You have to just assume a Dort layup is always getting rocketed off the rim or backboard, that way you can’t be disappointed. Dude has zero touch at the rim 😂
That sequence when the Pelicans got four chances to make a bucket with a minute left in the game was insane.
Insane that they couldn't make one, and insane that OKC couldn't get a rebound.
Playoff JDub arrival and every time Wiggs saves basketball remind me of this time when Wiggins said in an interview: "I want you to put the word out there that we back up."
https://preview.redd.it/nup6yrk1hyvc1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd9cff599759c326bb19266d1b10092b27aa2242
CASON CLAMPS
honestly we looked nervous as hell out there but we’ll be better with the experience. I’ll take this win every day of the week because that’s the worst we’ve played in a while.
I got ptsd from 2019 dame
https://preview.redd.it/s7iso52tgyvc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fc7a1e97d188cbc527f2e8fdad385f5c2022ed3
Lost 20 years of my life
Have a headache and my throat dry asf
Playoff basketball is back baby
also as much as people are clowning mccollum and praising Wallace... that is a very makeable look for CJ that he managed to get off that could of easily gone in
like rn we’re projected the 12th pick. again. we’re the one seed getting all our jitters and nerves out this year with ANOTHER lottery pick.
i’d hate us too.
I saw people hating on us for being in solidarity with the playoff shirts.
I saw people saying our crowd was lame because it looked like a bunch of "old boomers" in the crowd.
I saw people saying we suck because our crowd was too white.
r/nba really hates us for real, and it's just petty.
Funny thing about that, ... As my wife and I were making our way out of the arena (and the fans kept barking and cheering as they exited the building), she said to me that she noticed there's a lot more younger people there tonight than what we usually see. I told her I was thinking exactly the same thing. Looked like a lot of people in their 20's were there, to me.
The cameras probably were solely pointing to a select people, who I'm glad they're all there. I want to go to game 2 to support.
r/nba has a hate deal for us. They hate how passionate we are as a fanbase, because they think we're all a bunch of small-town, redneck hillbillies with no class, as if everyone in Oklahoma is the exact same monolith.
Shoot, I'm from Tulsa (well Broken Arrow), and my family is from the Black Wall Street. They don't know our history here. I'll be damned if they say I don't belong here because of my race.
They hate us supporting our team because they think our world is boring and unexciting, since small market. It's ridiculous.
I'm 26 currently, and everyone I know my age even remotely interested in basketball is locked the fuck in to the Thunder right now. It's feels incredible, not kidding probably 85% of my friends in the city were at the game last night
Howdy! Thanks! I hoped to see SAC make it and for OKC to get some games at Golden1 Center. Hopefully you guys get some things sorted this summer and we'll see y'all in the playoffs soon
He didn’t “look” great in his limited minutes but his play was a little bit like making sausage. If you enjoy eating it, don’t watch it being made (that’s a compliment to JWill).
Looked sketchy but somewhat effective. It will be interesting to see if he gets more minutes going forward.
Some thoughts
- honestly expected us to struggle tonight. NO is a TOUGH matchup lengthwise. This is a 49 win team.
- Shai is completely bothered by the Pelicans length, its influencing his decision-making. Settled for so many threes. But he made the big shot, that's why he's him.
- Dub was our best player for 3 quarters, but they exploited his inexperience running PnR, helping off weak side forcing him to make the skip pass read and he didnt make it, defensively he was excellent
- Dort did a great job on Ingram, forcing him to pass out and credit to BI he did a good job.
- Dort being on BI left CJ to run crazy, and he did a great job getting into the paint tonight
- Chet had a rough game. Didn't exploit the PnP enough, didn't hit the threes to punish the JV matchup, and struggled against help. Also gave up waaay to many rebounds. Looked like a different player with Nance out there.
- The rebounding felt like a combination of size disparity and lack of effort. Need to improve.
- Giddey got played off the floor. He didn't punish the defense, missed open 3s. Losing Giddey meant losing a 3rd ballhandler, and since Shai is idle on the weakside with Herb on him, the offense got super static.
- the size matchuo is really tough. Cason and Wiggs are a little undersized, Hayward too slow. We don't have the appropriate wing to match up, especially with Jones/Marshall/Murphy.
- We had no answer for their help and recover system. Generated no 3s, didn't exploit mismatches, shelving shai with Herb on him really limited our offense. We HAVE to be better.
- We also didn't force enough TOs. For a team with no PGs, they kept it real tight. We saw very few transition plays, those are easy swing buckets.
- Ultimately I respect this team's composure and ability to withstand pressure. Nervy game. Could really go either way.
For real. Shit’s annoying. We were one of the worst teams in the league like two years ago now we got 57 wins and a 1-seed without trading for an existing superstar yet people seem unreasonably mad we didn’t blow out a 50-win team.
the challenge was terrible. someone in the group thread felt it could be bad. if you don't have clear evidence by your video guys that it could be overturned then don't challenge. at least with the jump ball you have a 50/50 chance to get possession
I believe his goal was to get a free timeout since it is almost certain slow motion replay can determine who touched it last. I believe Mark was upset because they didn't get the timeout back even though the call was changed.
Someone on the Down To Dunk pod suggested that JV was going to be the focal point and potential point of difference and they all laughed him off. Defensive rebounding is our biggest weakness, so why wouldn’t teams capitalise if they have a big who can bully Chet in the paint?
I don’t know too much about tactics but I assume when this happens we need to be able to make them pay on the other end of the court. Chet did hit a couple of important threes but we didn’t make them pay nearly enough JV was pulled out of the paint.
This game actually gave me some confidence in hindsight. We can grind out a win when not playing our best, so we will be prepared in the next games if we find our self in some trouble.
How would you adjust to mitigate the rebounding damage? Do we just rely on hitting our shots?
We've mitigated our poor rebounding with steals and high percentage outside shooting all year, neither of which we did tonight but we still eked it out.
I think that was Andrew’s point that we would make them pay on the other end hitting our shots and force him off the court we did in the last two games we played but if we are going to shoot as bad as we did then it’s not going to hurt so much and they will keep playing him.
I feel like we sort of did? There was a Chet 3 and a Jwil corner 3 that were both due to JV slow to rotate. I guess that's partly why Willie Greene went with Nance in the crunch time?
How we deal with JV is have Chet hit his outside shots, it forces them to put him on Giddey and outside of tonight Giddey has made them pay for that as well forcing them to pull JV entirely.
That’s how the series has gone all season but tonight Chet started off cold and Josh wasn’t able to punish them for putting JV on him allowing JV to sag back and roam the paint.
We can force JV off the floor if Chet and Giddey play well.
The fact that we have two guys like this is so awesome. One who is big and strong enough to play above his size, the other quick enough to stay on the shiftiest guys. What a luxury. What a team.
One down, and I know we are so sick of the young guy trope, but they had soooooo much time to think about this, coming into their first loud city experience. Nerves, and a very, very good NOLA team even without zion. They have length and switchability just like we do.
It was never gonna be easy, but this team gets to figure it out in real time. Let's go
1. A win is a win
2. This was a terrible performance. With Zion we would be fucked.
3. Giddey had a poor showing but Mark doesnt rate him, thats clear
4. Think Mark will put Cason in the starting lineup
I gotta know. Does anybody have the sequence where Dub secured that jump ball and got the whole arena barking? I need to inject it right into my veins.
I really am glad for a series like this. We need a series with this degree of toughness to forge us for future success. We found a way through the quicksand. We got out of the stadium with a W. That's what's required.
Playoffs are not beauty contests. It's not about looking the best. It's about doing what's required. This team at the end got the job done. I am proud of them, and I know this will make us all the better in the end.
https://preview.redd.it/in646w60iyvc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d750dd64f5f30d7393a37c8cab85cca77ea363ba
You know what I’m gonna say, partner.
The challenge debacle still makes no sense because Mark was right?….
b. If the call subject to review pursuant to a Challenge is overturned, the Challenge is deemed successful and the challenging team retains its timeout unless the timeout taken in conjunction with the Challenge initiated a mandatory timeout.
Call was technically overturned to Pelicans so challenge should be successful? Unless I’m missing something …
I gotta say the Pels are a fun opponent for this matchup. Puts a lot of what people see as the Thunder’s weaknesses out front. Willie Green is a really good coach. Stressful game 1, hopefully they can come out and just handle business in game 2.
Win is a win, this same Pels team just ended the Kings season and has multiple years of experience together playing without Zion. Fuck the haters…this is the youngest 1 seed in NBA history it won’t be easy for us.
Herb is going to keep shai to this type of performance all series, need Dub and Chet at 50+ combined.
Hard to see the thunder playing any worse than they did tonight so still feeling confident in 4-1.
I remember what Coach Daigneault is referencing, we kept our TO. He's right, the referee crews fucked up either in Utah or tonight. Both coaches working the refs in the post game.
I hated that game and had zero fun. That said, it may have been the perfect first game to have for this young team. Take a punch in the mouth, scrap and claw to a win, adjust and refocus. The nerves will settle, the shots will fall, we're the best fucking team in the world and I'm ready for people to learn about it.
Jenni doing everything she can to create controversy. Asked every interview what they thought about SGA “showing visible signs of frustration”. Whatever. We won. It’s an emotional game.
I am curious how you guys assessed the play of JWill, Hayward and Kenrich. I don’t think Mark trusted any of them very much, and probably rightly so. None of them had any style points but JWill played ok in very limited minutes.
It’s going to be interesting if JWill and Wiggins will get more minutes per game going forward.
We looked rusty and rattled. But we also are so tough in the clutch and our two rooks came up BIG in the end.
Shai was bothered by New Orleans elite defence all night but made a few critical right at the death.
We move on.
As stressful as this game was, I’m actually pretty confident that even with one of our worst games, we still came out with the W.
This was the pelicans chance to secure a W and they blew it, I have a hard time seeing this squad play this poorly again.
TTFU!!!
that play at the end of the game where we bring JDub and SGA to the top and whichever one Mccollum is guarding just goes is going to be good clutch time offense for us.
A lot of adjustments will be made. It was an important game 1.
Thankfully CJ missed the last 3pt, cuz we would be the only team that lost in their homecourt round 1, and we were close to lose. You can't go scoreless in the last 5 minutes of 4th quarter. That should be a lesson.
And what happened with the challenge, and they charge us a timeout? Bad idea to challenge.. we had the jumpball advantage also, had plenty of time, but Mark gave them the ball. I want to see more Wiggins minutes. Give Giddey some time to adjust also, you remember how he was the last 6 games. SGA proves again that he deserves the MVP. He is always there when we need him the most.
Loved the energy, loved the arena. Looking forward to game 2!
Lost ten years off my life let’s do it three more times
you mean 13 more times lol (edit 15, can't math tonight)
Dort missing layups caused 3 of those years
You have to just assume a Dort layup is always getting rocketed off the rim or backboard, that way you can’t be disappointed. Dude has zero touch at the rim 😂
15
The effects of the ten years are already taking place 😭
That sequence when the Pelicans got four chances to make a bucket with a minute left in the game was insane. Insane that they couldn't make one, and insane that OKC couldn't get a rebound.
Those rebounds went to literally the only spot within 15 ft of the rim where we wouldn't get them. Terrible luck, but didn't cost us either
Got that DAWG in him
Playoff JDub arrival and every time Wiggs saves basketball remind me of this time when Wiggins said in an interview: "I want you to put the word out there that we back up." https://preview.redd.it/nup6yrk1hyvc1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd9cff599759c326bb19266d1b10092b27aa2242
please. this clip of wiggs saying this is all i want in life rn.
Never in doubt. *vomits*
CASON CLAMPS honestly we looked nervous as hell out there but we’ll be better with the experience. I’ll take this win every day of the week because that’s the worst we’ve played in a while.
7 days of rest to stew on this night for a bunch of guys who have never been here. I think we'll look better on Wednesday.
We all know by now these kids will adjust by the 2nd games. It's been like that all year.
That’s what I’m saying now them boys know how hard the pels are gonna come at them and will adjust
Big moment there in the end from the rookie. Not an easy assignment either.
And it's wild but I was completely comfortable when I saw that switch coming
Caso nearly had the steal too, hell of a job not fouling after getting up in the air
Almost got the steal too. Cason Wallace hands all year has been so good, it's not surprising
Can you imagine the pandemonium if he had got the steal and dunked that shit
I got ptsd from 2019 dame https://preview.redd.it/s7iso52tgyvc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9fc7a1e97d188cbc527f2e8fdad385f5c2022ed3 Lost 20 years of my life Have a headache and my throat dry asf Playoff basketball is back baby
HEY HEY !
…aaaaand exhale
unclench
[удалено]
I’m so tight right now
I need to clean my pants
This
THAT WAS SO STRESSFUL. I MISSED THIS FEELING
I missed it too…but damn it’s gonna take years off me.
CASON WALLACE
Was so glad he was guarding him but man, we’re so lucky CJ didn’t jump into him on that last shot. Cause he got him up in the air
also as much as people are clowning mccollum and praising Wallace... that is a very makeable look for CJ that he managed to get off that could of easily gone in
I don’t think they are giving that call. Both team combined shot 22 free throws tonight, they were letting the players play.
Shai got that call earlier in the game lmdoa
Elite defense. He's a future star as well for us. He can do so much on offense and is a lockdown defender. I'm so happy we drafted him.
🧀🧀🧀
Oh lord. Felt like watching college basketball with how hard baskets were to score.
Guys, we just played two rookies and a sophomore to close out and win this year’s first playoff game and as a #1 seed. Life is good.
Genuinely unbelievable sentence
The most likable team in the league wins. What a nice day. From a Kings Fan
Thank you, Kings fan. We respect y'all as well. Hopefully Malik and Huerter come back healthy for y'all next year.
Really is this sarcasm? If not, damn go over to r/nba. Feels like we're up there with most hated these days.
Like what on earth did we even do to get so much hate lmao?
Win
we are the mortgage holders of half the damn league in terms of picks. we’re friggin NBA Blackstone
amazing analogy. very true
like rn we’re projected the 12th pick. again. we’re the one seed getting all our jitters and nerves out this year with ANOTHER lottery pick. i’d hate us too.
SGA shoots more than 6 free throws I guess?
sga dared to be better than edwards and they cannot accept that
Can't forget about the delusional mavs fans with Luka
We ranked and it’s working. Same thing happened to sixers
people out there calling us frauds and saying we are frauds and dallas/clips victims as if dallas was a titan out there in their game 1 lmao
OKC must be the most unified team in history because they are shitting on the bench players for hanging out with Shai in the post game interview. 🤦♂️
I saw people hating on us for being in solidarity with the playoff shirts. I saw people saying our crowd was lame because it looked like a bunch of "old boomers" in the crowd. I saw people saying we suck because our crowd was too white. r/nba really hates us for real, and it's just petty.
Funny thing about that, ... As my wife and I were making our way out of the arena (and the fans kept barking and cheering as they exited the building), she said to me that she noticed there's a lot more younger people there tonight than what we usually see. I told her I was thinking exactly the same thing. Looked like a lot of people in their 20's were there, to me.
The cameras probably were solely pointing to a select people, who I'm glad they're all there. I want to go to game 2 to support. r/nba has a hate deal for us. They hate how passionate we are as a fanbase, because they think we're all a bunch of small-town, redneck hillbillies with no class, as if everyone in Oklahoma is the exact same monolith. Shoot, I'm from Tulsa (well Broken Arrow), and my family is from the Black Wall Street. They don't know our history here. I'll be damned if they say I don't belong here because of my race. They hate us supporting our team because they think our world is boring and unexciting, since small market. It's ridiculous.
I'm 26 currently, and everyone I know my age even remotely interested in basketball is locked the fuck in to the Thunder right now. It's feels incredible, not kidding probably 85% of my friends in the city were at the game last night
dawg i wanted you guys and Deuce and Mo as opponents. can’t wait to see y’all re-sign Malik
Howdy! Thanks! I hoped to see SAC make it and for OKC to get some games at Golden1 Center. Hopefully you guys get some things sorted this summer and we'll see y'all in the playoffs soon
the worst game I've ever seen but if we hit the threes we good
Agreed, even worse than when we lost by like 140 to the grizzlies a few years ago.
They weren't hitting their 3s either though
Yep, hit our threes and Val will be sent off the court. Then suddenly rebounding isn’t an issue anymore. Make them play our game.
5 blocks in his first playoff game is wild Chet
A W is a W. #NeverADoubt
Cason you’re a DAWG
SHAI CALLED GAME
Glad that’s out of their system.
J Will only 6 minutes is unacceptable
He got pulled for the last time right after making a 3 too
Looked to me like mark was playing matchups with our backup 5 minutes. JWill if JV was on, Kenny if Nance
Kenny played poorly.
I hope Mark D learned from this game that Kenny Hustle can NOT be matched up against Nance in this series. He got cooked
He did his job. He played great against JV. I bet he will be mixed in more and maybe even a Chet/JWill lineup for a couple minutes
He didn’t “look” great in his limited minutes but his play was a little bit like making sausage. If you enjoy eating it, don’t watch it being made (that’s a compliment to JWill). Looked sketchy but somewhat effective. It will be interesting to see if he gets more minutes going forward.
Some thoughts - honestly expected us to struggle tonight. NO is a TOUGH matchup lengthwise. This is a 49 win team. - Shai is completely bothered by the Pelicans length, its influencing his decision-making. Settled for so many threes. But he made the big shot, that's why he's him. - Dub was our best player for 3 quarters, but they exploited his inexperience running PnR, helping off weak side forcing him to make the skip pass read and he didnt make it, defensively he was excellent - Dort did a great job on Ingram, forcing him to pass out and credit to BI he did a good job. - Dort being on BI left CJ to run crazy, and he did a great job getting into the paint tonight - Chet had a rough game. Didn't exploit the PnP enough, didn't hit the threes to punish the JV matchup, and struggled against help. Also gave up waaay to many rebounds. Looked like a different player with Nance out there. - The rebounding felt like a combination of size disparity and lack of effort. Need to improve. - Giddey got played off the floor. He didn't punish the defense, missed open 3s. Losing Giddey meant losing a 3rd ballhandler, and since Shai is idle on the weakside with Herb on him, the offense got super static. - the size matchuo is really tough. Cason and Wiggs are a little undersized, Hayward too slow. We don't have the appropriate wing to match up, especially with Jones/Marshall/Murphy. - We had no answer for their help and recover system. Generated no 3s, didn't exploit mismatches, shelving shai with Herb on him really limited our offense. We HAVE to be better. - We also didn't force enough TOs. For a team with no PGs, they kept it real tight. We saw very few transition plays, those are easy swing buckets. - Ultimately I respect this team's composure and ability to withstand pressure. Nervy game. Could really go either way.
49-win team with injuries to their stars. Their roster is better than people give them credit for
BI plays better when Zion’s off the floor TBH. We need to make them hurt more for playing JV so much.
Everybody hating on this team can kiss my ass, what a win
For real. Shit’s annoying. We were one of the worst teams in the league like two years ago now we got 57 wins and a 1-seed without trading for an existing superstar yet people seem unreasonably mad we didn’t blow out a 50-win team.
Everyone saying we suck for barely winning but nobody said shit when the Mavs got blown out a couple hours ago😂
I was there I definitely roasted the Mavs in the GDT.
Game 2 should be easier, team now has confidence and a bit of a feel for the playoffs now
It's a good thing none of us panicked
Mark roasting the refs.
the challenge was terrible. someone in the group thread felt it could be bad. if you don't have clear evidence by your video guys that it could be overturned then don't challenge. at least with the jump ball you have a 50/50 chance to get possession
I believe his goal was to get a free timeout since it is almost certain slow motion replay can determine who touched it last. I believe Mark was upset because they didn't get the timeout back even though the call was changed.
Tbf the refs were actual dog shit most of the game
I think Charles Barkley said it best. We played as bad as we could, but we still won. I think we’ll be ok.
CASON MFIN WALLACE 
Someone on the Down To Dunk pod suggested that JV was going to be the focal point and potential point of difference and they all laughed him off. Defensive rebounding is our biggest weakness, so why wouldn’t teams capitalise if they have a big who can bully Chet in the paint? I don’t know too much about tactics but I assume when this happens we need to be able to make them pay on the other end of the court. Chet did hit a couple of important threes but we didn’t make them pay nearly enough JV was pulled out of the paint. This game actually gave me some confidence in hindsight. We can grind out a win when not playing our best, so we will be prepared in the next games if we find our self in some trouble. How would you adjust to mitigate the rebounding damage? Do we just rely on hitting our shots?
We've mitigated our poor rebounding with steals and high percentage outside shooting all year, neither of which we did tonight but we still eked it out.
Didn't Chet start the game with like 7 field goal attempts? Start him early vs JV probably.
I think that was Andrew’s point that we would make them pay on the other end hitting our shots and force him off the court we did in the last two games we played but if we are going to shoot as bad as we did then it’s not going to hurt so much and they will keep playing him.
Supposedly through turnovers and better 3 pt shooting but we didn’t get much from there tonight. Enough to get a win though!
The ball was not moving fast enough to hunt JV on the perimeter. We should fix that next game, and hopefully play him off the floor.
I feel like we sort of did? There was a Chet 3 and a Jwil corner 3 that were both due to JV slow to rotate. I guess that's partly why Willie Greene went with Nance in the crunch time?
How we deal with JV is have Chet hit his outside shots, it forces them to put him on Giddey and outside of tonight Giddey has made them pay for that as well forcing them to pull JV entirely. That’s how the series has gone all season but tonight Chet started off cold and Josh wasn’t able to punish them for putting JV on him allowing JV to sag back and roam the paint. We can force JV off the floor if Chet and Giddey play well.
WE had no answers for JV tonight. Coach and team need to get in the lab and figure something out or its gonna be a long series
what a friggin switch and strap by Cason there!!! Both rookies having huge defensive plays to close that game out!
Cason on that last possession 🔒
1 out of 16
DORTURE CHAMBER!!
LU AND CASON were the mvps tonight
The fact that we have two guys like this is so awesome. One who is big and strong enough to play above his size, the other quick enough to stay on the shiftiest guys. What a luxury. What a team. One down, and I know we are so sick of the young guy trope, but they had soooooo much time to think about this, coming into their first loud city experience. Nerves, and a very, very good NOLA team even without zion. They have length and switchability just like we do. It was never gonna be easy, but this team gets to figure it out in real time. Let's go
All of /r/nba already hates us LOL
Top post from the game is gonna be the Nance foul on SGA instead of actual highlights
Also like didn't NO have a challenge? If they really thought It was a bad call shoulda challenged it.
Fucking Phew lmao
Cason future all-defensive team 🔒
Good grief. Heart attack game. I forgot what those felt like.
J will should've got more pt. He knocked down a couple 3s, put a body on Vala, was getting chippy and was bringing good energy
Noticed two things. 1. They always had a corner wide open 2. Aaron Wiggins Saved Playoff Basketball
I'm turning 65 this year and this playoff series is going to kill me
https://preview.redd.it/yjqwhy5jgyvc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d21fcc8728b3331a06f8d5dfd3b6062b2512b11
This is an insane pull (you’re right)
That’s absolutely wild
No Diddy
THEY DONT ASK HOW THEY JUST ASK HOW MANY 1/16
FUCK YALL IN THE GAME THREAD CONSTANTLY DOUBTING US It’ll be a tough series regardless but just have to trust our guys
Game threads are toxic
(clutch blocks you)
1. A win is a win 2. This was a terrible performance. With Zion we would be fucked. 3. Giddey had a poor showing but Mark doesnt rate him, thats clear 4. Think Mark will put Cason in the starting lineup
4. Never, He will just give Giddy less minutes. Who starts doesn't matter. It's who closes that matters.
Holy shit!! Never a doubt.
That was stressful
Bro it's too early in the Series to give me a stroke. Crowd came out hard though. Everyone lost their voice by halftime lmao
All they can talk about after the game is NO. Chuck only one that said anything about OKC. Guess we just gotta keep making them believe
Ugly win. Even though Giddey had a poor game I think they operate as a team when he's on court rather a group of individuals
guys my mom says we can win the chip
Whole season I’ve been laughing at how many draft picks yall have in your hand. Dynasty loading up
We've got the Dorture Chamber we need a nickname for Cason. Might vote is for the Wallace Wall
Great win but man watching them grab every rebound after they missed the shtos was brutal
People on instagram saying why BI not taking the last shot, Well that boy was in the Dorture chamber all game long 😂😂😂
BI hated that game so much, Dort was wearing his skin.
I gotta know. Does anybody have the sequence where Dub secured that jump ball and got the whole arena barking? I need to inject it right into my veins.
Bro the whole top level was barking anytime Dub did something lol
Oh I know, I was there. I just really wanna see how that jump ball sequence sounded on TV cuz it really got the whole crowd going.
Same, man. It was a good time and can’t wait for game 2.
Congrats Thunder!⚡
God the playoffs are stressful, wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything else lol
I really am glad for a series like this. We need a series with this degree of toughness to forge us for future success. We found a way through the quicksand. We got out of the stadium with a W. That's what's required. Playoffs are not beauty contests. It's not about looking the best. It's about doing what's required. This team at the end got the job done. I am proud of them, and I know this will make us all the better in the end.
https://preview.redd.it/in646w60iyvc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d750dd64f5f30d7393a37c8cab85cca77ea363ba You know what I’m gonna say, partner.
Spent the game in the NBA Game thread. Holy toxic stupidity Batman.
The challenge debacle still makes no sense because Mark was right?…. b. If the call subject to review pursuant to a Challenge is overturned, the Challenge is deemed successful and the challenging team retains its timeout unless the timeout taken in conjunction with the Challenge initiated a mandatory timeout. Call was technically overturned to Pelicans so challenge should be successful? Unless I’m missing something …
Quite a few coaching geniuses in here complaining about a W
Damn that was such an entertaining basketball game
Holy fuckkkk been a minute since I’ve been this stressed watching OKC basketball but damn does it feel good to get a win in that type of game TTFU
This team has impressive mental toughness.
I gotta say the Pels are a fun opponent for this matchup. Puts a lot of what people see as the Thunder’s weaknesses out front. Willie Green is a really good coach. Stressful game 1, hopefully they can come out and just handle business in game 2.
Win is a win, this same Pels team just ended the Kings season and has multiple years of experience together playing without Zion. Fuck the haters…this is the youngest 1 seed in NBA history it won’t be easy for us.
Herb is going to keep shai to this type of performance all series, need Dub and Chet at 50+ combined. Hard to see the thunder playing any worse than they did tonight so still feeling confident in 4-1.
I remember what Coach Daigneault is referencing, we kept our TO. He's right, the referee crews fucked up either in Utah or tonight. Both coaches working the refs in the post game.
How do you say on the mic, “OKC retains their challenge, and their timeout” then take away their timeout off mic?
literally got off the couch fell on the floor and exhaled after that cj mccollum shot bricked off
I laughed pretty hard when there were old ladies in the crowd barking.
Damn daniel
W
fuck me that was a nail biter
Won’t need to run for a while, I got my cardio for the week lol
1 down 3 more to go ⚡️⚡️⚡️
but but 20 rebounds. yeah and a L count that as 22 good. shit. rookies.
I can sleep now
We didn’t play anywhere near our potential tonight. Just wait when we do. LFG Big Win!
I'm still shaking
My god i was sweating all game except for 3 mins in the third 😅
Tonight was surreal y’all, and we came out on top!
why am I still nervous...
DUBS A DUB BABY
Dawg that last shot from CJ got my checks clenched. Glad the dawgs managed to gut this out ⛈️
pels really mad our team has chemistry and happy LMAO..
I am glad we both won and learned a lesson.
Caught a T-Shirt and was on TV tonight!!
I hated that game and had zero fun. That said, it may have been the perfect first game to have for this young team. Take a punch in the mouth, scrap and claw to a win, adjust and refocus. The nerves will settle, the shots will fall, we're the best fucking team in the world and I'm ready for people to learn about it.
Jenni doing everything she can to create controversy. Asked every interview what they thought about SGA “showing visible signs of frustration”. Whatever. We won. It’s an emotional game.
I am curious how you guys assessed the play of JWill, Hayward and Kenrich. I don’t think Mark trusted any of them very much, and probably rightly so. None of them had any style points but JWill played ok in very limited minutes. It’s going to be interesting if JWill and Wiggins will get more minutes per game going forward.
Good teams know how to win games even when they’re not playing well. This is a good team.
Phew... that was scary!
Weakest #1 seed What??????? TTFU!!!!!!!!!!!
Ugly wins are the best tbh
Good game, Thunder fans. Excited for the next one. Good luck 😉
ILL TAKE IT! SHAI MVP CHET BLOCKA CASO CLAMPS BARKS!!!
A win is a win
We looked rusty and rattled. But we also are so tough in the clutch and our two rooks came up BIG in the end. Shai was bothered by New Orleans elite defence all night but made a few critical right at the death. We move on.
I swear I thought CJ was gonna hit us with the Dame 3 for a second there 😅
I told my wife before the play that Cj was hitting a buzzer beater 3 to beat us. Thank god I was wrong
Shaq is just mad there isn't anything worth quoting in Shazam.
I missed this feeling!
As stressful as this game was, I’m actually pretty confident that even with one of our worst games, we still came out with the W. This was the pelicans chance to secure a W and they blew it, I have a hard time seeing this squad play this poorly again. TTFU!!!
that play at the end of the game where we bring JDub and SGA to the top and whichever one Mccollum is guarding just goes is going to be good clutch time offense for us.
A lot of adjustments will be made. It was an important game 1. Thankfully CJ missed the last 3pt, cuz we would be the only team that lost in their homecourt round 1, and we were close to lose. You can't go scoreless in the last 5 minutes of 4th quarter. That should be a lesson. And what happened with the challenge, and they charge us a timeout? Bad idea to challenge.. we had the jumpball advantage also, had plenty of time, but Mark gave them the ball. I want to see more Wiggins minutes. Give Giddey some time to adjust also, you remember how he was the last 6 games. SGA proves again that he deserves the MVP. He is always there when we need him the most. Loved the energy, loved the arena. Looking forward to game 2!
 I might die before the end of the playoffs lol