LeBron argues with Caruso during the game: “Every fucking call. AC fuck that, I don’t want to hear that shit.”
NGL loving this mic’d up LeBron series
The only subscription service I’d actually pay for is one that lets us listen to the players shit talk refs and each other all game.
I too would pay good money to mute Stan Van Gundy.
Mute Van Gundy is a movement I could get behind.
Give me Burke as well and Im paying triple
N word bomb Lebron would do plat numbers on tiktok
N word bomb lolol.
Gotta pick one. N word or n bomb but the combo is cracking me up.
N word bomb is like how George W. Bush has to say nuclear weapons after his mishap
Reddits too young they only know him as a painter
really captures playoff intensity, i could only imagine when he was really in the hunt in his prime.
AC and Bron bromance ended 💔
Nah on the court, its all business
off the court, its chill
Bron raised that boy and this is how he thanks him?
Gonna teach Bronny how to score on Caruso now
He wasn’t made to play the son.
The student has become the master baiter of the refs
It’s his second child, he should be softer. Raising Kyrie… as a dad it was really tough on him
He played a parental role for him
Kyrie Driving PTSD
Nah since AC went to the Thunder he’s turned into a total scumbag.
Ive done a complete 180 on him, he used to be my favorite player in the DeBallZach Bulls era
I have his jersey and its becoming hard to defend him at times lol
He has gotten a bit harder edged rather beyond simply competitive. It’s impressive watching him guarding LeBron with such intensity, skill, and strength. A menacing presence this postseason.
no he’s just now playing for the team your team is playing in the playoffs
Got no problem with Dorian Finey Smith when he played us.
Holy fuck this didn’t get downvoted???
To be clear, I agree. I’m just…surprised.
I thinks it’s all the pregame cocaine he does now.
Well I guess that would explain all the yapping at the refs
Lmao scumbag. Relax, he ain’t Dort.
He’s white Dort
Yeah wasn’t doing this on the Lakers, suuuure. He had the white Lakers role player PR buff, wasn’t going to be questioned then.
Exactly he was literally the same player. But they loved it when it was beneficial to their team. Caruso plays hard D and does foul a lot, but theyre not going to call everything esp when you have pedigree
He wasn’t and he wasn’t doing it in Chicago. Even Bulls fans are saying similar things.
AC with the “I don’t know what you talking about” look
Lol they competing. You never talk shit to your friends?
It was actually valid for that quarter lol. It felt like every possession ends up with okc free throw.
Lebron should have gotten an and 1 before this foul but refs didnt even think about but gave free throws for ajay mitchell.
That third quarter has to be the shittiest officiated quarter this playoffs.
Bron getting 5 FTAs in 2 games should tell you how this series is being officiated lol
Isn’t it 4? 😭
Pretty sure he was 0-1 in game 1 and 4-4 in game 2 so he’s had 5.
How generous of them
So what you’re saying is LeBron had 4x more calls this game than last? Ref bias showing here smh
No he had twice as many calls…
Bro no way His whole career the refs never gave him calls
U can see he’s mad. His early days he never fucking flopped and mowed people over. I know he does now but you have to…
I wish young LeBron was here he would tear this team and asshole
And a bunch of bullshit on the floor calls for the Lakers too, which completely fucked up their momentum. I don’t understand how OKC gets such a good whistle like this
presti has compromising photos of adam silver
It an embarrassing photo of Adam at the Christmas party.
He looked so bald and emaciated.
Vascularity off the charts
Silver is in the Epstein files
Refs had OKC -15.5 pretty obvious imo
Read Donaghys book this is how it’s done
All their players are skinny and long. Easy to sell that shit to make it look dirty. LeBron has that mass so they think it’s okay to push him
Chet gets knocked over if you look at him sharply
tap his titty and his jaw falls off its crazy
I can’t wait to see Wemby owns that bitch again
Not dort lmao
any time we had a little momentum it was just another terrible call or giving okc free fouls to get away with. like sure you gotta play through it but they just get to do things other teams dont do, combined with getting every foul after they miss a contested shot. i swear 5 times this game they waited for a thunder player to miss a contested layup and as soon as they missed its a foul call.
i get that we have a good whistle against most teams but what the thunder get to regularly do is crazy. and i dont blame them, id fucking do it all game too if i didnt get called for it.
It’s a combination of a bunch of things. Non-conspiracy, OKC flops and they’re really good at it. Officiating is hard and the game moves fast. Conspiracy, dynasties are good for the league because it gives fans an enemy and people hate-watch and post about stuff on social media. Also: gambling and betting lines.
If you’re genuinely curious, google Albert Sanders Jr.
the refs are so obviously favoured to OKC
I, for one, am ready to go back to the era of hard physical basketball again. If OKC is going to do it fuck it let’s have everyone do it too.
I think that’s the problem, it doesn’t go both ways. They flop egregiously so you can’t play physical on them
Idc Im not a Laker fan but the shit SGA gets calls for is just crazy I don’t really see anyone else getting those calls sometimes. He’s obviously a great player but the bs needs to stop and the league needs to start punishing flops and stop with the foul baiting too.
We all know it when we see it and it’s not basketball so there’s zero reason it can’t be changed.
The best way I can relate to it is soccer. They play like a top European national team on offense and a small Copa America national team on defense and I think that’s where the hatred comes from. I think people blame the refs way too much but the style of OKC on both sides is so contrasting vs teams like Minnesota + Detroit that are small Copa America national team on both sides
LU DORT = GABRIEL (Arsenal)
FUCK GABRIEL AND FUCK LU DORT.
I’ve been waiting for the OKC = Arsenal comparison. (Fuck Gabriel btw)
They play like American football on defense and international football on offense.
They’re going to flop, may as well make it real
I been said let your third string bench depth come in for 30 seconds and earn a flagrant.
If we’re letting everybody do anything to win, might as well take it to its logical conclusion.
I do not think you need to escalate it to dirty shit. But you absolutely can and should use the fouls of the guys on the bench who don’t matter to the rotation. They’re getting the free throws anyway. Rest your important dudes, go use the fouls of guys you won’t need to close the game, and make them uncomfortable.
Fuck it, I dare them foul out the entire lakers starting lineup while looking the other way with OKC.
These games are too important to throw one away to do that. You can do it without getting guys into foul trouble. But I get what you mean. You’re still probably gonna be doing that after burning the other dudes fouls. You just wanna make you point obvious before LeBron is the one called.
Which is why they are one of the easiest teams to hate in basketball. Really hope the Spurs whack them.
They gotta send some players out just to get hard fouls. If they will call everything anyways
The Pistons do play pretty physical defense. One of the few teams that has the personnel to do so.
The problem with wanting to play this way is actually being able to play this way lol.
And not like OKC doesn’t foul a ton either. (Fairly certain Pistons do as well)
I’m rooting for you guys out of the east. Please smother OKC. Surely the refs wont call everything, right? Right?
Honestly it’s possible the only way we might be able to get a fair whistle is if they play the Knicks. A New York title would do work for the NBA, and Hart and Brunson know how to play the refs well. KAT might fuck it up though.
kat would foul out in the first quarter lmao
He’d rack up 2 in the first 2 plays lmao
The problem is they don’t have offense outside of Cade. Tobi ain’t fuckin doing it.
🗣️Basketball is a contact sport.
We aren’t trying to get concussions out here or straight body check people, but Jesus Christ it’s the playoffs. As Charles would say, “let a man bang another man”
I watch San Antonio play the Wolves and it’s like I’m watching a different sport. Yeah the FTA might be close, but the fouls that are being called are so much different
Pistons already play very physical
the only problem with this is that we have more players on our team capable of doing this than others.
we can afford foul trouble. with other teams, if their best defender picks up two quick ones for being physical, they’re not getting replaced with a Caruso or a Cason Wallace.
Dort could foul out at half time and we’d still have multiple NBA all-defensive players on the court lol
Flair check a out. But I agree
I think a Detroit/OKC finals would be wild. Gimme the most physical team in the league with the most ethical superstar against the sneakiest and floppiest team in the league.
Yeah. We just need to get vampire sliver and the refs on board.
The problem is that when everyone else does it they call it a foul. I want them to play on but only works if you’re play on for both teams and we stop calling obvious flops. If i can see it was a flop from my couch then so should a ref.
At this point, it’s like almost every opposing player and every opposing coach in the NBA agree the thunder get reffed in a different way. You can’t even deny it anymore when so people in the league are saying the same thing. So why do refs favor OKC out of all teams. It seems like a random team to favor
I don’t think there’s any conspiracy or anything, OKC is just taking the logic of “they won’t call every foul” to the maximum degree on defense.
They also have a bunch of really good defenders with really good hands that know what you can and can’t get away with. Look at what Smart is doing on defense. He’s all over guys and it doesn’t get called because he knows how to toe the line. Now imagine you had 3 or 4 Smarts or there at once. That’s how you get OKC. Then you have worse defenders who see what Smart or AC are doing and try to mimic it without the skill or knowledge and get fouls called on them. To an outside observe it looks like okc can do so much more then the other team without getting fouls. The reality is, playing physical defense is a lot harder and more nuanced than just playing defense stronger.
I partially agree with your point but also Smart had 5 fouls tonight and has 8 across the first two games. He is getting fouls called on him. Dort and Caruso have four fouls combined through two games. OKC does have exceptional defenders and I think that contributes to the favorable whistle they get, but it is a favorable whistle nonetheless (undeniably)
Yep. Also go watch okc vs den in last year’s playoffs. Same exact story with dort and Caruso whereas Jaden mcdaniels is either in foul trouble or guarding 5 ft away with his hands behind his back to stay out of foul trouble
When Caruso or dort reach their foul limit… They are exceptional defenders and they know how not to foul and defend. It’s night and day when they hit their foul limit. Also the refs don’t want to blow the whistle and kick them out even when they are at that limit unless it’s egregious.
The way I see it is… Dort and smart cancel each other out… But then you have Caruso and the whole OKC team doing that crap
Spot on
Nah fuck that anyone with eyes can see LeBron getting hacked like crazy
Def doesn’t pass the eye test when watching a game. SGA whistle is insane. You strung a lot of words together but the reality is every single fan of the game outside of OKC fans sees the exact same thing. OKC plays bitch ball and the league rewards them.
They don’t call many of the fouls though. This is my problem with it. We foul the shit out of teams and force refs to call it, and we’re called like it.
We were 30th in fouls called this year, they were 7th. They’re currently 2nd in fouls these playoffs. Last year they were 25th in the regular season and 15th in the playoffs.
There’s multiple teams that play defense like this and their whistle is exceptional among them.
This is true. Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, and Alex Caruso are egregious with their defense.
yeah i dont even blame them for it, if you get away with it you just keep doing it.
Why does the nba draft lottery favor the Spurs?
I’m noticing how the NBA changed the lottery odds ONCE the spurs became good
My Pistons got robbed HARD the lottery year for Wemby. Historical worst reg season record and we ended up with something like the 5th pick?
Could you imagine Cade and Wemby together?
Fuck the nba.
That was 2024, you could have had Risacher on the bench!
They had the worst record in the NBA in 2022-23 as well.
Easy to cope with blaming referees and not their own play. It took me a while to admit it myself.
I don’t blame them for the loss, but I blame them for a shit ton else.
They don’t need to cost the game to deserve criticism.
If the bar for a decent ref in hell?
Dude I think you’re onto something. Follow the trail and let us know
Haliban you’re our last holdout save us ♥️
I’ll never forget Cason literally holding TJ mcconnell’s wrist in front of the ref and they didn’t call it and let Cason get a steal
It’s because they’ve been winning a lot lately. Their physical defense and Shai’s foul baiting contribute to it, but the real answer is that people do this with every team that experiences any level of consistent success. You saw it with the Patriots and the Chiefs, you saw it with the Lakers and Warriors.
When a team wins a lot, they’re in a lot of high profile games. That means a lot of chances for high profile bad calls, and since people naturally don’t want to root for them, confirmation bias establishes a pattern in your head.
It legit reminds me of the feelings around the Chiefs in the NFL for awhile there. They were already really fucking good, but it seemed like everybody was united in believing that even if they ever got in trouble, there would eventually be calls that bailed them out.
I mean when the Lions started getting favored, we absolutely saw 50⁄50 calls start flipping in our favor.
new rising team syndrome. basically how the refs officiated chiefs games after they won their first Super Bowl
If you look at the actual numbers, they don’t. Last two years OKC in the top 5 most penalized teams. SGA. Has lead in drives by a mile. It is what it is. Fouls and flopping narrative get engagement.
As a whole these last three years OKC is on par with some of the all time great teams, enjoy it or don’t. I don’t think the team cares. In 15-20 years they will be talked about as greats that’s all that matters.
Last two years OKC in the top 5 most penalized teams.
This is demonstrably false. Last year they were 25th, the year before they were 19th. And this year they’re 7th.
And in the playoffs, they’ve committed the 2nd fewest fouls per game.
Edit: 2026 playoffs
https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2026.html
2026 regular season
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/OKC/2026.html
You can see the PFs right there.
The losing team always points at refs. OKC has won the most by far, and yeah they’re annoying sometimes with antics but this isn’t some conspiracy.
There’s always bitching about the refs by the losing team.
I thought it was not a greatly officiated game but the lakers had some favorable calls too, even Stan Van Gundy was pointing it out.
But favorable calls for the losing team will never get posted or talked about. It’s just winner’s bias, happens across sports, throughout history, the best teams “get all the calls”
After the game was over though. The 3rd quarter and beginning of 4th quarter was terrible. The rest of the 4th looked like make up calls for the Lakers.
This is the truth. There isn’t a team that thinks this. I hope spurs or wolves demolish OKC. They min max fouls. When they are at the limit then they relax. It’s very apparent when you watch Caruso or dort at their limit. They don’t do pushing and arm wrapping at that point. Their bench is deep too so they can do this all game. The reality is OKC is filled with players that promote what smart or dort does.
Why would you not go along with the sentiment against the calls though? The masses will agree with you
This play aside, if you are say Player A on Western Team B, you have no reason to say ‘No i fouled them actually’. Even if you did foul them, you should always just say you didn’t - everyone will agree with you regardless. There’s no real reason to say otherwise
And yes, i agree there were a good amount of missed calls on Bron especially. Just speaking logically, even if just 40% actually think this, the remaining 60% might as well, considering saying otherwise gets you nothing. But agreeing gains you favor
The funny thing is if you watched this play it was a clear no call but the announcers were glazing Mitchell. Once the replay showed there was absolutely no contact they pretended like they didn’t see what we all saw. This is Crazy. 🙆🏻♂️
It does feel like major networks and especially ESPN are trying to push OKC pretty hard. Easily the worst good team to watch since maybe the 2018 Rockets
And that’s why I hate them. No animosity or anything. I would like to cheer for a team from OKC.
The problem is they fucking suck to watch. They’re a horrible product. These dudes have turned me into a boomer when I watch them.
“Back in my day…” type shit.
This is the problem.
I can respect that they’re great with depth but half the shit they pull of just seem terrible to watch lol
Like guys can’t play defence on these guys and i guess they’re just beating the refs at this point with ‘i dare you to call every foul’
This teams is much worse to watch than the rockets. It’s like if the rockets players all learned from harden then they also added Draymond green.
They are? I forget which broadcast I was watching but they were talking about Chet clearly flopping and stuff and getting flopping out of the game?
You have had doris burke on broadcast calling sga a FTA merchant lol
I blame the fucking clippers and balmer’s dumbasses for allowing this shit to occur.
The Clippers allowed them to trade New York for Ajay Mitchell, forced Morey to give them McCain for dirt, forced the Bulls to trade them Caruso, and forced the Mavs to trade them Cason Wallace?
They’ve literally just duped the entire league and pushed every guy on their roster to their skill ceilings.
This bro I was just saying this in the Lakers sub. McCain is a starter on more than half the teams in the league if not damn near 25 of them and OKC got to add him to the already deepest bench unit in the league for fucking picks. They didn’t even have to give up a player they just opened up the war chest of picks and netted McCain
Presti needs to be investigated for having blackmail on the league GMs or something
Not even a good pick man, we got fucking trash for him
Idk how you can blame the Mavs though. They got lively for that. Who helped Luka go to the finals lol.
Yeah, win win trade. The Thunder also have drafted some busts. Presti is extremely good at his job, and that means both drafting but also getting bites at the apple. But people need to chill.
McCain also would not start for half the teams in the league. Dude is a cone on defense and he’s a streaky microwave scorer on offense. It helps playing on the best defense in the NBA to cover up your flaws.
This guy gets it! It’s the Clippers fault!
Don’t forget the Rockets role in all this. They basically netted them 7 1st rounders for a heavily declining Westbrook and rookie Senguin
Blame the dumbfuck gm for catering to kawhi! And balmer just extended him too
I don’t give a rats ass about the lakers or okc but this sort of officiating has made me not watch any of the playoff games in the second round so far. It just feels like a joke
Edit: I’ve watched the league for over 20 years. It used to feel fair but cmon now if you’re telling me LeBron getting 4 FTA in 38 min in a playoff game is normal, then I know you don’t know ball. Never seen a team address the refs like that after a game either.
Game 1 Wolves - Spurs was incredible
I kinda liked the second one better.
if bro hit that 3 at the end. all time time comeback
Nah I’ll take the 38p win everyday. Better for my mental health
Yea, that game was amazing
I agree. Now I only watch raptors play and nothing else. Can’t be bothered
The third quarter was awful and basically determined the game. OKC getting whistled in their favor on both ends. Lebron getting clobbered constantly with 0 FTs. Was actually a good game before that.
Yea this probably should’ve been a closer one sadly, OKC probably still wins comfortably but the 4th lost a little luster since it wasn’t closer. 5 point game at one point could’ve been tied or similar with some of the missed calls and kept it exciting longer. Lakers fumbled their chance right after getting it close with a few bad possessions.
Lakers are outmatched and they’ve got no shot if things are going against them, they kind of need it to be the other way around. They played really well for most of the game, their scheme against shai has really limited him OKC is just too deep. Spurs or Minnesota will be able to copy it and have way better defenders.
It’ll be interesting to see how the next couple games go, I’ve never seen the lakers get broad support for poor reffing against them for entire games like this lol. Bad calls and poorly reffed games happen, although tonight did have some notable strange ones, especially against LeBron, the weird not an and 1 in the fourth plus a couple blatant hacks missed. This would be a good game to watch back in a week to see if it really was that bad or just a couple highlight misses. At least the refs got the reviewed stuff correct.
AC turned red as a strawberry there
Dude looked like that all game don’t be weird
AC turned red as a strawberry all game
Dude looked like that all week don’t be weird
Bro is sunburnt
Super Nintendo Looney Tunes Basketball Elmer Fudd looking ass.
LeBron was right here. He should got an and-one before this free throw from Mitchell but they just called it a loose ball foul. 🫠
Real tired of the Thunder. Whole team full of hoes.
Love that the fans can unite over this shit stain of basketball
I hated the Lakers far more, but this Thunder team is basically everything I hate about basketball, all in one.
Every time Chet goes in the paint and there’s even some slight contact you here him moaning
From being loved to being so hard to watch. Look at what they have done to our boy Caruso
Still can’t get over him requesting the tech on Booker from our series.
Someone gotta tell coruso to shut it
He missed Caruso
What world are we living in, lebron and lakers don’t get calls vs. okc?!?!
Sengun having PTSD
Man Caruso has been really fucking annoying he’s constantly twirling his finger, saying shit to the refs, and he’s just got such a god damn punchable face. Plus he’s so extra on defense and then has the gall to complain non-stop.
Caruso whines for ever. fucking. call. And the dudes on the Thunder.
Fuck it, man. I say it’s Jordan rules time. If you’re gonna be called for the foul anyway, go get your money’s worth. Hate going to the buffet and only getting cheese pizza
While that sounds good, the clearly defined flagrant foul guidelines of excessive and unnecessary contact have made that strategy unviable.
That 3rd quarter was a disgrace to the sport, felt like OKC got a whistle after every play
Hey, NBA, this isn’t very fun to watch every game.
All the couch potatoes who love calling LeBron a pussy from behind their keyboard would be SHOOK if he came at them talking like this
Every team in the nba comments on the thunders favorable officiating. It’s disgusting
anyone able to make out what caruso says? i hear “im sure youre gonna..” but cant get anything beyond that
“im sure youre gonna cry about it to the refs”
It’s time to just hard foul them to point of technical fouls from end of bench. If they flop shove them down fucking hard. Fucking elbow their face they act like they get hit all the time. Have the end of the bench foul out to teach them to stop being baiters. And if they keep doing it keep hard fouling them lose the series but lose it fuckinf taking them out.
It’s really weird I only watched playoffs this year and am casual fan it’s true the thunder get rediculous calls
im starting to think the lakers should’ve resigned AC vs. Klutch THT. that alone could’ve gotten them another title
Caruso feels trying hard lately
When aj Mitchell getting calls and the best player of his time isn’t ya know it’s a problem
It’s a foul every time you put pressure on OKC Mitchell. See him on the floor too much to sell it. Refs will call it a foul as soon as he flops and touches the floor.
What if Jomboy did playoff basketball like he does baseball
Caruso looks like a an inbred
Well, might as well push them hard. Make it worth it.
Im a blazers fan rooting for the lakers. Frankly, im done with this series. The agenda is clear and im not giving this anymore of my attention. -this comment is brought to you by draft kings
Hopefully the Spurs make it to the next round like they should, because im going to be fucking sat for that series. If Wemby saves us from another OKC title im elevating him to GOAT status immediately everybody can argue with a wall.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Look what they did to my boy
I think it’s safe to say look what we did. We threw him away like trash for pennies even tho we all knew how good he was. Lakers franchise really fumbled the bag for cheap
both teams in a free throw battle
Where is Grayson Allen when you need him
LeScolding
Bron about to give this bald fuck another peoples elbow
Z ca,: