[Highlight] Shai kicks out his legs for a foul call
It’s insane watching SGA get this call while Dort and Caruso literally hand check and hack the other team with almost no fouls called
You mean caruso slapping Wemby’s arm twice is not a great defense?
Caruso did that so much to Jokic last playoffs it was insane. People were praising him for his defense against big men, but he just assaults them and gets away with it cause he’s scrappy and small
The clip of him pulling on Jokic jersey has the announcers glazing him lmao
If you think that was bad look what Dort did to Luka in 2024.
He was legit diving at his bandaged leg trying to injure him, hacking, holding his jersey, ect
I remembered when Pels played OKC and Dort was mauling Ingram, everyone saying how great his defense is. Next round he guarded Dončić and finally everyone started talking about how he is just fouling. Dude should get 6 fouls per quarter how we plays defense, but all allowed for OKC
It was so frustrating watching Ausar Thompson play tough defense against the Knicks in last years playoffs and get called for every ticky tack play until he got in foul trouble which I think ended up being the difference in 2 of the close games we lost. Then flipping over to watch Caruso and Dort absolutely mugging players while the refs bite their whistle.
Pepperidge Farm remembers
We, the aggrieved people of House Maverick remember!
Solution is teams play shirts vs skins against OKC from now on
Hell there’s a clip of game 4 in the finals. Dort just blatantly shoving Tyrese 2 handed with no call.
Dwade even mentioned tonight how well he defended Jokic last playoffs and my eyes rolled back into my skull
Never forget that dwade is the reason that dunk contest is a sh*t show now.
DWade is a chump
When I tuned into the first game of the Olympics, my first thought after a few minutes was “wow one of these announcers is truly ass on a level I’ve never heard before on a national broadcast wtf” and when I realized it was DWade it made perfect sense.
Caruso spent the entirety of game 7 hammering Jokic in the ribs lmao
The league saw that Jokic was about to go back to the finals and put a stop to it.
So they’ve elevated Shai because he is the closest to an American player that they are comfortable with promoting. It’s funny because this isn’t 1990 or even 2010, most fans like the foreign players.
That’s the OKC system.
Reminds me of Houston’s defense against Curry last playoffs. It involved them tackling him at half court and trying to break his hand. It was 100% intent to injure on every play and nothing was called.
Because OKC knows the refs wont call every foul when you are fouling all the time.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin begs to differ
Well if you aren’t Draymond or OKC, I doubt anyone else in the league could get away with it either
The shit he gets away with infuriates me.
Has to be more than that one play. It probably takes a lot to piss off Shaolin monk Wemby. He must have been getting hacked the whole game without getting calls.
I don’t watch spurs games but it felt like castle was getting mauled at the rim
Blake and UD mentioned his lack of FTAs when they interviewed him in the post game. They had replays and were like “You got fouled like 3-4x and didn’t get the call”
He was like “yeah, I know”
lol
He got that AE whistle. lol
Dunk he had in the fourth quarter was the most obvious foul and they didn’t call it
Right before this play lol
Yup
Just no consistency on what is called.
When Castle was on the line shooting free throws during the 4th quarter, you can visibly see that Castle had a bloody nose and fresh blood on his lips.
NBA is like the WWE. Its all about narratives.
NBA and NFL have always both reffed on reputations.
This Thunder team plays a lot strategically like The Legion of Boom.
The NFL pales in comparison to the NBA, when it comes to ref ball.
Disagree. DPI varies wildly based on pedigree of QB, receivers and DBs. Same for holding with OL vs DL.
they also ref on the over under
I thought you were about to compare Thunder to the Legion of Doom. Imagining Hawk flop off the turnbuckle
And the selling.
that’s what Nash referred to, about “playing the referees”
Caruso is a gnat, annoying and breaks the rules.
Dort is staight up dirty and will try to injure guys
That’s really the core of the problem to me. I don’t even think Shai foul baits that much. He definitely does foul bait, but the extent to which he does is way overblown.
The problem is that their defense is just assault most of the time and then the few times Shai does foul bait, it stands out a ton juxtaposed against what they are able to get away with defensively
Personally I think that Shai’s push offs are worse than his foul baiting. His midrange wouldn’t be quite as deadly if he wasn’t allowed to shove his defender to create space every time.
not only the shove, he kicks out on almost every midrange jumpers regardless of where hes jumping from, dont even get me started on the number of open shots and layups he gets cuz defenders dont want to get called for a foul
The previous two possessions to this Castle got whacked on layups and refs just decided to ignore it for fun lol
So glad the Pacers get some validation for saying the same thing throughout the finals. OKC plays some real ugly and unfairly officiated basketball
So a typical Thunder game?
That’s what makes the OKC Thunder better than everybody else. They can do their defense while the other team aren’t allowed to do the same thing.
Steph would have been called for an offensive foul and then on review upgraded to flagrant 1
Yuuuuup. The Finals were a joke.
Have either one of them fouled out ever?
Unethical basketball. The league needs to fix it.
Well if they wanted a foul call they should’ve snapped their heads back and made a weird face so the ref would know they’re being fouled.
This is the worst part about it. It’s one thing if shai was doing this alone but then to have the next possession be full of the dort and Caruso shit makes it unbearable
They are really good at pressuring (fouling) before the dribble.
He’s such a great player, but honesty I’ll never enjoy watching him play, I just find it annoying.
My exact take. And it’s the same way I felt about prime Harden.
Prime Harden was unwatchable, for me, not just for the foul baiting. You just knew exactly what he was gonna do every possession: dribble between his legs into either step-back 3 or drive and kick out his head for a cheap foul.
PERFECT analogy. Gaming the system. 🤢🤢🤢
I had an OKC fan try to come back at me with “what about harden?!?” When I was saying I can’t stand watching Shai/OKC.
Easy response “I fucking HATED watching prime James Harden.” Lol
Like he doesn’t need to do this! He could easily be just as effective without the foul baiting and antics like this.
I’m gonna need Steph and the Bucks to pray that the refs come to jesus on OKC officiating. Either let what OKC gets away with on the other end of just call nothing but fouls on both ends.
It’s the Harden special. the league let it happen with him and now we have guys who know they can get MVP in part from doing this shit all the time.
What Shai is doing is far worse tbh, his call extends into the playoffs
Harden never got these calls in the post season
Was always the great equalizer that made constant foil bailing somewhat tolerable.
Honeslty dont think so. Obviusly a great player, top 5 worthy but he is defended differently and its so obvious. Defenders know if they get too close or even breath on him its a foul, he’s gonna do some stupid shit like push you off with elbow, kick his legs out and thats it. Most of stars abuse officiating anyway, but it benefits Shai the most imo. Many have pointed it out but dont think he averages what he does, atleast not with such efficiency if he’s defended the way others are. He’s top 5 without his antics still but he’s not the same tier as Jokic, Giannis, Luka IMO. But blatant officiating gets him there.
I mean when pushing defenders off with your elbow to create space is your signature move and what you’re known for.. literally offensive foul and for some bizzare reason its almost never called
Id say he’s top 10 without the officiating bias. Give Ant or other top 10 guys that same whistle and they’d have ridiculous numbers too
Ant with the SGA whistle would be insane. Imagine if Ant got FTs every time he was touched going to the hoop. Opponents would eventually just stop trying to guard his drives.
As much as we hate seeing him play that way, but it’s really the refs too who are tolerating his bullshit.
For once I’d like them to officiate games properly, then I’m curious to see how Shai will change his game
I think he still plays the same honestly. His midrange is really good, the angles he attacks are tough when he has space to get to his spots and his playmaking is top notch. He would probably develop more of a pump fake if anything. It’s just the hooking of the legs/arms, kicking legs out, exaggerated physicality from bumps he initiates. You’d think everyone guarding him was built like DeMarcus Cousins.
Would he? If him not allowing to do his push off results in (for example) 2 less made baskets a game that would seriously affect his performance
Was glad they at least didn’t call it a flagrant. I know that jumping forward is sometimes a natural motion for shooters, but I also think defenders shouldn’t have to try to play defense while not being able to be within five feet of the guy because of where he might land.
He actually jumped backwards (fadeaway) but sent his legs forward, lmao.
I feel the same. Generational talent but not an enjoyable product unless you are a Thunder fan
I enjoyed watching sga lose; tired of this non-ethical basketball strategy winning.
Midrange James Harden
Do you enjoy watching Jimmy Butler play?
Nope, not really to be honest.
Thank you for being honest
No one has ever enjoyed watching Jimmy play except last 2 minutes of playoff games
Exactly how i felt about Harden in 2018 but now everyone is gargling his balls.
I do admit i respect the playmaking aspect he added to his game in Philly.
Harden was a great playmaker long before he got to Philadelphia. He won his first assist title in 2017 with Houston.
Castle didn’t get a single call.
He had a nose plug to stop the bleeding and a swollen lip on the post game show. Dude looks like a blocker against a linebacker not a basketball player
Well there are many games Lu Dort plays like a linebacker out there
That’s because wemby elbowed him in the face lol
Even if he didn’t come down on his foot, SGA had no intention of landing upright. Kicked out both legs just to get the foul. Fuck this guy.
These theatrics that never show on highlights are why all these stat threads make me roll my eyes and move on
There’s so much grifting in today’s game
I’m starting to hear the murmur of today’s players peaking higher than LeBron
I remember LeBron in his athletic prime was routinely finishing through all contact with no spacing
It’s a different game now .
Bron is probably the last guy we’ll see be this dominant without trying to flop on every other play. did he flop? sure, but NOWHERE near this consistency.
I feel like old man Bron is when the flopping really showed up in his game. Prime Bron played exactly as you said, through contact regularly. He adapted his game to stay effective (his 3 point shooting another example of this).
Prime bron flopped, let’s not be a revisionist. But never thus egregious all the time.
Prime Bron flopped but he also genuinely had a bad whistle when you consider how often he got mauled. You were allowed to abuse him because of his size which is bullshit. The fact he only broke 10 FTA’s 3 times in his career is insane.
Okay I do remember vividly bron dropped like a rag doll on the tiniest contact but I feel like that’s plan C or D. Meanwhile we have Oklahoma spamming the cheesiest strategies as option A and B to win. Mfers lost one game all season(at the time) can yall just thug it out for one game and play some pure nobullshit basketball? For the homies ?
Bron was a little confusing for me. He would finish through contact but also had helluva lot of flops.
Anyway, not just sga but a crapton of players intentionally fall on their 3 attempt.
I know Jimmy and curry both do it.
Bron I can I understand because he had the same issue that Shaq had where unless he was thrown into the stands it wouldn’t be considered a foul.
Curry makes sense because he did it to lessen them impact on his glass ankles. There’s times he’d do it even if he didnt get contact but was off balance.
Jimmy don’t get a pass though.
I think this just shows it’s dog shit reffing that breeds this behavior. Players wouldn’t have to sell if the calls were actually made correctly. Years of terrible reffing created this culture of flopping
Landing with both feet in front of your center of mass - natural shooting motion lol
Embarrassing play for the “best player in the world”
he does this on pretty much every jumper
As a Mavs fan, solidarity. The Spurs are trying to save basketball. OKC is not.
SGA is a net detriment to the sport of basketball. Absolute clown, shame he has a ring and an MVP
He is going to explode his ankles doing this one day and it will be his fault. The rule was made to protect players so they don’t land on people’s feet cuz it fucked up currys ankles permanently, and he’s literally jumping onto people’s feet.
I think the fact that he never actually plans to land on his feet (and instead just crumples to the ground) is intended to mitigate impact to his ankles
Yep, when his feet hit the ground, there is no way he would have stayed upright, he planned to do this when he left the floor for the shot
Came down like he was landing on the couch lol
He would fall down if no one was guarding him. Nba is not a serious league
The league has certainly legislated (or interpreted) themselves into a bit of a corner. They had the right intent in wanting to protect shooters but at some point they hit a line where shooters have almost zero accountability for their own actions or the positions they put themselves in.
My question has always been: If a defender must provide splay-legged shots additional space versus a typical close-out, then doesn’t that make those shots virtually unguardable? In those instances—particularly with the likes of Harden and SGA—defenders seemingly have to choose between either contesting the shot like normal (at which point they’re at the whim of those shooters and their leg kicks) or giving shooters significantly more space than normal (which allows those shooters to achieve a higher rate of success, knowing they won’t be as highly contested and/smothered like they’d typically be).
As someone who’s been hooping for over three decades now, I can say with confidence that there’s a chasm between a good closeout and a great closeout, and my rate of success rockets upward with the former. With the NBA now putting all the onus on the defender to not get in the way of horizontal kicks, great closeouts are less possible than they used to be at this level, which in turn significantly elevates the rate of success for certain perimeter shooters. Pretty clean look or three free throws is a really nice either/or for an offensive player and has to be utterly demoralizing for defenders.
Wish everyone would just stop watching for a season. I haven’t watched an NBA game this season and i keep seeing complaints on highlight after highlight but people keep watching. You have power as the audience. Watch college and euro for a year. You will survive
This guy is the worst since Harden. Officials need to get this under control.
wemby save us
This is the ‘mvp’ by the way
crazy to think this was reviewed for a flagrant
People doesnt hate sga, people hates double standard that okc get. Like okay you flop and foul baiting, and then you also play very dirty and doesnt get called
I hate SGA
Naw I legit hate sga too so there’s two of us. Multiply that number and divide with world population and there’s gotta be at least 2billion people that hate SGA
I could force myself to appreciate harden during his peak flop years. Can’t with SGA. Hate him something fierce.
Me three
If SGA has no haters than im no longer on this earth. Dude is truly bitch made inside and out
I too hate sga
Honestly I think that’s right. They play dirty and get away with many calls
Majority of players should just come together and agree to flop every single call to force the NBA’s hand to change how they referee games
This seems to get called less frequently than flopping. Plenty of players still do it.
Its gonna be so fun watching his game and legacy get looked back upon so poorly. History will not be kind to him.
Shai would’ve fallen over from that jump whether there was a defender or not.
And the refs would have called the foul on Castle (#5) if the defender weren’t there.
This garbage makes me not want to watch basketball.
Fix this shit Adam Silver, or lose a ton of fans in the (lack of) process.
He’s been losing fans and he knows it. Last years finals had the lowest viewership in like 10 years. He hasn’t done shit so I doubt he will do anything tbh. In wemby we trust.
The Finals were going to fail (numberswise) once Indy got in. I think the West/conference finals viewership was as strong as ever, as it has been the past few years.
But rewarding a team that games the system, just proves it’s a broken system.
Are those fouls? Many of them, sure. Are their fouls often No Calls? Again, sure. But paving the way for it without a peep otherwise is going to piss a bunch of people off, source: I am pissed off.
I think the Nuggets, Timberwolves and even the Lakers can knock them out come Playoffs, I just pray whichever one is on a heater when the matchup begins.
This type of jump shot with legs out happens 20 times a game
Not to the degree of the shooter coming down in a position where he’d fall on his ass.
Not sure if you’re trolling but ppl fall down on 3 pointers a lot
I think it’s the combination of how they play defense + SGAs grifting.
Because in my opinion while SGA does grift, it’s really not unique or special. Lots of top players do shit like that a lot.
It’s how they play on the other end that’s in stark contrast and makes everything seem completely off and inconsistent. Basically always fouling and playing insanely physical.
Honestly this might be the new foul baiting of the future. Guys will look for the opponents feet to land on than actually making the shot. Number 2 was in good contest position it’s fn stupid SGA got rewarded here.
Harden and Chris Paul were doing this on the rockets. It was horrible to watch
You can tell by the way he landed that he knew what he was doing too. Shai is incredible at basketball but goddamn I hate his game.
What a flop, good work refs
He will never be rated like Curry, KD, LeBron, and other all time greats are as long as he does stuff like this
Idk if you remember but KD’s rip through forced a rule change
Young dudes here don’t remember that KD was disliked for free throws and flopping back in the day.
Another dude will come along and he’ll be the new person to hate on. Especially if SGA gets more accolades.
Everyone hated KD and Harden for it, before them they hated Manu for it, and so on. It never changes.
Before Vlade, flopping didn’t exist
Never seen a team collectively benefit from the refs on both sides of the ball like OKC
Foul baiter!
I hate watching this team play. Today was tolerable because he only did it a couple times.
Honestly after watching Luka and Reaves foul bait like crazy last game, Shai looks like prime Shaq playing through contact even with shit like this.
Neither Luka or Reaves frequently kick their legs out so I’m confused to what you mean here. SGA has for years
That’s not the only way to foul bait
Didn’t say it was. Whining about contact that is subjective is a lot different than completely simulating it yourself (and creating a opportunity for injury)
All foul baiting is terrible, and the worst part is the extremely talented players do it more than anyone else.
Boooo SGA boringggg
no sga free throws = okc L
For real. They let them play for the most part.
Honestly dont have a problem with SGA foul baiting and flopping, majority of the star players (past and present) does it. I have a bigger issue with Thunder fans that delude themselves into believing that SGA doesnt foul bait and flop.
Refs and OKC, name a better duo.
That’s quite the title
why? no editorializing - legs are out and a foul was called
So glad we got a generational big man to keep foul baiting refball addicts in check. The face of the sport can’t be this, sorry. Never gonna crown this guy
I’m ok with people bashing him if they remember KD and Dwyane Wade used to hunt for foul calls and shoot a million freethrows when they were younger.
KD was so egregious with his annoying rip through they changed the rules so he couldn’t foul bait with it
Shai “James Harden” Gilgeous Alexander.
Imma be real. This isn’t bad. He moves forward less than Harper does, and when he lands his leg’s arent out more than like a 10 degree angle. This is how 95% of jump shots are. No one jumps straight up and down. This is a foul, even if Shai does flop other times
Huh? No one shoots a jump shot to land on their ass, this was a clear flop
Thunder loss
It’s free real estate for SGA hateposting. This post gets downvoted if thunder won tonight
I watched starting 5 and SGA looked fake to me.
Just like his foul requests I guess
No joke. He would have fallen either way. Harper went straight up and down. I just don’t know how to post the picture.
Shai is dirty for doing this shit, but refs are equally to blame for calling these actions a foul. It’s an unnatural motion to initiate contact. It should always be a non-call or an offensive foul. 🫡
That was a sign of his desperation
The more I watch this season the less I want to continue watching. Refs have been awful for a while but this season just feels so much worse than usual so far.
It’s one thing to get a body off the floor or catch a guy reaching in but this is aweful. What’s the defender supposed to do? If SGA is gonna get that call then what’s the point of guarding him?
Now do Luka.
But seriously, how as a ref do you see this and think foul? What is going on in their heads???
Didn’t watch the clip but assuming this is a 2 hourlong compilation from this season alone, right?
I did not like this call for landing spot. You can’t land diagonal. Im not even sure Id call this him kicking his leg out. But I didnt like the call
Nice natural shooting motion
You can’t make this shit up. 😂
I watch a lot of BBallbreakdown and according to his video a “sway” is pretty normal while taking a jump shot for rhythm purposes… doesn’t seem egregious to me
[ Removed by Reddit ]
I don’t necessarily blame Shai, like if that’s how they’re gonna ref the game then you take it, I think it just makes for a kind of lame viewing experience, and yes I don’t enjoy watching it when players on the team I like do it either. Most of my friends are baseball fans, but like basketball, but none of them watch anymore and the foul baiting is one of the main issues they all bring up
I don’t think that’s an unnatural motion at all, he does t kick out that much. Players extend the legs out all the time to stay balanced in the air.
What? How was he going to land on his feet with both legs extended forward past his shoulders? That’s not how center of gravity works.
Dude was going to the ground intentionally regardless of how close the defender was. He’s dog shit for things like this.
Terrible sport. Just as bad as soccer
Ive seen Steph do this same shit before and it never got called out. It’s egregious and a punk ass move.
its time to call sga pos even tho he is a great player, but is a pos for playing like this
Okc fans furiously typing up Luka threads as we speak.
I can’t stand watching SGA, Jokic or Doncic. The head snapping and flailing is embarrassing. CP3 used to drive me mental with the antics too.
You never saw Jordan pull that shite to score points.
Bambi
Glad this is being noticed and called out by fans. NBA needs to punish this behavior. The refs should be ashamed of how they are being manipulated.
#ethicalhoops
Bro gonna break his ankles one day doing that
I think they should protect the shooter landing space only if he goes exactly vertical. As it is now, shooting mid rangers is a better way to get fouls than driving to the basket. Please change that rule.
Okc, sga, kfc lmao
Please karma stop the bad man
I can’t wait til he breaks his leg Lame ass way to watch basketball. Refs can also suck a fat one
OKC is without a doubt the deepest team in the league. Hell, I think you could make a good argument that their bench could make the playoffs on their own.
That being said, I absolutely hate the brand of basketball they play. I know it’s effective, but it’s like watching James Harden play every position on the floor. It makes SGA less impressive to me when such a huge chunk of his stats come from going to the line 30 times a game.
SGA-hating season really peaking, makes me wonder how many of y’all are hate watching and mostly… why
I’ll never understand why the league is okay with this garbage lol. One of the main reasons viewership has tanked in the last 10 years
He’s not jumping forward like many do with their jumpers. His torso is directly above where took off from. This is some bullshit.
I don’t want to hear any swing and sway bullshit. That ain’t it.