[Highlight] Luka kennard fouls SGA
Ref doesn’t even make the foul call until he sees the shots not going in
They do this so often. It’s crazy.
Worst part is Shai is smiling at the end like he’s pulled off the best move ever and is thinking hell yeah that’s a foul. Like the absence of shame is what makes us all wanna smack him across the jaw. Hate that he’s Canadian, I’ll never cheer for him.
he just did this with the “flagrant”. bro immediately had his hands up asking for a foul then SUDDENLY HE DIED ON THE GROUND!
The solace is Shai is such a bitch that despite him probably ending his career with 3+ rings and 3+ MVPs, nobody will ever talk about him again after his career is over. Nobody will debate where he lands in the top player debates. Nobody will remember him or his teams fondly. The mid-2020’s OKC dynasty will be remembered as “those flopping bitches everyone hated who became irrelevant when the NBA stopping allowing foul baiting.”
Been saying this. Usually mid markets that pop off are fun to root for and you can tell the general consensus that people have about them. They will literally be brought up in discussions as most boring and dirty product to watch.
Least deserving multi MVP winner in the history of the league
He’s the Drake of the NBA
Tbf the refs do this to every team and I hate it.
A foul is a foul. Just because the shot went in doesn’t make it any less of a foul. And vice versa.
It’s especially frustrating as a warriors fan cause Steph can make the most insane circus shots through contact that should be and-1s and they never get called. But I guarantee if the shot missed the ref would blow the whistle.
To be fair they do this to call less fouls overall. If it’s minor contact then they’ll wait to see if the ball goes in or not, if it does it’s not enough contact to be a foul, if they miss then the contact was enough to affect the shot and call a foul.
that makes zero sense. It just punishes people who can finish through contact.
Might as well make him earn them, my opinion.
Exactly what I’m saying. Go straight Bad Boys on him.
Hack-a-Shaq
Hack-n-SGA
Need some longest yard basketball scene type fouls to stop this kinda behavior.
Fine the refs
Haven’t the refs and NBA said this is something they do? In order to keep the game flowing more.
It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard but they are at least transparent about it being a decision.
If the League was concerned about the flow of the game, there’s a ton of different things they can do instead of this bullshit. (not attacking you, btw, just their justification)
because for a foul to be a foul it has to affect you in some way
sometimes it’s obvious when contact affects you even if you make a shot. but sometimes it’s not obvious and so you only give it on the miss
You still need more proof that it’s rigged?
Ref isn’t even in position to make the call. Luke is blocking his view
Is the foul in the room with us now?
But Tyrese said we overblowing it tho
My favorite part is it’s like he got that co-sign and dove into this shit even harder
Shaq and Chuck been complaining about fouls like this but r/nba said its just old heads hating
Don’t do that lol. That’s not the stuff this places calls old heads hating. It’s shaq’s insecurities involving good bigs and chuck making any effort he can to talk shit about the lakers that they call that
No. It never was. It almost never is when it comes to…you know.
How is that a foul. Its impossible to play defense when the opposing player can just jump into you.
That’s just how the NBA operates, offense creates contact, defensive foul. Offensive player pushes off, that’s a defensive foul, offensive player flops like a fish, you guessed it…defensive foul
Ref: “You look at him wrong, and put foot up John Brown hindparts, and call a defensive foul.”
While true, it’s only true for some people, but even superstars like Curry don’t get this whistle. There’s zero consistency.
Steph has a terrible whistle because he plays through contact and doesn’t flail his head and arms around.
And because he’s small. Refs see him get bodied or “pushed” around by bigger guys at the rim and see it as the natural order of things and only see it as him being out-physical-ed or incidental contact.
Doesn’t hold true for Brunson though, who’s a similar height and size to Steph. Think it has more to do with the “skill” behind foul-baiting that Curry just doesn’t have / play with..
And he’d average 60 if he got calls
Offensive player does the twist then pokes defensive player in the eye, you guessed it…defensive foul.
The push off is stupid, like how are you supposed to play defense on a guy who can push you off yet when you don’t get pushed off you get called a foul lmao.
I’m honestly amazed that they haven’t just crushed him. Calling a foul on me twice playing the softest possible defense in the history of the game? Fuck that. I’m taking a 26 game suspension and just laying him the fuck out. I got more riled up playing intramural sports against somebody 1/1000th as agitating
One of these days that fool will be given the Rick Mahorn/ Bill Laimbeer special by a random NBA player…
I hope Beef Stew makes Canadian chili out of him in the finals
They should ruin his career. Sick of this flop terrorist.
Y’all’s responses to dirty play being even dirtier play is interesting lol
That’s the funniest thing about this. If OKC players were playing at the Y like this, they’d get jumped 10⁄10 times. Somehow the supposed pinnacle of the sport rewards people who play the sport the worst way possible.
On top of traveling be allowed along with illegal screens, it’s like the Harlem Globetrotters. The more points and ads, the better. Free throws give you both, so even better.
Don’t forget the push offs!
That’s the core of the problem. They have made it so 1) Defensive player is not entitled to any space and 2) The definition of “legal guarding position” is impossibly high
It’s the only sport in the world that encourages a play style that makes the viewing experience worse
SGA is great, but when he moves like this and gets calls, you cannot guard him like you do others. Making it easier for him to get his shots in and harder to defend. He doesn’t have to do it, but he does it anyway.
Hard to tell if he’s great or no one’s allowed to play defense on him.
In this clip Kennard literally contorts backwards to try and avoid being jumped into and barely puts his arms anywhere near the path of the ball. He is just so obviously more worried about dodging the foul than he is about stopping the ball. Every time Shai drives this is how the defender plays him. Say what you want about the number of calls he actually gets but obviously his reputation for flopping is doing real work amongst the league.
more worried about dodging the foul than he is about stopping the ball
This is why I don’t care about Shai’s efficiency stats at all. Its easier to score when defenders are too scared to defend you. Obviously, Shai is still a great scorer but he definitely isn’t Michael Jordan level. Start calling his flops and his efficiency will drop a lot.
And you know, when you get fouled your miss doesn’t go in the statsheet. So you can keep your fg% nice and clean
Idk why FG% has been an argument too, if you can’t defend the guy properly because the calls are so inconsistent, then of course he would always have better looks
If he had to go against the thunder defense, who would the refs favor, I wonder? The guys allowed to hack, hold and push at their content, or the guy that if you stand to close he will lean into you and flail to go to the line?
Jordan has 12 playoff runs scoring 40+ points per 100 possessions. Second place player all time has 3. SGA has 0.
Damn, why are we just referring to Bron as “second place player”?????? 😂😂😂😂
I mean that’s a completely different level of player, Lebron too. Anyone who seriously believes this guy is on the level as those 2 need to be put on some watch. Old ass Lebron at 41 is outplaying the guy, prime Lebron would be averaging 38/10/9 with elite defense and beating them in 6 and there would be nothing they could do about it. I imagine Jordan would be a lot more dominant with the same spacing and whistle too
I think when you see guys doing that regularly, it’s a clear indication that there’s a rules or interpretation problem. The league made some changes when people were defending James Harden with their hands behind their backs to prevent hooking; there need to be more this offseason.
All they have to do is call the game as it was for the first 70 years of its existence. If the offensive player initiates the contact on a stationary defender, he’s not getting a whistle, period.
Then make flopping an automatic technical foul.
The NBA will never do that so quickly though because OKC would be out in the first round if they even make the playoffs and then the league would be outed as an unserious pro wrestling act where the result is determined by the refs, not actual competition.
he touched him in the back. EJECTION
Straight to jail!
Some say he whipped it
Worse than malice in the palace
MVP headbutted LK’s chest on the drive. MVP elbowed and pushed LK to create space. MVP leaned forward to initate contact. LK moved back to avoid contact.
Ref: LK fouled MVP.
I still think about Wallace holding McConnel’s hand for solid 3 seconds when McConnel HAS the ball RIGHT in front of the ref.
I’m glad somebody else remembers that one, he literally looked straight at the ref while his hand was being grabbed and the ref just looked at him. the bias couldn’t have been more blatant in that moment
Cant have the plucky Pacers win the championship man
TJ was literally looking at the ref and asking for the call as it was happening. Call never came
They compare this mothafucka to fuckin MICHAEL JORDAN. Michael would’ve been putting up Wilt numbers in the 90s with calls like these.
Shai might have the cushiest existence of any basketball player ever.
His MVPs have asterisks.
He’s the most valuable free throw shooter
“His efficiency is so good though”
Yeah, because the refs make calls like this.
Most Victimized Player
He’s Teflon coated bro
Shai has blackmail on all the refs confirmed.
Like as a neutral, how is this something you want to watch?
Where is the foul
Why would I watch an OKC playoff game? They’re all like this
Got 7fters flopping too. Whole team is wack
The “refs swallow their whistle in the playoffs” narrative has always been a myth. the one good thing the Thunder have done is exposed that. NBA reffing in the playoffs is still just as bad.
Part of me hopes that SGA and OKC are doing this because the league has been going to shit for years and they are just accelerating it to the nth degree to force a change.
Yep, tuned in and the first play was SGA flopping, immediately turned it off. Aside for being shit for basketball the game..its shit for the business.
No one likes watching Free Throw simulator for 3 hours when they can do a real basketball game for 2
Ayo spurs games have been stupidly entertaining though ngl. Yall playing hard
Same, just turned it off. No interest in watching the rest of this series. Hope you guys stomp them in the WCF.
Yeah, it’s not fun to watch. They’re such a good team and don’t even need to do this shit and they’d still win. Just tarnishing their own polished selves.
Not only do they insist on playing like clowns, but they love doing it. The whole bench is giggles and cheshire cat grins when one of them successfully flops like this. They honestly seem like they’d rather lose flopping than win straight up.
OKC is boring as fuck to watch. I want them to lose just so basketball can be entertaining again.
fr i watch every single play-in and playoff game but i gave up on theirs entirely
I don’t want to watch that garbage ass team and don’t unless they are playing my team.
I want OKC vs 76ers in the Finals so we can watch two MVPs flopping around on the floor like dying fish.
Get Haliburton to comment on this
Clown moment for hali, who usually has solid takes.
Im out of the loop, what’s this about
Was defending Shai and saying he’s not a foul baiter on tv today.
Yeah that’s definitely not true at all. He never said “Shai was not a foul baiter”.
He said that the flopping gets a bit overblown from a player perspective and that it’s become a part of our game (NBA). I’m a massive Hali fan and life long Pacer fan and that shit was disappointing and rather confusing especially given Hali nor the Pacers don’t really flop. I’m going to assume it’s just Hali being Hali and defending his friend, but don’t purposely misconstrue what he said. It was overall absolutely a confusing and L take, but he never said a thing about Shai not flopping.
They’ll all say that to not seem salty but in real time they always plead with the refs
Its because he missed, have to preserve the efficiency
Yea and all the other wide open shots he gets because people have to sag off him or get called. Its another way his numbers get inflated.
That’s the thing that rarely comes up. He’ll have a good game with a normal amount of FTs, but it’ll be because he got a few foul calls early that forced the defense to play off him later.
At some point teams need to self legislate this, a few hard as shit fouls on SGA every game will change his Playstyle
I get why teams dont do it anymore but theres a reasons alot of sports have long had enforcer players
None of these guys want to injure each other, which is something admirable about the modern game
Well except Dort
Idk SGA legit tried to fuck up AR’s arm tonight.
Yeah, I mean fuck OKC fr
exact same thing with Prime Harden
Thank you for pointing this out lol thunder fans pile on downvotes anyone bringing that point up about his “generational efficiency”
Literally this. If they don’t give him this bullshit calls. He’d avg 45% FG
NOW THATS PLAYOFF BASKETBALL
Love how SGA tried his vintage elbow push off and Kennard isn’t close enough to give him any leverage so he pivots to his vintage jumping into the defender move. Wait, not love. Hate. I hate it.
And when he jumps into him he barely even makes contact cause Luke knows what he’s doing and shifts out of the way. Still a foul apparently
Last time Devin Booker tried this he got called an offensive foul lmao
Don’t show this to jaylen brown
Jaylen brown would average like 30 FTs with this kind of whistle lol
Jaylen Brown was getting insanely soft calls the whole Boston Philly series lmao
It’s exactly why even though he’s right about Embiid flopping he’s a hypocrite
Not sure what series you watched
Hes not a career flopper. He started adapting to it this year cause he was seeing his peers getting all the calls.
His first 8 ish years in his career he majority drove in a straight line powering his way for the layup or dunk. Call or no call he just drives straight.
He has flopped half way through this season to get calls. But hes really not good at it. Its super obvious.
He doesn’t flop that much though
He’s gonna crash out
First 24 hour stream by an NBA player incoming lol
I hate when players get hyped over this shit lol
not a lot of Thunder fans commenting on this huh
was just about to post this lol
They don’t show up to these subs. Haven’t in a couple seasons. They don’t see an issue.
They will show up when they win and talk shit.
OKC fans do not know hoop.
So called mvp hasn’t shown up but can count on this
Last game felt pretty even but the whistle this game might as well have the okc logo on it
Thunder have shown that even when he plays like shit they can win by 20+
Least valuable star player ever. Antithesis of the word MVP
mark as NSFW please
Assault right there
This team will never be respected lmao
Worst league heel ever. At least Prime Warriors played entertaining basketball and Steph is 5x more fun to watch than SGA so them dominating the league is way more palatable than OKC’s pure terrorism.
Warrior could set 10000 moving screens a game and get away with it. But at the same time steph could legit get assaulted and not getting a foul call. It’s weird.
where is it
I think it’s because SGA goes up through Kennard’s arm?
Absolutely insane to call that, but that would be my guess. The league needs to seriously revisit what is and what is not a foul when the offensive player initiates
To me it’s so simple. Defender cannot significantly impede a shooting motion or elevation to the rim to shoot. Any kind of incidental contact by the defender or drawing contact from the offensive play is not grounds for a shooting foul.
Well that just makes too much sense
Nba wanted to speed up the game, now their refs cant “reasonably” keep up.
Oh shit we got blanket leeway to get calls wrong hell yeah. Now where’s that gambling money
Even if they do, the refs will only correctly call it for about a week or two before letting Shai get away with murder again.
Bro I hate this league, fire Silver into the sun for not fixing this garbage
David stern is rolling in his grave with what Adam Silver has let the league become
David Stern was corrupt as shit
I for one can’t think of any particular incidents under David Stern that have heavily favored any team in the playoffs in the last 20 years
Certainly not in the west second round…
I mean the Lakers Kings series happened on his watch… Silvers bad but Stern was shady as hell too lol
Milwaukee Philly, too
OKC will flop their way to another championship and Adam Silver won’t do anything about it. Absolute joke of a commissioner.
Sga elbows him 1 second in lol this is more offensive
You can literally see the ref watching the ball to see if it goes in. Then make the call when it doesn’t.
That’s probably the more annoying aspect of when star players flop. Refs should call it without letting the outcome affect their decision, but it happens so often after we know whether the shot will drop. Feels almost like “shit sorry you missed that, here’s a consolation prize”
Not exclusive to SGA either, there’s a ton of players who do this. Just frustrating to watch when it makes you question the integrity of the rules
Even SGA laughing
This right here is why this man shooting 50%+
Doesn’t hold a candle to wemby, Jokic and Cunningham
The NBA is dead.
Is the foul here with us?
Gone in 60 seconds
Compare this to the play where LeBron got bodychecked by Jaylin Williams under the basket.
Lebron is involved in actual collisions under the basket over and over with multiple defenders colliding with him and he so rarely gets the foul call in the same game as this is called a foul against Kennard.
this fucking sucks
You’ll go through this next round. Good luck.
They’ll maul wemby meanwhile SGA gets calls like this.
At least I think they match up well because Wemby bends the defends so much inside the perimeter that they won’t be able to go to their spots
Ref can’t even see shit from that angle. He just guessing
Shai missed? Must have been because he was fouled. This is why I don’t take any of his efficiency stats seriously. With how he plays, his misses are FTs and then defenders are cognizant of his whistle so they have to play soft against him
SGA missing? He must have got fouled.
Wemby touched the ball? Must be block, he wouldnt do goaltending.
Ausar touches the ball? Must be legal deflection, he would kick the ball.
Shai didn’t even flop lol
Didn’t flop but it was a soft call. He’s totally under a microscope 🤷🏻♂️
That’s what I mean, what the hell did the refs see to call that? He didn’t even bother to sell it because there was nothing to sell
Now to all the people here that is saying this is overblown. Along with you Tyrese. This is fucking hard to watch.
Happened in every one of our games in round 1 as well.
I don’t think the Suns or Lakers are going to eliminate the Thunder with the injuries our teams have, but having momentum and then this shit happens when your team makes a run is so demoralizing.
This exact call happened multiple times in Gillespie vs SGA, and there were posts on r/nba showing it.
Booker made sports news for calling it out, but nothing ever happened, and nothing will happen until the NBA changes its rules.
It also sucks to see younger fans wanting Booker to try to sell contact and adapt to the meta the same way SGA does.
Kennard looks like he’s not even trying to play defense!
His arms were not behind his back, foul.
OKC is just not fun to watch
fuck off bro. FUCK OKC
Playing against okc is so demoralizing. Everytine you go on mini run, they did something like this. They need to keep their cook
Flagrant 2
Guys sga is the mvp and the goat!
This is fucking unwatchable
This team could not be more dislikable
Also the nba “Why are rating down?!”
This is worse than soccer.
The NBA needs to be an actual sport. This is basically ballet with a ball bouncing around for some reason.
Can’t stand this dude man. Worst “superstar” the sports ever had
I don’t see why this guy doesn’t get laid out if they’re gonna call a foul anyway
This is why I don’t watch OKC basketball.
Thunder fans complain that SGA makes all the headlines when everyone flops and sells contacts. There’s a reason why SGA is the leading name rn. Just as it was when Harden took headlines, and Embiid took headlines. The refs give them significantly more calls than anyone else.
Incoming BBallbreakdown 39 minute video about the rulebook definition of “entropic vectors”
They need another ref on the other side or something. How can you call a foul when you can’t even see the offensive player
SGA getting “fouled” is a highlight?
Yeah checks out.
Oof this league has a serious problem
If u watch this video,then u foul SGA.
This league has become a joke. Thats not good news. This is ur MVP?
Allegation status: Unbeaten
1 game suspension. Kenard can’t be endangering guys like that.
Shameless
Bunch of pussies
Those guys defending his play earlier still here? Pathetic playstyle
Might as well foul him hard at this point.
Thunder kids are real quiet in here 🤔
god damn if Steph Castle got these calls he’d be an MVP candidate lmao
This is gonna go on the whole night, isn’t it?
Sigh