[Highlight] Shai Gilgeous-Alexander crosses up Rui Hachimura then stops and smoothly hits him with a step-through scoop
He’s putting the belt on them on National TV
People really think Luka is better than SGA lmao.
SGA is on a different planet.
Best two way guard since Jordan
Luka’s better at generating offense, but SGA is the better two-way guard.
Luka’s a better playmaker for sure. SGA’s a more efficient scorer. You really can’t do wrong with either one on offense it just depends on roster construction I guess
And OKC has been building this thing out for years like they’re hellbent on world domination while Pelinka fell ass-backwards into Luka with his knees bent for DominAyton
Yeah, we’re really comparing the deepest roster in the league to the one with Jaxson Hayes as the backup center. All credit to Shai, he’s one of the most efficient scorers of all time and the engine of OKC’s offense, but the roster he is working with is also amazing. They had like 6 players out and looked pretty much the same, that’s depth. The Lakers bench is really kind of ass, Luka and Austin Reaves playing their asses off and JJ’s coaching has just convinced people it isn’t. If they were that good they wouldn’t have to drop 40 every night. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the team, and we’re definitely better than last year, the vibes have been great, but I think we’re about one piece away from really contending. Once LeBron comes back we should look significantly better at the forward position, so I think the Lakers should prioritize a better secondary big man.
Ordinarily I agree with you, but they looked the same because of the system and good coaching, not the player quality. Like the difference in defense or just talent is massive - dort and jdub are significantly better than even guys like Ajay Mitchell, and arguably our best bench player after Caruso in Aaron Wiggins is also out.
Eh, part of it is definitely coaching, but OKC also doesn’t have anyone on the bench that is strictly bad. Most teams look bad once you go past their second string, and a lot don’t even have a good second string, that is not the case for OKC. Frankly, it’s ridiculous how many decent players are on the bench that would get almost no minutes if OKC was fully healthy. You just don’t see that on other teams.
Of course its because of player quality, OKC’s whole setup could not have beaten the Lakers if they had some trash ass players
Well, one of them actually plays defense. And good defense
Exactly why I only mentioned offense
And as a great fully employed man once said, “defense wins championships.”
Who was that again??
I know this is gonna get hated on but give me SGA’s efficient, no-turnover playmaking over Luka. SGA is better than Luka offensively.
This is a good question. Would you rather a okay passer who can’t be the lead playmaker without a stacked roster but at least he won’t have 2 turnovers a game, or would you rather have a all time player maker who has limited team turnovers and can single handedly make you a great playmaking team. Yeah no you’re just stupid
This is an unfortunate take by you.
Both are elite scorers who at their peak will score 30+ on 60%+ ts. luka has higher peaks but is more reliant (and better normally) at shooting 3s. Shai is more consistent. Luka is leagues better playmaking wise and will go down as a top 10 playmaker minimum. Shai is a good defensive player maker with good on ball chops who can get away with a lot because of those around him.
Luka literally gave Daniel Gafford the all time NBA record for most consecutive field goals scored at like 35.
The 2024 Mavs had more alley oop dunks than all other playoff teams COMBINED. Luka got 2 centers who can actually jump, a former Wizard and a Rookie and immediately set multiple records for most dunks by a basketball team since the early 2000s.
There’s no doubt that Luka is the greatest pick and roll operator of all time, but hey Shai is definitely a more “consistent” scorer!
Shai has 2 career triple doubles.
Luka has 83 career triple doubles.
good thing basketball is a two-way sport
One side is no where close to as equal as the other. Individual perimeter defense especially as the 6-7th best defender on the team means very little
We been knew this
On this subreddit? Absolutely not
Luka’s slightly better offensively, but Shai’s considerably better defensively, so he’s better overall.
I’m ngl I would rather have Shai offensively to even though it’s arguable. Luka is a better playmaker but with he slows pace and Shais ability to never turn the ball over and not have to rely on 3 point shooting leading to less varience in his game
Yeah this is the thing Luka is better offensively but it requires him to have the ball constantly while Shai is a killer on and off ball.
Shai has the most consecutive 20 point games of anyone other than Wilt. Keep in mind this is while sitting a huge amount of fourth quarters.
Shai has 2 triple doubles in his career.
Luka has 83.
Shai has 27 games with 40+ points.
Luka has 49.
So not only is Luka a better scorer, but he is in a different universe when it comes to playmaking.
And that’s okay. Shai is more of a SG anyway rather than a PG
Ah yes, career 40 point games, the most reliable way to see which player is the better scorer.
SGA is at least on par with Luka on offense.
Luka is a good amount better offensively and defense from a guard is just factually much less impactful then playmaking
If Shai didn’t get the most generous whistle in the league this side of prime LeBron it’d be Luka > SGA all day IMO
Lakers have 2 guys with a better whistle😂😂
SGA is better but on another planet than Luka? The only player who has been on another planet this season is Jokic.
LA’s roster isn’t exactly primed for Luka the way OKC’s is for Shai . Luka plays his best w a Lob threat center and Multiple lengthy 2 Ways. LA has none of those
Kobe? Wade? SGA is great, but this seems like recency bias
Edut: Steph too honestly. SGA is a better defender of course, but peak Curry was arguably the best offensive guard in the modern era. His 2016 regular season was unreal and more than makes up for his middling defense
yea this is a wild take. SGA is a neutral on defense to slightly positive cause of his length/quick hands.
SGA is much better than both
Hard agree on SGA over Doncic.
SGA over Kobe needs 2 more years of what he just did.
Right now the best player is either SGA or Jokić, then everyone else.
Kobe exists. Wade exists. Kawhi in his prime exists. Regency bias going crazy as always.
He is better lol
Better at giving boners to overweight white supremacists.
Real easy to say that when SGA has been comfortable his entire tenure.
Best two way guard since Jordan? Yea he barely has to expend energy on defense, again real easy to say. Ok buddy.
Luka has always had to carry his teams hard in a dysfunctional organization. Only recently did he get an actual team built around him, then traded and starting over again with a 41 year old and Jaxson Hayes as his support.
Luka > SGA swap them on each others teams and Luka would do the same thing but better
Are you a Lakers fan with a Thunder flair? Cuz you’re delusional
1000% fake flair
Nba discourse where saying something factual that doesn’t fit your faulty narrative is delusional
It’s not factual lol
It just is Luka had a well built team when he was healthy for about 6 months
Luka’s melanin level is lower for sure. Thats what matters here sir!
OKC looked better with him on the bench but hes trying his best nonetheless, credit where its due
That shit was so smooth
Shai is so tuff
Can always count on Raptor fans to show SGA love
Best player our country has seen and he actively reps Canada to this day
Was really cool to see him rep Canada at our parade as well. He’s super proud.
What about Steve Nash?
Nash is a close second but Shai has clearly passed him up imo
Second best Canadian but Shai has the throne. I was/am a huge Steve Nash fan because of the Canadian thing but even while he was winning mvps, he wasn’t in best player conversations.
They said what they said lmfao
He’s the mvp again
It’s only been 10 minutes!
Love both the Lakers and OKC
But im Canadian first
Yeah but too bad this is a free throw and the refs helped SGA here yet again 😡
What’s tough about this? He is avoiding contact as much as humanly possible. A tough person would go right into him and draw the foul.
Man SGA can’t win with yall lol
He needs to stick to who he is. Hate seeing this tip toeing around. You know they are going to blow the whistle anyway.
He’s been using step throughs and scoops since he played at Kentucky.
Exactly. Enough’s enough.
“smooth” and “tuff” is typical language for brain rot “bag culture”
aesthetics are so overrated. fundamental, classy players like Tim Duncan would’ve scored with 2 dribbles or less without all the unnecessary flash
tf are you talking about?
sybau
70 - 38 is crazy. Lakers do not look like contenders here.
OKC is crazy, they blew out the Warriors like this yesterday too. And all this without a 24 year old all NBA player 💀
I had to double check the score because it is THAT bad. I wanted to see the Lakers at least put up a good game against them, but yeesh, this is horrible. Second half will be most of OKC resting since this is a back to back for them.
hopefully they let doncic stay in to put up junk stats because he’s on my fantasy team
All I know is that I wouldn’t want to be in that locker room with JJ. You know that MF is going off on one in the half and afterwards.
Luka’s shooting and free throws are hurting my fantasy team right now
No one will look like contenders against OKC this year
Until someone beats them and overreactions pile in. Specifically the Lakers fans after they beat OKC late in the regular season were insufferable. 3-1 in the regular season but you’d swear that 1 was the nba finals the way Lakers fans talked about it.
fakers
be careful mane that fucker just 3 peat with a dog shit regular season
LMAO
No Jalen Williams, no Lu Dort
This is where LeBron makes a big difference
They are not contenders lol. Who thought they were?
The only people who called Lakers contenders are the ones who shit on them at every possible opportunity.
#UNWATCHABLE
OKC routed LA in non SGA minutes too 😭
This games done by the second quarter sheesh
Shai please! Have mercy!
I’m an SGA connoisseur and this might be my favorite score of his of all time.
Bro coulda had his cell phone in the other hand havin a good convo while throwing that up and it would have still looked as smooth……
Nahh… the middy that went over the backboard and in a year ago?😭😭😭
This one? I see dudes pull this move at the rec. He’s got was better stuff in the locker than this
Bro, he’s so fucking good. I was actually excited for this game and here he is spearheading a blowout. Goddamn this shit rocks.
That’s my MVP
MVP, BITW
Shai could win the next 3 chips and MVPs and people on r/nba will still take Luka over him because of 2024 and “everyone acts tough when they’re up”. DEI MVP
They’ll also talk about how crafty, classy, and savvy Luka and AR are when they get to the line…they call Shai a terrorist though
Nico underrates Luka” “He’s racist!”
R/nba overrating white guys: “We’re objective stop making everything about race”
Also r/nba: Luka, Curry and Jokic NEVER get the calls they deserve. If they did then they’d average 40 per game. Curry also didn’t step under Isaiah Joe’s jump shot yesterday especially because it LITERALLY happens to Curry 50 times a game
curry rly doesnt get calls tho man. sga gets extra calls too, but hes still insanely good.
Have you ever actually seen someone call Nico racist? 🧐
It’s always been about race when comparing Jokic and Luka to other top guys in the league, look how they talked about Embiid when he dared take an MVP from Jokic. Giannis gets a pass because hes European and its better than an American or Canadian winning.
I absolutely love this post because its so damn true.
Do you guys still not realise shai won because he was on a 68 win team? 😭
Actually untrue
Michael Jackson (smooth criminal)
Just awful. Game’s already beyond over at the half.
Unwatchable ! Clearly trying for the foul there, just lucky
Yeah Shai!
Silky… he’s as slick as they come
But but he not fun to watch
Just wrap the season up
The level of ease with which he does it is not normal
With Denver we had some moral victories. OKC fucken leaves us with nothing. Man their team is lethal and nobody will stop them tbh. Btw they are missing jdub and Dort lmao. It’s wraps.
SGA giving Lakers fans flashbacks of 2000’s Kobe.
SGA is so fun to watch when you ain’t got a bitch in your ear crying about freethrows
It’s really sad how no matter where you go both shai haters and shai fans are so egregiously ignorant and annoying that you can’t just appreciate that this is a top 5 guard oat. We have two guards that will end up like that in their primes rn, and all you have is Shai fans lying about luka or cherry picking, and people cherry picking one or two bad calls a game for shai. Like please just shut up and enjoy
Kuroko Basketball shit
grand opening grand closing ass game lol
He’s kind of good at this basketball thing
Genuine question (I am fuzzy on the rules here) why is it not a travel when he lifted his pivot foot to make the shot?
Pivot foot can always be lifted when going into a shot. It’s only a travel if it’s placed back down while still holding the ball.
Ahh okay thank you!
It’s often called a step through.
And just a heads up, but this is a commonly misunderstood rule (many rec players would incorrectly try to tell you it’s a travel)
When people think lifting the pivot is a travel I always ask how a layup works? You control the ball, take a step, and land on one foot (the pivot), then other foot takes a step (the non-pivot) while the pivot lifts and swings through for the shot.
There’s no difference between the pivot in motion for a layup and when you have a legal pivot when standing.
It was a travel.
It’s not a travel and never has been.
Refs are soft, foul baiter, etc
Smooth like butter, SGA plays the game effortlessly!
As a warrior fan…. I mean at least they aren’t only shitting on us lol
I know ppl are saying (rightfully so) that Jokic, Luka, or Giannis are the best right now and I’ve seen ppl put SGA 4th… but he hasn’t played in like 7? 4th quarters this season. Imagine his stats with a whole extra quarter to play in. 30 atm could very easily be 36ppg plus another 2 rb and some assists? Not out of the question. Plus we 12-1. I’ll still take SGA over everyone but I understand why other wouldn’t.
I know what point you’re making and it’s a good point, but you also have to account for the just the overwhelming talent gap okc has. Like 2016 curry wasn’t better than bron but they were blowing teams out because of the overwhelming talent gap. You can switch shai and Luka around if you really want but that’s a bit of a disingenuous argument
It’s legitimately practice for Shai lmao
So the only contenders from the west are rockets OKC and nuggets?
Funny how all this started, Luka came into the league playing at such a high level that people never really gave him credit for is evolution as a player on the NBA. In this draft class you still have Trae who was better than Shai. Shai’s slowly but steadily rise to the top kinda change the perception of this draft. But since defenses don’t win championships but offense does, this is the NBA after all, give me some
LUKA MAGIC!!!
Shai was pretty clearly that guy for a while now. He just didn’t get opportunity till he came to okc.
How anyone can say he’s unwatchable is baffling
Shai the Maple Mamba.
Sooooo does Reaves get a Supermax or not anymore
People doubt me but honestly he’s not very bad at basketball 🏀
The “modern” NBA defense is a thing of beauty, damn
Tbh idek why he’s playing, he can just rest and they still would win, like this is so unfair it’s wack.
How’s that not a travel? Both feet down then he too another step and jumped with it?
Travel, his pivot foot moved on the shot fake
The pivot never came off the floor and just twisted. There’s probably some limit to how many twists you can do, but this wasn’t a travel.
Look how fun he can be to watch when not foul baiting