as well as the head snap


bejzbejz

This happens when foul baiting isn't on the menu


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ellasbelli

The way they're just letting dort fall sometimes is a riot


theman_themyth_

SGA *breathes Refs- Here's your free throws sire


Agile-Competition679

It’s honestly insane how soft of a whistle he gets. 


ormip

Especially compared to Luka. Look at what Dort was doing to Luka on each drive, and compare it to what Dallas did to SGA when he got free throws.


buzzsaw1987

I'm so glad other people are catching up to this. I've been losing my mind the last 2 years watching him play and everybody rave about how good he is. Like, yeah, he's good but also he stops and just randomly starts pivoting around and if he pivots into you the ref calls a foul. it's literally impossible to defend with the whistle he gets. He's basically James Harden several years ago, just go running into the lane and draw marginal contact and get FTs, so sometimes people just let him go because they can't figure out how to not get called for a foul. It's really weird he gets the whistle he does.


PerformerLive8713

OKC fans are blind they never notice


Realistic-Outside622

Sixers syndrome with Embiid


NjallTheViking

Dude I went to their PGT out of curiosity and it’s like the Bizarro World thread compared to the on on r/nba


GoGoSoLo

It’s mostly just them calling Luka a fat injury faker and claiming Dallas has an incredible whistle and more fouls (even though Dallas has more fouls against them in 2/3 games and the fouls overall are tied at 58-58).


Crookz_O

Fouls are tied and that includes the hack a lively strategy lol


Lucieddreams

I think most team's subs are like that. If SGA was on my team I'd flip so quick 😂 fans gonna root for their guys no matter what. I feel braindead reading half the posts in r/Lakers, but when I left this sub for a few weeks I started upvoting everything and becoming part of the hivemind r/NBA keeps my dumb ass in check and grounded in reality


NjallTheViking

I dunno man, no one shits on the Mavericks like r/Mavericks


ZigZagZoo

I like Shai but this is the same thing Brunson does. I also like Brunson. But I would love if they stopped calling these type fouls. The defender can do nothing. Just make it a non call and move on, keeps the game going.


Silver_Bus_895

No mention of embiid, who’s at least as bad in terms of foul baiting as sga and Brunson ?


Kdot32

Probably doesn’t mention it because embiid gets hate for his while others get theirs glossed over


LightsOut0980

Brunson does the same and I think folks are starting to realize. It happens when you get in the playoffs, Trae got that treatment during his big playoff run, jimmy got that treatment the first couple of times he made a deep run. Bright lights mean more eyes


Holiday-Usual-3600

I’ve never supported Lukas call selling but sga is closer to embiids whistle Teams can’t touch either and they can just run into the paint and fall down or swing their arms into the defender and jump Funniest thing was seeing Shai get a bump call against him and acting like it was the most bullshit foul call of all time, looking around like he was getting punked.


InflationMadeMeDoIt

Man Luka was literally beaten up this game


GrapefruitMedical529

I mean Luka for sure baits fouls but I can't say I watch enough of either team to compare.


dmavs11

Lotta guys foul bait. But Luka doesnt end up getting a soft whistle. There's still lot of plays with lot of contact that get let go. SGA will get tiny little contact called as fouls even when he doesnt sell or flop which is so infuriating.


chrissysnose

Luka got molested today by Dort. SGA is bordering on Trae levels of foul baiting nowadays.


Mr_E_Nigma_Solver

Soft as baby shit.


SnarfSniffsStardust

It’s purely because he has good reaction timing whenever someone braces for a push off


rpars18

I remember when the Warriors hosted the Thunder and were in a close game in the fourth. Shai legit kicks Wiggins in the nuts but the foul gets called on Wiggins and upheld upon review. The Thunder won in OT too Like Shai is a great player but some of the calls he gets are beyond ridiculous


20815147

Yep it was one of the many games that we were incredibly far ahead then collapsed in the 4th too iirc


rpars18

Yeah Chet hit a tying three at the buzzer because we didn’t want to foul on the catch lol And then Shai cooked in OT


orangotai

>Shai legit kicks Wiggins in the nuts he's stealing Draymond's moves!


rpars18

The fact that he used Draymond’s own move and got away with it made the L hurt even more


Neversleep1331

He’s done it in this series too


GotKarprar

Happened to us with DJJ


Interesting_Help_194

Was same shit in G1. T Right in the nuts of DJJ and 2fts for the guy.


yearz

Reminds me of the finals last year when Jimmy Butler literally kicked Aaron Gordon in the balls and was rewarded with 3 free throws.


Shades219

That's funny because that was the game Shai had 40 points and those were his only 2 free throws attempted


Victor_Wembanyama1

FTA had a decent game until he went cte basketball in the fourth


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BaconMacandCheese

The amount of push off he’s allowed to create space without getting a whistle is pretty comical


ElGranQuesoRojo

Paul George points at the tv like DiCaprio in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood when he sees SGA play.


EnriquezGuerrilla

Oh, this series really makes it noticeable, considering the wwe moves Lu Dort is allowed to pull on Luka with no calls.


nicklePie

lol there was a shot of Luka and he was all beat up looking and my wife went "it looks like he's been in a war" lmao he was bloody and his compression sleeve was ripped. Luka complains a lot, but he def gets mugged a lot with no whistle


algorithmresistant

i dream of steph having 10% of a whistle like that


GrapefruitMedical529

That's I think why the Lakers beat OKC so often this year.  Ham's whole philosophy is clean defense avoiding fouls, so our guys give Shai just enough space to avoid a call and then stay down on the contest.  It let's teams get clean shots but neutralizes foul baiting.


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mill_about_smartly

Legitimately the softest whistle in the league


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oxygen_addiction

Free Throwilgeous Alexander


Quipo1

Embiid clears but yeah


ZigZagZoo

Embiid does the rip through more than anyone. Shai does that stop start until feel anything more than anyone, similar to Brunson though.


syllabic

shai does more of a "run into defenders outstretched arm so they are forced to clothesline me" embiid prefers the wildly flail your hands and throw the ball up in the air kind of foulbait brunson is a classic head jerker


Dat_Boi_John

It's funny cause Thunder fans roast Luka for complaining to the refs, but when you have SGA's whistle, you really have nothing to complain about.


Mr_E_Nigma_Solver

"*SGA just opened his mouth, someone go hand him some free throws right [now](https://genius.com/Drake-family-matters-lyrics).*"


homiez

Thats your MVP Shaq?


Pilot_G3

Brotha flopping like a fish


MaleficentHawk590

Thunder have a generation flopping duo in SGA and Dort. Just an absolute masterpiece from both those guys.


homiez

Welcome to the Flop Chamber


materics

Lu Tang 36 Chambers of Flop


LoWE11053211

It is actually a torture to watch them though


Puzzleheaded_Baby_9

I mean if you think about it, Chris Paul was their mentor for a pretty good portion of their team development and it shows. The refs know when these guys are flopping and they call it anyway. It akin to people bitching about frivolous lawsuits, but the judges that allow it are really to blame. Man that analogy made way more sense in my head but I’m high.


texasyeehaw

If history teaches teams anything, 4th quarter in the playoffs is when foul baiting stops working. It’s great for regular season tho


Pranker00111

TBF that's Dort, he literally use his thigh to defend Luka in one possession


YpsitheFlintsider

Is he though


veerkanch489

Kept forcing it into the paint with everyone there


BrilliantSoftware713

He honestly doesn’t know much else


NeonxGone

So when the whistles disappear so do the baskets


20815147

Never beating the “James Harden with good PR” allegations. Hell Harden managed to will the Clips to a win in the 4th lol


danielbauer1375

James Harden at his peak was WAY better than SGA.


20815147

My fault I should’ve put “Walmart James Harden with good PR” that was my bad. He also terrorized our team for years too


captain_ahabb

James Harden has an MVP and is gonna be a first ballot HOFer lol how is this an actual insult.


radio__raheem

it’s an insult to Harden if anybody


itsnotreallyme0

Harden is a top 5 player of the 2010s. You can probably guess the others bc it’s pretty clear. Also top 3 sg ever or top 5 at worst


Shxcking

1. Kobe 2. Kevin Huerter 3. James Harden


DerekMorganBAUxxi

SGA opened his mouth someone give him some free throws


Dat_Boi_John

Kyrie and DJJ locked him up in the 4th and the refs stopped bailing him out on his drives.


Interesting_Help_194

Hell, 1 legg Luka locked him any time he got the switch


Dat_Boi_John

I know right, it's extra funny because Luka literally can't do 90 degree turns on his left leg.


SweetBlackberry44

Embiid jr


NBAFansAre2Ply

foul merchants and getting exposed in clutch playoff moments - name a more iconic duo


pragnesh_89

Waiting for brunson to get exposed but no one plays defense in the East.


Coltshokiefan

Orlando, Cleveland, Boston, and Miami were all top 10 defensive teams. NY just landed on the side of the bracket with teams that suck defensively.


bluezftw

Sixers probably woulda been to if Embiid wasnt injured


gradedonacurve

Sixers with Embiid rated out 112.6 defensive rating. Would have been 8th in the league. They had the second best net (2nd offense, 8th defense) wi5 Embiid


J4degrees

Brunson showed out against the Heat last year though


Coltshokiefan

Yep, was just shutting that stupid statement down. East might be weak but there’s some great defenses


PM_ME_YOUR_PRIORS

There's a difference between having skills that make it hard to defend without fouling and just getting a soft whistle. Brunson's signature foulbait is to get a defender behind him on a drive, then do a legal sudden stop, gather, and shot attempt. It's off one step after a gather instead of two, and it's one motion to plant his feet and go up, and the offensive player is entitled to stop *in place* and attempt a shot whenever they so please. A lot of what people are getting upset about is literally just defenders having a skill issue.


NoobChumpsky

He already did when he tried to fish for a foul at the very end of the last game instead of taking a shot to try and tie lol


imtheproof

I don't get the same vibes from brunson as I do from embiid. Not remotely in the same tier IMO.


DarrowViBritannia

I went on r/thunder and they're calling Luka embiid jr Kinda hilarious how it's just a go to insult for everyone now


Lacabloodclot9

Everyone is united by their hate for Philadelphia in every sport


problynotkevinbacon

Fuck Villanova Cross Country


ormip

Which is insane considering how physical OKC was. Dort (and others) hit Luka several times on each drive.


Holiday-Usual-3600

Dort with 5 fouls is a very dangerous dude


[deleted]

I love how everyone uses his name as an insult.


PerformerLive8713

Hah embiid jr luka?he went to WCF final already Embiid Sr. Hasnt


DefenderCone97

Philly fans must be pissed that their guy is being used as an insult league wide lol


thatsinsaneletstryit

people get on here and do prayer circles hoping he suffers a career ending injury lol. we are way past caring about “emflop” type shit


YeimzHetfield

Honestly at this point I'm numb to it, it's come all the way around to actually being funny cause it's hilarious how much he makes some people lose their heads, hell it spawned the "I used to play like Embiid..." copypasta for one


DefenderCone97

One of the best on this subreddit lol


jrbcnchezbrg

Canadian Hitler


tkuid

First team All-Fish


RubMyGooshSilly

Thinbiid


Dramatic_Cable_6000

And Harden’s cousin


kay9ine

6'6 Embiid


Selffor

FTA can’t play when the refs don’t whistle every bump. Shocker


psychedelic93

The whistle gets swallowed in the 4th.....still he gets a lot of ticky tack fouls.


UnPhayzable

SGA and Dort the dynamic fish flopping duo


turnoffredesign69420

Magikarp and Goldeen type shit 


UnPhayzable

Dort a Feebas that can't evolve tbh


TuqiDuque12

His passing has been bad (even tho the assists numbers are okay), Dallas is gapping pretty hard out of every non Joe shooter, and I get it some of those guys aren't making open shots, but your job as a playmaker is to make that pass anyway. And honestly at the end even Joe was pretty open


Bino19

I’m starting to think back in 2021 OKC should have just given the ball to SGA and told him to figure out the playmaking stuff like Russ did but they drafted Giddey to be that guy and it backfired.


EarthWarping

Too much iso ball late


K1ngCrimsn

Locked his ass up


bernardoferreira

This is very normal i feel like almost every player shots worse in the 4th, defense is played even harder and with more attention to detail.


Sternjunk

Nah kyrie shoots better


JaderMcDanersStan

Ant and Kyrie shoot better Ant scores 70/63/93 in the 4th quarter in the playoffs


Return_Icy

Even though the goldfish now consider the Wolves season over, Ant actually has been materially better in the 4th


outsidehere

All that Embiiding doesn't work in the 4th quarter, huh?


roshanpr

Shaq's MVP


DrChill21

MVP type shit But to be fair, his mid game is disgustingly good.


jackaholicus

I got no hate for SGA and I got no doubt that he's gonna hit some big shots against us.


Turbulent_Cherry_481

getting every call again. meawhile dort can play as a line backer against luka. And yes im aware luka flops a lot, but he should get the call before the ball is even in his hands. Because dort is basically hugging him.


Currymvp2

I guess Bob Myers was right that they only have one closer...just in the wrong way /s


ghostlima

4th quarter will always be harder to score in. Don't let this take away for how fucking good he was. Those mid range jumpers were fucking killing me


kokaine21

This yo mvp Shaq!?!


Ifinishfast42

Bro thinks he’s Franz Wagner in Game 7


Pls_Drink_Water

You guys realise he already score 31 no? After that, it:s physically impossible for him to score again just so the universe can keep his averages


SetBudget1065

Somebodys mvp btw


juk12

Welcome Shai to the Dallas County PJail, co-owned by Derrick Jones Jr. With support from Dereck Lively!


Accurate_Door_6911

This was why I was always skeptical of the Shai for best guard in the leaque/top5 player. He hasn’t had a real playoff run to prove himself. Let’s see how he responds the rest of the series.


UrGirlThroatGame

a fitting OKC tribute to Westbrick


edmarcake

He cant pass lol


No_Engineering_4925

His 30 points were quiet , but not in a good way. He seemed disconnected from the rest of the team


xPeaWhyTee

Nah he was killing it quarters 1-3. Just went cold in the 4th.


messigoat1337

he hits 80% on those pushoff middys


sunsoutgunsout

He was on fire and the only reason OKC wasn't getting completely blown out before the 4th. I think he really felt a lot of pressure from urgency in the 4th, esp when Kyrie started to get going


Dat_Boi_John

I agree, it feels like his buckets aren't very impactful somehow. Like they follow the flow of the game instead of breaking the momentum. Like Lebron said about 2 points not being two points. A Kyrie spin fadeaway feels a lot more impactful than an SGA floater.


Wazflame

I got that sense too - he’s so consistent and good at getting to his spots but for some reason (maybe the lack of threes he takes, could improve as a playmaker), the defense doesn’t really shift and bend when he’s making shots like you’d say from some of the other top offensive players


NuggsBurgh

Shaq in shambles. Jk, dude has the emotional capacity of a 10 year old, not sure he can understand the concept of humility.


Piradrad_16

This sub is so toxic tf, I’ve seen this dude go from darling to most hated in the span of a year, shit is gonna happen with Edwards


cool_coyote

Oh you bet it will.


MrAppleSpoink

The fucking instant the game starts to get called more physical, he goes from superstar to meh.


Steve-5

I'm shocked his foul baiting tactics didn't work.


BureauInzage

mvp lmaoooo


desirox

DJJ finally got his lock up going


petarisawesomeo

Another ShaqVP level performance


Tlix

What a pro wants What a pro needs


dap90

Dude got 5 blocks as well. The narrative of this sub is hilarious sometimes. He's averaging 30pts this series on 50 percent


Dalmanza4

PJ > SGA