[Highlight] SGA takes it straight to the cup, and the Thunder take a 21 point lead into halftime
Shai and these slow starts man. maybe since its the first round
He frequently has these slow starts in Round 1
It’s what he does and then he plays a whole half and won’t miss
He was kinda like this in last year’s series vs. Memphis as well.
He usually need some time to find his jumper after long breaks
Most of his games this season have been the same way.
he always say that he lets the game come to him. Trust the process
some of these starters havent played a ball game in like 11 days so understandable
At this point it genuinely seems like he coasts a bit in the 1st round bc it was the same against Memphis last season
Holy shit that’s nasty
Great-grandparents got Oscar
Grandparents got MJ
Parents got Kobe
We got Shai
I grew up watching Jordan’s second threepeat and my son is too young to watch ball.
What fucking grandparents got MJ it was only 30 years ago
Even if we play mistake free basketball Shai is just nasty. Plus, we are not playing mistake free basketball. 😐
The turnover straight into JWills lap followed by the Cason dunk was rough. They just straight up gave that play away
Waste of time series lmao
It feels wrong to make teams fight for their lives in the play-in just to get dicked down by the 1 seed.😭
But then once a decade you get the we believe warriors
Or the Jimmy heat
Speak for yourself. Every extra game I get to watch Steph (with a bonus of ending the Clippers season) is fucking worth it lol
Play-in is stupid anyway, they play 82 games to determine seeding why do they need an additional tournament to figure it out
cuz it adds a lot of entertainment value without affecting parity all that much
Nah just start the playoffs, it’s a waste of time having the 7 seed play the 10 seed to become the 8 seed. Maybe if we’d let these guys take that time to prepare we’d see better first round action
Ultimate “this could’ve been an email” playoff matchup ever.
Yeah they’re repeating this year man, fuck all that parity shit 😭😭
“Fan” of the 1 seed in the opposite conference is embarrassing.
Oh my god you dorks take everything so serious
On record - I think Pistons vs. Thunder would be the most fun finals combination. Would be electric!
Pistons did match up really well vs Thunder 2 years ago when OKC didn’t have Hartenstein so they just beat the hell out of them with size. I still think the physicality edge goes to Detroit but I just think the talent gap and not having as much additional ball handling to deal with the marauding OKC defense is going to be rough for Detroit if the matchup happens
I remember those games. I really hope they both make it and they let both teams play.
I agree the pistons probably edge OKC on physicality but I think a finals series where they let both teams play hard on defense would be good for the game
Idk I say let him speak
Naturally. My boy didn’t even give time for his own teams’ 1st game, though. Lmfao
Tough. Mvp
Playoffs have really for the most part been blowout central, after the Play In was pretty much as exciting as can be :(
Second round is going to be really good in the east and the likely DEN/SA match up
True I feel you there, DEN/SAS could be series of the year, and I truly don’t know who I’d expect to win
It’s what happens when the league is so top heavy. It will be better once top seeds play each other.
Amazing, now please try to finish out with decent efficiency lol
MVP
Y’all can’t stay in front of nobody
National Blowout Association
OKC saw Celtics won by 32 and say hold my beer and watch us do it by 3rd quarter
Jesus what a tough shot
Bricking every shot yet still cutting like jordan
mvp dawg
I thought this series was gonna be good too since they were competitive in the regular season. Why do the Suns always disappoint everyone?
Wtf were you expecting lol. We were supposed to be a lottery team, the fact that we are even in the playoffs is crazy enough. Now you want us to win against the best team in the NBA.
Y’all did it before in this season
Elite finish damn
top 10 player of all time btw. advanced stats dont lie
This play right here is why he’s so good. He does his stop dribble and you think he needs to go backwards a bit, but his dribble still somehow goes forward. Incredible stuff
Everything about that was fun and nasty.
These upstart Thunder look good. Let’s see how far they get this year
Shai is gonna be sitting another 4th quarter
I’ll get downvoted for saying it, but watching SGA shoot 3⁄10 before this layup and have his team still up 20 points because his supporting cast is so insane just underscores to me how ridiculous the entire MVP debate is. Degree of difficulty for every other candidate is so much higher. His bad games will never sink his team, and he can just make a few baskets later on and it doesn’t matter.
so by your logic Luka shouldn’t be in the discussion since his team won a PLAYOFF GAME without him even sniffing the court 😭
I don’t think even you believe your argument lmao
he was never in the discussion anyway so you’re right I was just using your idiotic logic against you
Keep puffing your chest out!
You’re being downvoted because you’re wrong. The team is capable of this against bums like Phoenix, but did you watch the series vs Denver, Minnesota, or Indiana last year? They needed SGA to play well or else they lost.
I agree about when they play against better teams in the conference finals or finals. The point is the MVP award is based on the regular season when SGA plays on easy mode compared to the other candidates. And it still applies when they’re destroying playoff caliber opponents without needing him to play well.
Then why do most respected impact stats place him at the top of the league in terms of impact? They aren’t good offensively at all without him
Even with that flawed argument, there’s still been 15-20 games easily this season where Shai has carried them to a win.
Not to mention all the injuries they’ve had and he’s still led them to the 1 seed even with the Spurs winning 62 games
Denver was 11-6 without Jokic this year, Thunder was 8-6 without SGA, Spurs were 12-6 without Wemby.
That may be true, but you also cannot use that as a negative on an elite player. It’s outside of his control that he has the best GM and management in the league that has built the best roster in the league around him. There are still many games where SGA is the only Thunder who is shooting well, and stretches where one of JDub or Chet are injured and SGA is the only consistent scorer.
You gotta watch the games man, see who’s creating the advantage and getting the defense in rotation. It’s a team game, quantifying impact with FGM/FGA will always be inaccurate
Even when his shot’s not falling (which is rare tbf) he’s making up for it in other areas, if you think what Shai is doing isnt as or even more impressive than other MVP candidates, you are not paying enough attention
I guess, this is just one game though against a mid team (no offense, Phoenix). And you can make the same case for all the leading MVP candidates:
He’s also up for Clutch Player of the Year, your data is bad.
MVP player has one bad game in weeks
Haters:
The Thunder have also dealt with more injuries this year than 90% of the league. We finally got everyone healthy just a couple weeks ago