[Highlights] All the 11 fouls that were drawn by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in game 1 vs. Phoenix Suns (119-84 W).
He went 15⁄17 (88.2%) from the free throw line, playing 29:11 minutes.
He did not play in the 4th quarter.
Some are legit, some feel soft, and 1-3 of them do not look like fouls in any sense of the word.
I guess the problem many people are mad is that you see videos of other players getting smacked square in the face with no whistle while here you are getting called on because the defender was standing still with their arms down..
I think it’s both these on the offensive side and how OKC plays defense is what really gets people annoyed
If okc had to play against themselves it would cause a time space rift
you think so? never heard that opinion
It’s almost like everyone who watches it agrees
more like everyone who reads reddit repeats the same stuff they think explains something they can’t understand
Have you tried Kleenex?
have you tried winning a playoff basketball game?
Obviously
What are you even crying about?
I don’t think “ericaepic” is a player on the Detroit Pistons. It’s kinda hard to win a playoff basketball game from your couch.
Some people just have eyes and understand thunder are playing the numbers game lol
It’s always hilarious watching an Oklahoman try and act intellectually superior as if yall don’t consistently rank in the bottom 3 states for education & have one of the worst literacy rates in the country 😭 you don’t understand a thing bro relax
You have issues with your hearing? You should get that checked :)
It gets regurgitated over and over like bad chili. “It’s the soft whistle on offense and the fact Dort is an ax murderer with the shrunken head of my favorite player hanging from his belt. Bla bla bla bla. Hard stop period at the end of my sentence so you know I’m a real one who knows my stuff.”
You’re the guy who’s using hard period stops, the guy you’re replying to didn’t
you see videos of other players getting smacked square in the face with no whistle…
Don’t guess, this is the problem. Some blatantly absurd physical fouls are missed while incredibly soft fouls are called. Consistency is the key in refereeing and if they called these fouls in all games, the game would be unplayable/unwatchable.
It’s extremely evident when you watch the Spurs, but refs will sometimes not call a single foul when a big is getting hacked near the basket, but when a guard finds the slightest contact through an unnatural shooting motion, it’s an automatic two free throw
That’s always been my thing
Sometimes I watch games and feel like the refs pre-decide that they are gonna call a foul on a play and then don’t call it when they hadn’t already decided
There’s probably always a bit of something so they just treat it like game management and call shit at will
I watched Dillon Brooks do that exact high five foul to Steph for an entire 7 game series with no call and SGA gets the call every time lol unbelievable.
The one where he hooks Booker’s arm and then flails is also especially garbage. Like that’s some Prime Harden bullshit.
I think they change the high five rule this season, probably in response to the warriors series
Well the high 5 foul has been a priority this year…
Dillon Brooks himself literally drew a hi five foul on shai in this game for the and-1 4 point play..
Yeah they’re clearly the same.
acting like SGA getting that call is a sign of a preferential whistle when Dillon Brooks himself is getting it against SGA is a egg on face comment
Fighting for your life in the comment section
Why are you so desperately defensive lol your team is the defending champs, you’re beating up on a much worse team and yet you’re deeply in your feelings about it
Flairless coward…
To me that’s what it always comes down to
Its that nothing is called consistently.
Oh it’s called consistently, just not evenly
Well yeah “not evenly” is more or less the opposite of consistently in this case
Guys like SGA and Luka get these calls consistently. Extremely, extremely consistently.
I love when people lump Luka in with SGA. I watched Luka get mauled for years without getting called. Maybe its been different for the Lakers I havent watched much this season…but it wasnt remotely close to SGA whistle. There is a reason hes known for being a whiny bitch all the time. cant whine all the time if youre getting the call.
seriously…go pick a random Mav game from a couple years ago…he gets attacked every single play, but only gets a call on like 20% of them.
Luke led the league in FTA this season, has been top 3 for several seasons and averages 8.5/game for his career.
I’m grouping Luka (and Giannis if you’d like) in with the fact that they get their free throws called with pristine consistency.
My problem with Shai and Luka is the fouls that should not be fouls. I don’t think they get disproportionately more fouls, but they do get like 2-3 fouls a game that are complete horse shit.
Like if the NBA stopped calling BS fouls, I think SGA and Luka would still be leading the league in FTA
Luke led the league in FTA this season
almost like someone that takes the most shots…while being mauled every play…gets a lot of ft attempts.
Shaq gor a lot of attempts as well! he also got fouled WAY MORE than they actually called…I know watching games is tough for some people. but keep using pointless stats to try to make ypur point instead.
Luka has a more favorable whistle than SGA….
lmaoooo. OK. jfc yall just comment without watching and your only source is number of FTA.
same morons would be saying Shaq had a favorable whistle during hack a shaq era. absolute morons. Luka gets mauled nonstop.
Could you point out the soft and the 1-3 that are clearly not fouls?
Number 2 and number 11 def shouldn’t have been fouls without looking too hard (no replays makes some difficult)
It’s always interesting to me to hear reports on referee accuracy, and to see reports that reffing is the best it’s ever been based on those reports, but it doesn’t take into account what wasn’t called.
The videos that I think provide the most clarity are the “this was called, this wasn’t called” videos.
There are literally hundreds of fouls committed in a basketball game, you can’t call them all.
The NBA is rigged as fuck why are we bothering
One day you will understand its not rigged, its entertainment and is a diversion from everyday life, not life and death.
Yeah was watching the cavs game on Saturday and there was some brutal contact in that game that sometimes just didn’t get called (on both sides) and it was so ridiculous
Yup, cade got hit in the face last night and the pistons had to challenge it to get the call
Number 2 was pretty absurd, he just loses the ball while trying to clear the defender with his other arm.
Literally, yeah. The inconsistency is absolutely what bothers me the most. I know it’s hard to call at times and can be a very subjective things, but yeah I do just wish that it felt much more consistent. Being able to draw fouls doesn’t feel like it should be as much of a skill as it is.
Guy falls on the floor every play. Like come on dude. Some are legit contact, but half of them, guys like Curry, LeBron, etc. would never get those calls. 1 min into the vid, Brooks hit his hand after the shot is release and he still manages to fall to the floor even though Brooks was nowhere near his feet. Shit is pathetic.
Disgusting actually. Flopping every time and they call this player an MVP.
Casuals are going to stop watching the NBA watching this crap
I watched 100+ games a year since I was 7 in the 90s. Haven’t watched even 20 this year. Maybe im a casual, but im done with this shit unless they take flopping seriously. or at the very least start calling fouls equally for all players. game is trash now
Most valuable pussy if I’ve ever seen one
He shot 5⁄18 from the floor and his team won by 35. Tells you all you need to know.
His team won by 35 because he had 17 FT attempts and Suns were in foul trouble all game.
Nah, you didn’t understand what I said.
Wow, these are really really soft. Some are called at the beginning of the motion almost as if they were going to call stuff even before any contact already.
This is making our game worse every day.
Holy drama queen, these are literally just regular ass everyday fouls
I have seen shots like this get no calls plenty of times though.
No you haven’t because without replays this video is worthless and no one can actually tell if it’s a foul or not and it just looks like a normal call, but that’s not gonna stop anyone with an agenda, I’m so bored of you mfs, not even the playoffs can stop the whining
You could find fouls like those in every single basketball game, it’s not that big of a deal
Sure, but they arent usually all for the same guy.
Except they usually are because star players generate the majority of the fouls and are bound to get some soft ones
Careful, it looks like you triggered the OKC fans haha
It’s beautiful, they’re losing it.
A couple of them are soft but most are the result of incredibly undisciplined defense.
Spurs fan whining about soft calls…
4 minute video and you posted your comment 2 minutes after it got uploaded. Watch the video and then comment, you haters don’t even know how to do that right
You watched that shit and saw those hard fouls? The second play and third are immediately soft, so I commented? Are you able to comprehend the pause button?
Then specify, don’t just say “these are really really soft” when we’re talking about 11 fouls total and you’ve just watched 4
the later ones were way worse which is pretty funny. thats when he started falling on the ground like a bitch from high fives.
Flair up. Those calls are soft as hell and in the first few seconds you can see that already. Flair up.
Nah bro you got exposed
Me commenting live during the game, your turn.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1sphmaj/comment/oh5fygm/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Holy shit you’re pathetic lmao. I guarantee you show zero energy towards anything else in your life except hating on a basket player online lol
commented some box score numbers and think you did something😭😭
Hmm hm. Your turn then.
Y’all don’t care about the integrity of the game because you don’t watch the actual game.
We actually do, it’s y’all who do your daily pile-ons on these absolutely stupid threads.
I’m a Thunder fan, I’m already flaired up with my country
These must be 11 new fouls never seen before
What are you doing? Do not expose what the sub does? Do you actually think they watch games, or highlights or the video that is uploaded before spewing out the troll takes?
Let them complain, ignore them if you do not like it, just let them cry in peace.
Really? You watched that shit and thought those should be called? Especially in a playoff game? Also, how come it’s all the non-flairs that are out here pointing fingers at others?
He says, pointing a finger throughout this thread without even the slightest sense of irony
Yet another non flair, funny enough all the people with actual flairs seem to have an opinion other than just trolling
you spend too much time on reddit if you care this much about flair
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
I did write, and very clearly.
The very first play would be a turnover if it was any other player in the league. You can try to throw dust and try to sound smart but I don’t like the ethics of the current game the Thunder play. He flopped and baited in almost every possession of the video.
What did YOU see?
I saw 2-3 soft calls, 1 non call, and the rest were just fouls. The problem isn’t the calls Shai gets, because you can make videos like this of every single superstar any game (playoffs or not). The discussion should focus on what OKC defense can do without getting called for a foul, and this is coming from a Thunder fan. Consistency is the key of refereeing.
I don’t agree with you because your focus is on the wrong place, and you keep attacking people because of their lack of flair like if that was something on your favor
but that is not what the video is about is it? You’re trying to change the narrative here.
I do agree with you, on one side the Thunder can swipe down, SGA being one of the only players in the league allowed to do that and you basically cannot look at him or they will call a foul but that argument is not an analysis on the video.
My problem with you is that you didn’t come back to discuss basketball, it was about how many minutes I spend on the video and then cry wolf.
Stfu you are blind and insufferable, great combo!
5⁄18 and got bailed out by the refs as usual. I’m glad you enjoyed watching that.
Got bailed by the refs winning by +30
Ill die on the hill its not even the refs fault. SGA is just really good at making nothing look like contact, he makes the game really hard to referee and you have to make a split second decision of a guy thats natural shooting motion is just flailing through the air.
Jesus christ you mfs are insufferable
First 3 calls are absolute garbage WTF. and I’m just in the first 3..
Wasnt the 3rd call pretty much a purposeful foul with the clock ticking down and him beating his man? How is that garbage? I feel like the Suns wanted that call to switch possessions anyways
Lmao I just said the same shit. First 3 and I didn’t even finish the video.
That’s the refs setting the tone. Make sure nobody dares to touch that floppy cunt.
You don’t think the first one is reaching ?
soft af, especially for a playoff game. even then, the real problem is yall have 2 dudes reaching almost every play and it isnt getting called. just feels like cheating/rigging at this point to an outsider.
Looked like a pretty clear wrist grab to me.
disnt say it wasnt a foul. said it was soft af…and you ignoring the fact yall do this shit nonstop and it rarely gets called…but it gets called 100% for SGA. thats the issue. the inconsistency.
Full grab isn’t a soft call imo, I’m not arguing with you on the other side.
Why is he falling in 1:18? He is hit in the wrist or forearm. Defender is not even close to him.
Tells you all you need to know. Pathetic shit.
He was asked about his landing one time and he said it is to minimize injuries and to not land awkwardly
He was hitting while mid-air, doesn’t take a lot of contact to lose your balance in such a scenario
There’s no way you’re that stupid, come on. He didn’t even get bumped on his body. Like if you truly believe that then I’m really doubting you’ve ever played basketball/sports before.
Have you played basketball before? It really doesn’t take that much contact to lose balance when your mid air.
As requested by u/Igmister1
Thank you! u/mrbuckbuck
I think it’s funny that a Thunder fan requested this thinking it would prove that the fouls on SGA were legit, but there are comments complaining about them.
It basically shows you that people see what they want to see.
There’s no truly unbiased commenters in here, everyone came into this thread with their mind made up one way or another.
That’s bull. Many people including myself said some fouls were legit. But others weren’t even close to having enough contact to warrant free throws.
Someone with a nuanced take is the top comment lol.
almost every play he falls onto the floor like he has to sell them
How these people be talking shit about Jamal’s 15 the other night?
Of the 13 players that averaged 25+ PPG this season, Jamal had by far the lowest FTA.
If Jamal got free throws all the time & it happened again in the playoffs (like SGA), then he would deserve the hate too. But that is not the reality of the 2025-26 NBA season.
So you guys just don’t like when Shai gets that many…
Jamal’s first foul was his ankle almost broken by McDaniel’s and SGA’s first foul looks like its going to be a turnover but refs call it.
🤮 MVP? 🤮
He is so frustrating to watch cause his game can be beautiful but the foul baiting antics are just awful
SGA gets the WIZARD BAM whistle in the playoffs 🔥🔥
Dumbass take. Bam was getting murdered compared to these calls.
This guy is a joke. One of the most fraudulent MVPs in recent history flopping around like a fish every play. Disgraceful.
Shai is a bum and nobody enjoys this kind of ball
The leagues best player and most dominant team are physically painful to watch.
Silver: We‘ll use mag lev trains to put a team in space
atleast my mvp is fun to watch 😂
This guy shot like shit the whole game and if he doesn’t get bailed out he’d have a stinker. 5⁄18 and imagine if they don’t call those extra 11, some are foul, sure but most are weak fucking whistles. That whistle makes the NBA worse.
I have fun watching Shai, if you cherry pick all his fouls drawn then yeah it might not be as fun
I don’t watch OKC because watching ref rigged foul baiting bs is lame as fuck.
It’s like the refs call shit just to make him not look stupid.
I mean unfortunately this is legit the logic the refs use sometimes. “Oh he missed a mid range shot, he must’ve been fouled”, or “oh he fell down awkwardly, he must’ve been hit by the defender”
Garbage
Un watchable
The thing that the first or second best player in the league is a foul baiter and rules exploiter should make the NBA reflect a lot.
Do you imagine seeing a child saying “I want to be like SGA, baiting fouls and scoring a lot of free throws!”
theres nothing you can do about it, the nba always picks the best scorer in an era and give them generational whistle to boost the viewership and have narratives around the nba to attract more people. its always like ~5years of bullshit whistle and foul baiting merchant type play until the nba finds a new more attractive scorer and then the whistle disappears and goes to the new said player. harden had that whistle for 5 years then they gave it to embiid for 5 and now its sga turn to have it. its gonna be like this for 2 more years then it will change.
these players are very skilled but the nba push is very blatant unless you believe sports is a fairy tale where nothing is rigged. worst part is that they dont even need that whistle cuz of how good they are.
Never happened to Steph
He didn’t need that shit because he truly was a generational scorer by his own merit rather than bending the rules.
Is your theory that they decided to give the whistle to the quiet Canadian dude, who didnt have draft hype, playing for Oklahoma after getting traded there from a large market team?
Feels like the NBA is desperate to have headline stat lines.
[removed]
No home and away broadcasts for this year’s playoffs of is genuinely one of the lamest things about this new TV deal.
Yeah I loved to watch the games with local broadcasts on league pass. It sucks they removed it but money talks.
I counted 2 ref-ball fouls, 3 flops. 6 legit fouls personally.
Brutal brutal watch
Yea the wizards have always been a terrible team to watch
I’d rather watch Bam break the scoring record against us on repeat than watch SGA shoot 17 FT’s a game.
Well that was probably the biggest thing that’s happened for your franchise in nearly 50 years so I cant say im surprised.
He’s the NBA’s chosen one
This video does show how gross his whistle can be.
Seriously, how do you guard someone if you can get jumped into and it gets called? Teams are going to start fouling Shae hard like its the 80s.
This man doesn’t care about ethics
As good as SGA is, he will never have that superstar factor. Which is wild to think about considering his stats and already having 1 ship.
lmao and they have the audacity to call murray foul baiter, this is a playoff games btw and yet the slightest contact is called a foul.
My rule of thumb is that if SGA falls over it probably wasn’t much of a foul. This video does nothing to change my opinion.
People used to not care as much because as soon as playoffs came around the refs started eating their whistle for guys like Harden/Embiid/Luka/etc. For whatever reason playoff whistle karma has never hit Shai, still gets an extremely soft whistle and it’s leading to a lot of resentment and for good reason.
the second one is the kinda shit that drives most of us nuts. Book is playing good D, Shai pushes off twice and then loses the ball and the refs blow the whistle
If he’s gonna get those bitch ass calls anyway…..maybe let him feel it.
SGA’s teammates do not get the same whistle that he does and some get more contact from defenders in the same plays.
I really dislike how for some of these, the defender would have to actually jump out of the way of the defender to not get called for a foul. They are making good defense a foul.
As a rockets fan, I obviously cheered for harden when he foul hunted. Before that I hated Ginobli for doing it. Now Shai has fully mastered it.
It’s something the nba needs to fix. Because Shai would still be the MVP without being rewarded for foul hunting because he would focus his energy on something else if it wasn’t rewarded.
So not sure how but the nba needs to find a way to de-incentivize foul hunting. It is just so unbearable to watch and not in the spirit of the game. We want to see fluidity and team basketball.
I do hope a euro league competitor comes in and threatens NBA. Something that just forces the nba to do something. Especially if the elite players want to be in Europe to stay near home.
Best thing for the NBA to do would be to instruct referees to favor the defense on 50⁄50 calls and offensive flops. If the offensive player falls to the ground on marginal contact, that would put his team at a disadvantage on defense or even give up a fast break.
Some of these are ridiculous but for real when are these guys going to learn to not swipe at SGA. Every time he will get the call.
But then they can’t play defense and the glazers will be in here talking about him being better and more efficient than MJ
Just wait until gen alpha tries to compare SGA to MJ…
Doesnt seen any worse than Jamal Murray’s game the other day
SOFT AF! 3RD FOUL IS SO SOFT HAHAHA. WTF JAFAR HAHA.
For real. And these clowns will dick-ride him. I refuse to acknowledge him alongside Kobe LeBron and Jordan.
I personally counted 3 egregious flops. The one you mentioned, the one where lands in the defenders close out on purpose, and another where he barely gets tapped going to the right baseline and he snaps his head back like a lil wimp.
Tbf, 8 out of them were… 6 legit and 2 that the refs just gave him freebie even though he didn’t flop. So I expected worse. But like, at least earn your fouls. Pump fake them with actual skills, and let em run into you on their own without embellishing wimp-ness like Kobe used to.
but this jafar d riders is blind af, he’s a flopper!!! f mvp votes!! he’s not the mvp.
I’m with you brotha. They need to getoffhisdickerson 😂 it’s like he don’t even try to actually get a 3 point play. He just rather get the guaranteed 2 FTA devoid of honor
You’d think refs watch tape and see how many are soft/incorrect and just start blowing less
I don’t get it, it’s so easy to see the flops when he flings all his limbs in different directions
B2B MVP btw ❤️
SGA is the first player to win FMVP before NBA Finals.
F means Free throw btw
They were calling fouls on both sides all game, the refs were being soft as fuck. There was a foul between Brooks and Dort that should have been a play on, and multiple fouls called on us shouldn’t have, and vice versa
I do think SGA has mastered the offensive flop, but the biggest reffing issue to me is how inconsistent calls are game to game and sometimes quarter to quarter. I feel like a 1⁄3 of my posts in NBA are “I don’t know what a foul is anymore”.
2 non-calls and 4 50⁄50 calls. Pretty favourable but nothing egregious, I don’t think he did anything “unethical”, just took the points he was given.
Falling down for no reason at 2:40?
Foul happens
Not hard enough for me
😩
Flair checks out.