And I don't he think was known for his scrambling ability the last year or two before his injury. The injury sure didn't improve his speed or running ability. Then again he's about 40 y/o.
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NBA: *** 2024 NBA thread ***
- Thread starter simply1
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I was alive. The Pistons weren't physical at all? JFC you cant have it both ways. A few weeks ago the NBA was a soft league who calls even handchecks etc... now it's a league that allows teams to mug the other defensively. You people are hilarious
Exactly, they call handchecks etc now (game has changed) but not against the Thunder.
Case in point:
Its not. Home teams get a lot of calls. Im not sure there is a team in college basketball that gets more calls at home than ISU( good for us). You're pissed off. I get it.
Denver and Indy are the teams I like...and I watched most of the WCF. So I've watched 17 very recent OKC games. 816 recent minutes of Thunder basketball.
Some thoughts on your premise:
- OKC is the most polite team in the history of all sports. Not exaggerating, I think that even more than you. Coach, players, stars, bench. Entire team almost ridiculously polite, disciplined and respectful. It's actually shocking how nice and respectful they are for any team of rich athletes.
- I don't have a huge problem with the beneficial calls SGA always seems to get because in over 40 years of watching TONS of NBA it's the call I have seen every single best shooting guard get on the same type of pull up shots regardless of if they are pushing off or not. Wade pushed off worse than SGA and he pushed off on defense too even worse on his blocked shots.
- It's frustrating to play against Dort because he's a linebacker but he actually is a gifted defender. A lot of times I'd be pi$$ed off watching live and then on replay realize it was just a great play. He tries to sell stuff but most of his best defensive plays are actually good defense. He gets calls other defenders don't get but it's from him actually being elite and that's how it goes.
- Caruso and Wallace are total hacks on defense, I have no idea why they get the calls they do. If Carusso was officiated at even a C+ level Jokic plus spare parts sends OKC packing in round two. They just let those two MUG people for the entire playoffs. They're often undisciplined and completely out of control, not elite talents. No idea why they deserve these calls other than whole team reputation? Comparing the fouls over 7 games on Nesmith to Wallace or Caruso seems nearly criminal.
That fair enough or am I being an irrational Cyclone fan? One can point out some BS ways OKC is officiated without taking away all credit from them or making it about how they carry themselves.
Tell that to Indiana in Game 4 who definitely did not get a "home whistle". Thunder basketball is just horrible to watch. And I'll always be a Thunder hater. And you'll see hundreds of comments who agree with that on that missed call video.
You're on point but it's basketball. I mean we see this all the time. Home teams get calls, great teams get them, MVP's get them. Nothing new.
SGA is Kobe/MJ/Wade without the dunks and without the acrobatic twisting turning layups...the fun parts.
It's all mid range and free throws. Effective but probably the least fun a 30ppg shooting guard can be. I'd have put him #2 two years in a row on my MVP voting ballot...but he's not even a top 5 "fun" player to watch. You add that onto the way they are officiated on defense and it doesn't matter that they are really nice guys. If anything I tend to REALLY like small market teams and I always go against Lakers/Knicks/Celtics, I should enjoy OKC way more than I do.
I agree with most of what you said. Looking back on the Pacer's losses in this series, it does seem that OKC got away with more fouls.
They (OKC) did get the benefit of the doubt quite a bit at home, for sure. They also played one more home game than the Pacers. That was huge. The home court won it for them.
Good teams get calls a lot. Nothing new. Happens in every sport, every league, and every year. You're nuts if you dont think the Spurs got them also. Theres no mass conspiracy to make a team from Oklahoma ******* City chmpions. I can assure you.
I've never seen a no talent hack like Caruso get the officiating boost he got vs the maybe #3 player of all time before. It was baffling to me. It's like who is this piece of **** they let assault one of the greatest to ever lace them up?
That's the reason people don't like OKC. Not because they are jerks or something. It's not just ISU fans either, nobody on NBA reddit likes them at all. The fact I've posted in other replies that SGA's style of play is very boring for a high scoring guard is another reason people don't like them. He's the Tim Duncan of 6'6" combo guards.
It is when they're trying to make SGA the face of the league for some reason.
And the Spurs didn't get a favorable whistle. The 2014 NBA champions were 30th in the league in FTAs that season.
Home team get the calls. Teams that play more physical defense get away with things their opponents who dont play that way dont. Indiana had their chances in this series. Im not telling you anything you dont know youre a reasonable person.
You cant be serious. Ive actually never seen a more underappreciated league MVP iir team in history. The NBA hates having the best player in the league and best the team in Oklahoma.
He's underappreciated because he shouldn't be MVP. Should really be Jokic again.
Teams aren't really dynasties anymore and a player who is more fun to watch than SGA will probably lead a team to a title next year or the year after.
