2024 NBA Playoffs: West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (DAL WINS 4-2)

[BliscoSantos]

Haha,made me laugh..naj,you future is bright OKC....I actually think the Best way for you to move forward would be to trade Giddey for a good C...SGA-Williams-Dort-Chet-C(someone like Allen or Claxton ) is a tittle contender for years to come

Yeah, threading the needle with addressing rebounding without disrupting the spacing/five-out offense will be tough. That's one of the reasons why I think Presti didn't want to be pressured into finding a solution to that by the trade deadline. It's not your standard "add a little more depth" problem, it's a tricky piece.

Move Giddey for a physical big. I’d move Chet to PF full time and get someone like Bam. Package Giddey, salary and a pick maybe for Bam.

Giddey and a pick(one I assume) won't get you Bam...anyway you'd ve better with someone like Allen or Claxton since they'll make less and you'll need money for other Players(Chet, Williams, Wallace,...)

[OkcSinceSGA]

And the bloody non calls on push offs ugh...

I can’t think of one young star that doesn’t push off. It’s become a plague on the league. Tatum, Morant, SGA, Luka, Giannis, Mitchell… it’s more common than carrying now. I don’t like it either but refs almost never call it.

Again… if a 185 lbs player can send you flying like that, you need to hit the weight room.

And I don't like it from anyone, don't like anyone getting away with it.

You're either going to just draw a line and hold firm or allow incremental exceptions which is an endless spiral leading to well might as well just change the rule book. Well how about just consistently calling the rule book?

What ends up happening is the exact thing you point out, at times exaggerated reactions to push offs to bring attention to it. And then endless spirals of well was it a flop or can momentum bring a bigger guy down...

I just like the simple pure rule - if a defender moves his feet to get the angle and an arm is used to push him away, call the O foul. Everything else is peripheral.

Overall I agree big time on banning push offs, or anything that gives the offense an unfair advantage when they create the contact. I’ve been calling for rule changes for years to help defenders. I just laugh that SGA is pissing everyone off when he actually plays a legit game and is incredible at drawing fouls (even if some are soft).

This isn’t a Harden/CP3/Embiid scenario where he’s making non basketball moves, then falling like he got shot. In fact he almost never falls or flails.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Yeah, threading the needle with addressing rebounding without disrupting the spacing/five-out offense will be tough. That's one of the reasons why I think Presti didn't want to be pressured into finding a solution to that by the trade deadline. It's not your standard "add a little more depth" problem, it's a tricky piece.

Move Giddey for a physical big. I’d move Chet to PF full time and get someone like Bam. Package Giddey, salary and a pick maybe for Bam.

Giddey and a pivk(one I assume) won't get you Bam...anyway you'd ve better with someone like Allen or Claxton since they'll make less and you'll need money for other Players(Cvet, Williams, Wallace,...)

It was just an example of a target and baseline, not a final offer. I’d give 2-3 picks probably. They need an elite center with size and physicality. Bam doesn’t hit 3s really but he can somewhat space the floor and is super good at switching defensively. He’s not scared to mix it up in the paint physically.

[Patches Perry]

Shai isn't getting enough help from his roster in games where they don't fire 40%+ from 3. Best player in all 3 games so far. This is to be expected though, given how young and inexperienced everyone is. Next year his supporting cast should gain some more natural improvement, and hopefully they can get a big physical natural PF that has a complimentary game.

Yep. He’s easily been the best player on either team. But you can’t have Williams+Chet combining for 29 points.

People blaming Shai are just angle-grinding, he obviously played well. I will say that Jalen Williams and Chet scored 29 points on 14-21 FG, which is lower volume than I'd like but very efficient. They weren't the problem either.

The Thunder lost because of what all OKC fans knew would cost them games in the playoffs. Rebounding. You can't allow a team 10 more shots on the rim in a game and expect to win very often. If Thunder rebound competently and shoot the same number of shots as Dallas, they would have come into Dallas and won a crucial road game by almost double digits. Their glaring weakness is indeed glaring, and focusing on narrative stuff like whether Shai is "him" or "manufactured" or whatever is just shallow dumb commentary you'd hear from casual fan middle-schoolers.

[mademan]

Haha,made me laugh..naj,you future is bright OKC....I actually think the Best way for you to move forward would be to trade Giddey for a good C...SGA-Williams-Dort-Chet-C(someone like Allen or Claxton ) is a tittle contender for years to come

Yeah, threading the needle with addressing rebounding without disrupting the spacing/five-out offense will be tough. That's one of the reasons why I think Presti didn't want to be pressured into finding a solution to that by the trade deadline. It's not your standard "add a little more depth" problem, it's a tricky piece.

Move Giddey for a physical big. I’d move Chet to PF full time and get someone like Bam. Package Giddey, salary and a pick maybe for Bam.

It would take a lot more to get Bam and Miami hates to rebuild so he probably wont be available, but the fit would be amazing between him and Chet

[Baz]

Refs need to be better at not allowing Dort's excessive flopping over screens & generally dangerous play.

[mademan]

I can’t think of one young star that doesn’t push off. It’s become a plague on the league. Tatum, Morant, SGA, Luka, Giannis, Mitchell… it’s more common than carrying now. I don’t like it either but refs almost never call it.

Again… if a 185 lbs player can send you flying like that, you need to hit the weight room.

And I don't like it from anyone, don't like anyone getting away with it.

You're either going to just draw a line and hold firm or allow incremental exceptions which is an endless spiral leading to well might as well just change the rule book. Well how about just consistently calling the rule book?

What ends up happening is the exact thing you point out, at times exaggerated reactions to push offs to bring attention to it. And then endless spirals of well was it a flop or can momentum bring a bigger guy down...

I just like the simple pure rule - if a defender moves his feet to get the angle and an arm is used to push him away, call the O foul. Everything else is peripheral.

Overall I agree big time on banning push offs, or anything that gives the offense an unfair advantage when they create the contact. I’ve been calling for rule changes for years to help defenders. I just laugh that SGA is pissing everyone off when he actually plays a legit game and is incredible at drawing fouls (even if some are soft).

This isn’t a Harden/CP3/Embiid scenario where he’s making non basketball moves, then falling like he got shot. In fact he almost never falls or flails.

Thats whats pissing people off. Dort and JDub are allowed to be a lot more physical on Luka/Kyrie than anybody can be on Shai. He's getting a lot of touch fouls in a very physical series

[OkcSinceSGA]

Yeah, threading the needle with addressing rebounding without disrupting the spacing/five-out offense will be tough. That's one of the reasons why I think Presti didn't want to be pressured into finding a solution to that by the trade deadline. It's not your standard "add a little more depth" problem, it's a tricky piece.

Move Giddey for a physical big. I’d move Chet to PF full time and get someone like Bam. Package Giddey, salary and a pick maybe for Bam.

It would take a lot more to get Bam and Miami hates to rebuild so he probably wont be available, but the fit would be amazing between him and Chet

Wonder if Miami would look at 3 picks and Giddey+salary if Butler ends up wanting out anyway?

[Pharmcat]

Kyrie is a certified baller.

[Pharmcat]

Kyrie is a certified baller.

[ChipotleWest]

Here's why Luka deserves a lot of credit despite not having a great shooting night, 15 rebounds. The 2nd highest Mav was Lively with 8.

[Astaluego]

While you only represent yourself when you post, you still rock the Mavs logo and you kind of will be associated with the extended Mavs fanbase... so avoid that sort of thing.

As a fellow member of House Mavs: Apz just had a terrible moment. We don't wish any injuries on anyone, except Rajon Rondo. And I was happy to see Williams back in the game and looking healthy.

And here I thought he was your burner account

Dirk we also wish I’ll on Porzingas too. He admitted to trying to lose those clippers series because he was mad Luka was a better player.

moment of heat in the heat of battle...apz is a mavs poster appreciated (at least by me)

[AleksandarN]

Ethical basketball.

Putting this on replay on my second monitor for the rest of the night. Pure art.

Kyrie driving to the hoop

Watch on YouTube

[BliscoSantos]

Move Giddey for a physical big. I’d move Chet to PF full time and get someone like Bam. Package Giddey, salary and a pick maybe for Bam.

It would take a lot more to get Bam and Miami hates to rebuild so he probably wont be available, but the fit would be amazing between him and Chet

Wonder if Miami would look at 3 picks and Giddey+salary if Butler ends up wanting out anyway?

Riley would probably want Williams , don't think he'd be interested in Giddey

[G R E Y]

I can’t think of one young star that doesn’t push off. It’s become a plague on the league. Tatum, Morant, SGA, Luka, Giannis, Mitchell… it’s more common than carrying now. I don’t like it either but refs almost never call it.

Again… if a 185 lbs player can send you flying like that, you need to hit the weight room.

And I don't like it from anyone, don't like anyone getting away with it.

You're either going to just draw a line and hold firm or allow incremental exceptions which is an endless spiral leading to well might as well just change the rule book. Well how about just consistently calling the rule book?

What ends up happening is the exact thing you point out, at times exaggerated reactions to push offs to bring attention to it. And then endless spirals of well was it a flop or can momentum bring a bigger guy down...

I just like the simple pure rule - if a defender moves his feet to get the angle and an arm is used to push him away, call the O foul. Everything else is peripheral.

Overall I agree big time on banning push offs, or anything that gives the offense an unfair advantage when they create the contact. I’ve been calling for rule changes for years to help defenders. I just laugh that SGA is pissing everyone off when he actually plays a legit game and is incredible at drawing fouls (even if some are soft).

This isn’t a Harden/CP3/Embiid scenario where he’s making non basketball moves, then falling like he got shot. In fact he almost never falls or flails.

It goes both ways sure. But again you're already arguing degrees like oh SGA isn't on the level of obvious floppers.

He did jump sideways into Luka. The basket was in front of him lol **** like that irritates me, even as one example does not reach Harden/CP3/Embiid levels of consistency.

I do hope refs clean it up for next game. I like more physicality but not at a level of punishment to get to the basket. Luka was absolutely pummelled today, and this is coming from someone who's complained plenty about his whining.

[BmanInBigD]

SGA uses his elbow to get space and/or the advantage more than any player I've ever seen in my 60 years of watching basketball. He's an elite talent and will be all-NBA for the next decade probably and I wish he was on my team but still, after being at the game, I've never seen someone so skilled at getting space by pushing off and it not being obvious enough to call.

[BeiBeau]

OKC reddit is having a meltdown right now about Luka and how refs are doing Dort wrong

Are these OKC fans actually trying to say the play where Dort put his arm around Luka and dragged him down was an offensive foul?

I hope OKC fans aren’t as childish as their team is.

They're basically saying Dort does nothing wrong and Luka is flopping while SGA gets hosed by the refs.

Crazy cause Dort is by far the biggest flopper in the series. He has more flops then every other player combined.

[OkcSinceSGA]

It would take a lot more to get Bam and Miami hates to rebuild so he probably wont be available, but the fit would be amazing between him and Chet

Wonder if Miami would look at 3 picks and Giddey+salary if Butler ends up wanting out anyway?

Riley would probably want Williams , don't think he'd be interested in Giddey

Problem is Riley doesn’t seem to care for picks or the draft. I’d give up Chet before Williams.

[BeiBeau]

And here I thought he was your burner account

Dirk we also wish I’ll on Porzingas too. He admitted to trying to lose those clippers series because he was mad Luka was a better player.

moment of heat in the heat of battle...apz is a mavs poster appreciated (at least by me)

Free my homie apz

[ChipotleWest]

SGA uses his elbow to get space and/or the advantage more than any player I've ever seen in my 60 years of watching basketball. He's an elite talent and will be all-NBA for the next decade probably and I wish he was on my team but still, after being at the game, I've never seen someone so skilled at getting space by pushing off and it not being obvious enough to call.

The refs gave OKC so many calls that were flops, and SGA gets his usual calls that should be offensive fouls. Refs were against the Mavs, you'd think it was an OKC home game. It was the opposite of home court advantage.

They finally called it on SGA at the end of the game though.