[Highlights] Chet Holmgren, great headsnap
So boxing out is a foul now. Great product nba.
I’ve never seen a team institutionalize flopping and foul baiting and working the refs like this OKC team. It’s not just Shai– it’s an organizational philosophy… disgusting watch.
And the worst part is they foul soooo much and it gets called “great defense.”. If that same great defense was played against them they get 20-30 free throws
That’s a part of their organizational focus on working the refs… just foul constantly and from the beginning of the game and normalize it. And for whatever reason, refs have been letting teams play for most of the first quarter and only calling egregious fouls. Been that way all year… would love to see the data on 1st quarter foul calls versus 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.
Yea the panthers did it in hockey too. They just fouled at an unfathomable rate so the refs literally couldn’t call it all.
They could… but they would never do that.
My crackpot theory was republicans want the NBA to make oklahoma champions. Is that what they’d call sportswashing lol
The usually get that so it would be like 50
Yup was already infuriating to watch them do that against the Pacers and seems like now the whole team does it lmao. I remember someone was holding TJs hand (for a long time) in front of the ref and the ref didn’t call anything.
Don’t forget Dort elbowing Halliburton in the throat and knocking him to the floor off ball with no call.
Natural stealing motion find a new slant
Cason Wallace. TJ gestured to the ref mid play like wtf he’s holding me, then Cason stole the ball and made a layup. That play still pisses me off and I’m not even a Pacers fan.
They been watching soccer
I think they are worse than soccer at this point.
Speed is also very different in soccer. Big difference between a high speed collision, and jostling for positioning in terms of the forces applied to each other.
Just told my son this morning “Alex Caruso is everything about basketball you don’t want to be.”
Hartenstein doesn’t get enough hate for his flopping too
That is their culture. They are coached to do it. The entire philosophy that puts them head and shoulders above every other team in the league is their lack of respect for the game.
This shit is coached. It’s top down.
The fact that Doris legitimizes a horrible call makes it worse
I mean Doris Burke is an idiot so it tracks
NBA does that on purpose
And her voice is also kind of annoying
If I hear Richard Jefferson or Doris I’m muting
Tbf she also protested several terrible calls this game.
fucking hate her and ESPN allowing her to broadcast at this point
Did the same shit to Marcus Smart a couple nights ago
Smart got called for boxing out this series as well. It’s stupid.
It is bot a great product but people still watch it and they make money so why stop. Wish yall were capable of boycotting one year instead of complaining every single day.
Snipers out there.
You got Bron out there doing what he does at 41, then you got these OKC cats on some soccer shit lol.
These fouls are demoralizing, and it’s crazy because OKC is talented enough where they don’t need to do this crap to win
I watch both sports, and honestly I think the NBA has a way bigger problem with flopping than soccer does.
There’s flopping in soccer, but there’s also bone-crunching tackles that are considered fair. If a defender times the tackle well and gets the ball, the ref won’t call it, even if it was a hard challenge.
Yeah its kinda funny watching people talk who have obviously never played or maybe even watched soccer(Football as we call it across the pond) in their life except for some clips.
Nba flops way more than soccer.
Also in soccer the majority of flopping is because the god fucking awful refs (worse than NBA by far) never call real infractions if the player getting fouled doesn’t react. Players have been forced into it by inconsistent reffing.
In the NBA the players are just trying to game the rules to their advantage by creating something out of nothing. It’s so bad I’m 50% convinced the refs call it like that to win money on bets.
I dunno I’m an Arsenal fan and I’ve gotta say they go down at the slightest touch. Drives me up a wall.
Oversimplifying here but embellishment in soccer doesn’t have the same impact where it immediately equates to points
Right and they don’t count fouls, so it’s not like you’re also taking a key player off the pitch.
“Accumulation” yellow cards are a thing. Do enough minor fouling and you don’t need to foul egregiously to get a yellow card
But do they get as many calls as in NBA ? There was a time id say yes. But its been years now that players can be penalized for simulations.
Yeah the refs are much better with it in the EPL. There are probably even times when the falling is justified but not called but the refs get sick of certain players flopping earlier in the match.
I wonder if the relative frequency of calls impacts the level of embellishment. Like if an 80s NBA crew reffed game 3, would Thunder players start blading like wrestlers?
Gunner as well. But I gotta give Haaland some respect for the incident against big Gabby Sunday. He’s annoying but at least he doesn’t fall over by the slightest breeze
Oh yeah 100%. Even outside of the headbutt, he could have spent all game just falling down but he straight up played rugby with no complaints.
Don’t worry for the first two weeks of next season it’ll be called correctly
Are we sure about that bc we’ve only seen them play under the halo of ref bias
On some soccer shit? The tables have turned. The apprentice has become the master. This is common NBA product.
they don’t need to do this crap to win
I’m going to need them to prove that
Nah I think they do. Without it SGA would get constantly face guarded instead he gets to play in his own little bubble, their stick man would get pushed around like the soft bitch he is, and Dort and Caruso would foul out in the first quarter.
How do you make THAT connection? LeBron made the “sniper in the building” move mainstream
Sure but for like 10% of the time when the other 90% he was a rhinoceros bull dozing his way through the lane, being banged on by entire teams at the same time
Yeah LeBron’s been a flopper his whole career
These kids don’t know he used to be called “leflop”
Lakers have the best whistle in the league and Luka leads the league in FTA, this is classic throwing stones in a glass house
I’ve been conflicted about whether to say anything, because I feel like Michael Patrick Porkins could win it even without the oral.
Basically John Wilkes Booth on the court with him
This is why, Thunder fans. Your whole team does it.
NBA needs a reason for people to watch a small market team.
If no body loves them, then you need a reason to hate them.
/conspiracy
As a sonics fan I need no more reasons lol
100%, FOKC
It’s also partially because even though SGA is very talented, he has zero charisma. Nobody on their team really gives anyone a reason to like them.
Yeah, they’re boring. I like Chet though, the way he talks is just funny
I hate watched the Warriors for years because no matter how much I hated them they were exciting to watch.
I don’t watch OKC because they’re just annoying and it’s not entertaining basketball. They’re all good, but the style of basketball they play is bad TV.
Why would I want to watch this, I don’t even want to hate watch this
Yeah, except I refuse to watch this garbage. It’s just not basketball, and I like basketball not whatever this kabuki bullshit is.
Exactly. OKC team is talented. No doubt about it. But this really cheapens what they accomplish.
Surely OKC fans see these replays right? Yes, there will be egregious calls each night but OKC consistently gets the better of it.
OKC is Michael Patrick Porkins father
always gonna root for them to crash and burn
At this point in the development of major sports leagues i think we can confidently say that poor reffing is part of the profit model
Nothing seems to approach the level of engagement that bad reffing gets
NBA is all about drama. WWE like
I have had zero interest in watching this OKC series. It’s the one series I haven’t watched a game for so idk. Eventually you will just not care to watch when it’s the same story every time
I watched 5 minutes last night and I wish I was you. Won’t get those back, was far better served watching the Pitt with the missus.
I watched 5 minutes last night
yup same. turned it off and picked up a book. I can’t even read.
I picked up a book just to hit myself with it.
SGA got 2 extra free throws from that
Turned it off after the Booker “offensive foul” on Caruso, bullshit call.
I waited 30 seconds longer than that for the refs to call a phantom foul on some Suns guy, the kind of call OKC gets but nobody else does.
Yet okc fans think nba fans dont understand why many nba fans dont like their team. Id rather watch WWE if I want to see people act like their getting hit.
1000%. Ive been glued to these playoffs, have only seen clips from OKCs game, most of which look like this. Its bad.
I have to give the MLB credit.
They literally use a computer to correct them now on pitch challenges. It’s been amazingly refreshing.
MLB deserves a ton of credit, they’ve made several changes in recent years to improve their product and it’s worked. It’s faster and more exciting to watch.
Fuck the Manfraud runner, but when the often militantly traditionalist MLB is evolving faster than the NBA, that’s how you know something is very wrong in the priorities of Silver.
This, MLB has been willing to change for the better.. for the most part. I think the ABS system can already be written down as a success, same with the pitch clock, bigger bases, throwover limits, etc..
I can’t blame the ref for this play, they need to watch half a dozen different things and a guy pretending to be hit in live action looks a lot like a guy actually getting hit in live action.
The only way to stop this is to be extremely aggressive with reviews for flopping and giving out technicals to the point where players don’t try this shit anymore.
If the league actually wanted this fixed they could do it very easily. Doesn’t even have to slow down the game. Start assessing flops after the game with an increasing punishment. After x flops, you start getting suspended for each subsequent flop (like techs or flagrant points).
But at this point it can just be assumed that the league wants this as it drives engagement.
Poor regulation has been part of the profit model for decades now.
My dad started to hate the NBA like 20 years ago, and it wasn’t until recently when I started to understand why.
He just fell down lol
Fooling the refs is a core part of the game now. The league had a chance to stop it. Now even the announcers acknowledge it. The call it skillful. It’s fucking depressing.
My favorite is when they show replays of SGA jumpers where he so blatantly pushes off without it being called, and the announcers awkwardly dance around it while praising him.
It happens on every single national broadcast of a Thunder game, an egregious push off that refs at some point just decided is almost never worth calling against SGA, and some hack like Doris Burke going “well you see the off arm extended a bit, but when SGA is cooking like this you aren’t stopping him” as his arm is fully stiff arming the defender in slow motion
“A master at creating space!”
Doris saying he “releases” the contact pissed me the fuck off
“He fights through the contact (that he initiated)”
Always love the “push off, then jump into the defender that’s getting back into his defensive space” move. Pure basketball
I was watching the Celtics game and they were showing someone driving can’t remember who now. They were literally ramming their shoulder into the defenders chest so hard it probably would’ve sent me into the second row. If a defender makes any contact with an offensive player it’s a foul. I’d also like to point out that if the defensive player fouls over magically that becomes a foul even though the official NBA rulebook does not mention that at all. It’s contact to a defender in legal guarding position. Those shoulder barges to create space? Literally a charge.
And if the defender went down it would have been a no call and the ref would be doing the bullshit “get up” hand motion.
Depends on the defender. Smart used to get those calls all the time.
“A crafty veteran move”
God forbid you brace for the push off otherwise you’re getting called
They’ve been showing this promo for ESPN during the broadcast, the first clip is SGA literally just shoving the defender off of him with his left hand before shooting.
Part of it is the refs looking for any excuse to call a foul OKCs way.
Like what happened to the flopping penalty? They never use it anymore
Refs actually had to pay attention to the entire game, not just the guy with ball and the on-ball defender. The effort (and some players constantly bitching) wore them out within 2 whole weeks. I think about those 2 weeks a lot.
Don’t the refs see the replays after though? Like if I was a ref and kept being made a fool by these dudes I would just refuse to call anything ever for them.
Meanwhile playing questionable as fuck physical defense on the other end.
Legion of Boom “they can’t and won’t call everything” mentality. At this point it isn’t even on OKC anymore, it’s on the league and the refs. They’re just rightfully exploiting it.
And even then the LoB played a type of football that was played before the 2003 (or 2004? It was because the Patriots kept manhandling Colts wide receivers). This is just ticky tack bullshit.
Bro initiates all of the contact, briefly pulls his arm, then flails as the same arm that he lifted from the defender is higher than chest range and acts as if it hits him in the face.
Im fine if refs miss calls but if they call this and after the fact realize he acted to get a whistle, then he loses every benefit of the doubt afterwards. Im not talking in a single game vacuum. Do shit like this and you lose every benefit of doubt as a player. But in reality, this is a league issue and not even a ref one. The league can address this if they wanted by altering rules for more defined contact and more refs. No reason 3 is the norm unless we use cameras with a ref in real time who can also alter calls immediately.
Gravity is a bitch.
Also looks like Chet kinda pulled the left arm.
After grabbing dudes arm and pulling him to the left lol
For the Thunder, this is a philosophy taught down to the last man. They have taught everyone of their players to act like this to draw fouls and it’s working.
I think we’re going to see boxouts effectively be made illegal as players figure out you can flop against them. Sengun got a ridiculous call against Smart last game too.
It’s become a problem anywhere there’s contact between players. That 5th foul on Jake was ridiculous. Sengun felt contact and immediately threw his arms and head back like he got blind side blocked
I thought he was referring to the one that shoulda been an over the back on Sengun
Pretty sure that’s what they were referring to because that one was crazy work.
Sengun literally jumps on top of Smart and gets the call. Fucking ridiculous
Maybe one of the best box outs I’ve ever seen. And they called a foul on Smart. These mfers don’t even know the rules
This is what the rest of the NBA is talking about, Thundies
Not sure why this comment section is appealing to thunder fans. Those hillbillies relish in the foul baiting and being hated
Doubt they have access to the internet
Lmao Thunder fans are such wild losers, it’s crazy. I guess it’s good they have basketball.
Well, it’s Oklahoma. And bandwagoners
They live in Oklahoma City. If they don’t have a good basketball team, they have nothing.
As a suns fan, I acknowledge that we’re by far the inferior team in this series, and I think that’s pretty clear to everyone. Does OKC really have to pull shit like this on top of it against a much inferior team?
Absolutely they do, they don’t know how to play without the court tilted in their favor
They’re even worse against teams they match up evenly against. That’s when Shai really turns up the foul baiting.
This team has zero shame
They play the game of acting not the game of basketball. Should be punished severely to discourage it.
Basketfall
It’s honestly ridiculous. Do they get coached on how to flop effectively or something?
Yes
I’d love to be a fly on the wall of their training facility on flop Friday
Basketball gods will catch up to them. One of them is gonna get hurt flopping so hard eventually.
Thunder are the least entertaining good team I think I’ve ever watched the last couple years.
Fr it’s such a boring/frustrating thing to watch
Crazy people were talking about the C’s ruining the game with their 3’s when OKC been doing this just as long.
Must of been the wind
Ok sorry about this, but do you actually think it’s must « of » been instead of « have » ?
I’ve seen that mistake made multiple times and I don’t understand how people can make it.
People can’t read or write at a highschool level. It’s been a thing for over two decades now
That’s more like elementary school level
It’s because of the way we pronounce it as the contraction, “must’ve”. It sounds closer to “must of” than it does to “must have”.
People spell things phonetically. It sounds like ‘must of’ to their ear so they use it. This is not a baffling thing. I’d say it’s pretty obvious why the error is made. If you thought about it, I’m sure you could come up with the answer.
People speak the language a lot more than they write it. It’s the same thing with fucking up their/there/they’re.
being a thunder fan, must you defend all the shit your team does? lmao funny thunder defenders in the comment section as always.
Weak af. This Thunder team is a disgrace. The refs fall for this garbage too.
What a pro wants
What a pro needs
Whatever makes pros happy sets them free
Thunder fans in here watching a completely different team from the looks of it
Disgusting. They have great leadership, this team. They follow him. 🤮
Chet trying to take the head snap mantle from Luka while he’s hurt smh
What even is this? Silly Thunder Floppers.
If the Suns get down 3-0, in game 4 they should just go out there fouling so hard that OKC doesn’t “need” to flop.
Wasn’t there supposed to be fines for flopping?
That lasted all of one day lmao
Don’t worry we got a flopping tech last night
ya know the usual, nba implements some change. Refs or league enforce it for the first few weeks and then its gone
Why are they pulling this shit on an 8 seed?
Because it’s not a game by game strategy that they employ when needed.
It’s part of their organizational meta, like making layups or hitting free throws. This shit is coached and reinforced.
OKC is unbearable to watch. People should check out the NHL playoffs. It’s been awesome.
Thunder ball
What a loser
I called him out for flopping in the game thread & had like 10 Thunder fans reply denying it & playing whataboutism lol
OKC games are straight up unwatchable unless you’re an OKC fan.
Left arm push off according to the commentator lmfaooo
Even if it was correct and it was a pushoff the head motion is so glaringly obvious. They didnt call a pushoff, they called him flinging his head back like he got shot lol.
Daigneault obviously coaches this. It’s organizational
I mean OKC fans can bitch all they want, but what other team plays like this?
Like when I watch the Celtics tonight, you won’t see guys egregiously flopping to the ground with basically zero contact. The worst I saw was Derrick White last game selling what was already 100% an illegal screen. He just sold it a bit more so the refs actually called it.
I hated watching when Marcus Smart would do stuff like this, and I would hate if any of the current team did it. How do you guys root for an entire team of jokers that foul bait?
I am not tuning into any thunder games these playoffs. Hopefully others do the same
EDIT: glad to see all the triggered thunder fans
The whataboutism about Brunson is stupid. Does he flop and foulbait? Yes. But so do a lot of other players. None quite like SGA tho and the thunder as a whole. And as a team they are officiated at a different standard than anyone else, on both offense and defense.
Also there’s a difference between exaggerating real contact/fouling to get the call and whatever it is the thunder do to game the system.
They’re a super talented and deep team so it’s completely unnecessary
OKC is insufferable. Would rather any other team winning this one.
Can someone explain what the Thunder Flopper is doing?
Why do you guys waste your time watching this crap?
Unethical.
OKC continues to be the most unlikable team in all of North American sports. In other news, water is wet and the sky is blue.
If you have 3 officials and two nba broadcasters who can’t see this shit for what it is, then the nba is actually in trouble. League is cooked.
Look, OKC is a great team. But OKC fans, this shit is both pathetic and embarrassing
This shit is pathetic and embarrassing
even Harden puts more effort
Looking like Abe Lincoln at the Ford Theater there
According to average NBA users an elbow to the throat is incidental contact
I mean Holmgren is a big man, so it’s not about guards and centers getting treated differently like some suggest ….
They are making games literally unwatchable.
#STOP REWARDING THIS SHIT
OKC is a fucking disgrace to watch.
SGA been teaching them boys how to hoop!
Check the T on booker. T up for walking
This is why I don’t watch. I never watch OKC games and if I think they’re just going to be gifted a title again why would I care about the rest of the playoffs? This is the least I’ve watched in a decade.
Doris commentating like that whistle was justified is just shameful.
I sure hope wemby can come in and give these grifters a good ol fashion belt to ass in ethical basketball
NBA should fine players for flopping after the game if there’s clear video evidence of flopping.
You can’t lead with your fucking elbow when you’re boxing out, you dumb fuck.
Okc is whack
Bro could’ve been shot and it wouldn’t be as dramatic. Do the Thunder players take lessons from stun guys?
Most of their team does this shit and they go mug people on defense.
This sport fucking sucks now thanks to poor officiating
Maybe if he weighed more than 60 pounds, dripping wet, fully clothed with a chiko roll stuffed in his top pocket, he wouldn’t fall over when a stiff breeze goes his way
I didn’t know pulling the chair on a box out was a thing
All my homies hate OKC. 100% from hating OKC is odee shooting foul bait
Start throwing pennies and nickels at referees like they do in Europe
Suns should really foul them game 3, they’re already getting all these little ticky tack calls, might as well get your money’s worth and make sure each player feels the floor.