Free throw attempts this series: Lakers 59, Thunder 48
Source
Despite the refs being massive haters of the Los Angeles Lakers they somehow manage to find a way to shoot more free throws for the 29th time in their last 39 playoff series
Everyone with a brain knew the refs weren’t the reason the lakers were losing. Now there’s no excuse given they shot over double the free throws and suffered their worst loss of the series on their own home court.
Everyone with a brain knew the refs weren’t the reason the lakers were losing.
Then there are a lot of people without brains on this sub.
correct
To be honest, like 15% of the people who post in this sub watch basketball.
And 1% Watch the games and not just highlights and ragebait videos
Bill Simmons watches for me and tells me what happened.
He’ll tell you Jalen Williams had a triple double tonight
In just 14 minutes.
Or he won’t watch it and then tell you that
After u/zvomicidalmaniac listens to bill he then summarizes in a voice note and I listen to that to form my full opinion.
I think 15% of the people who post in this sub aren’t actually people tbh
Underrated comment. I think we are all vastly underestimating how many “people” we respond to all day long are actually bots.
People here proudly say that they don’t watch NBA and then feel morally better for that somehow.
You’re just now figuring that out?
Iron within
Iron without
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It’s actually hilarious how those people just aren’t on this sub tonight
It’s reaaaaal quiet tonight lol
To be fair they’re Klutch bots
We call them Lakers fans
There are a lot of national media folk that were pushing the same false narrative.
You are right.There are a lot of people without brains on this subject.
…but 50th in education
Lots of absolute idiots everywhere in America. People in certain states that think they’re immune to this simply due to slight differences in test scores are fooling themselves.
There’s absolute idiots everywhere, that’s not an American problem
this sub has 3.5 million weekly visitors, of course you can find someone saying any form of take you can take the time to look for
this narrative that OKC only won because of free throws is massive goal post shifting, people haven’t been complaining about the reffing because they just award free throws to OKC. It’s a pretty big variety of things like non-calls, inconsistent calls etc.
There it is! “It’s not the FTs or called fouls, it’s the ones they don’t call!”
lmao. You guys are dense as shit.
It’s really not just Lakers fans saying you guys have been reffed differently. Kerr, Finch, the last week of discourse.
Finch literally cries after every loss about the refs
Incorrect. Finch cries after every loss AND every win about the refs.
Let me know the first time a coach says their own team gets a friendly whistle. If a reporter gives a coach a chance to work the refs, they’re going to take it every single time.
saying your team gets a friendly whistle and the refs were officiating poorly is two very different things, I’m not sure why you’d bring that up
The lakers don’t need an excuse: they’re the 4-seed and down their best player.
The Lakers don’t, but their awful fans sure do.
hey you just describe the 95% of users in this sub wtf
Shot quality is much higher for the Thunder.
Lakers fans are the worst in sports.
U never met a patriots fan, Thunder fan, suns fan back in 2021.
Preach!
Can’t believe this dumbass narrative has already started.
Nobody thought the Lakers without Luka could beat OKC. He’ll i saw plenty of Lakers fans say as much.
As the favorite to come out if the West the Thunder should not need to flop and foul bait tge way they do against the Luka less Lakers.
yes, all 29 fanbases have no brains, only one franchise supporters bestowed with infinite ball knowledge is Oklahoma
The story was more the thunder are flopping around and playing super physical defense more than a FT deferential. Don’t need to play dumb
What we all saw tonight was lakers dominate the free throw line with their flopping and complaining
People aren’t pissed because the Thunder get more FTs than other teams. They are crying because that team is good enough to win without the theatrics.
It’s like watching soccer watching them foul bait at times
Lakers 25 FTA to our 10 FTA tonight. This sub and the media are not going to have anything to talk about for the next 48 hours
Not true they will talk about Shai shooting 7⁄20 and how the Thunder are better without him
They should trade him to LA for Reaves. OKC needs a real baller!
Agreed they should also trade that cardio scrub Heartenstein for a real bonafied rim protector like DeAndre Dominayton. If only Stern were still here, he’d make it happen
Who gives a shit, it’s a team game. “Stan’s” of single player idols are the biggest shills in fandom
This is maybe the most frustrating part of NBA discourse. I love Shai, he’s probably my favorite player ever but at the end of the day I am a Thunder fan above all. Last game I wanted to talk about how awesome Chet has been and McCain lighting it up but it was like searching for a needle in a haystack to find discussions about that, it’s all just ref talk.
When other fanbases gleefully tell me that SGA is an unworthy MVP because the Thunder are so good and deep, I do the equivalent of giving them the kind of smile I’d give a 6 year old showing me their macaroni art and pat them on the head
They should trade him for Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl. It’s a fair deal I promise. (Shai come home)
Talk your shit OKC fans. r/nba has been a massive circlejerk against you guys. Now yall are up 3-0, and everyone here is still seething lmao.
I don’t even like OKC or their playstyle – but the over the top hate has been RIDICULOUS. Straight up ridiculous. So yall deserve to talk your shit.
You. I like you. As many times as I’ve been called “inbred hillbilly” or “hick” over a basketball discussion. Anybody rallying behind the Lakers post game 2 crashout can kindly fuck themselves with a cactus.
Yeah the whole “hurr durr 50th in education”/“redneck”/etc. circlejerk has felt mean and over the line. Like a few of those comments is fine, but people have been taking it way too far. I’m sorry you guys have had to deal with that.
Sometimes r/nba just decides that some teams/players are the devil incarnate and takes the hate way too far. It happened with Embiid, and is happening now with OKC.
Again, I don’t even like OKC! But the hate has been extreme.
If I could read I’d thank you but all I can do is push that little up arrow
Hate and ignorance still permeate society. Ggs.
I’ve never been on this side of this vitriol. I never said bigoted stuff like that about an entire state or city, but I admittedly hated your Warriors dynasty and complained about a lot of things that other teams besides the Dubs were also guilty of with my hate blinders on. So, I retroactively apologize to Dub nation, I used to be one of these hive minded angry mob sports fan that took any chance I could to hate on your team.
Whoever downvoted this, reveal yourself you coward. Just Trying to lay out an olive branch to Dub nation. You hive minded fucks just can’t live with OKC being happy, enjoying their team, and having positive interactions with other fanbases 😃
Any other team would have been labelled as massive cry babies the way the Lakers were carrying on after game 2. Epic meltdown.
Not really.
The Lakers sucking will still get more coverage than OKC ever will.
This is what Lakers fan would call an evenly called game.
Until we get lucky and get the #1 pick
This is what the NBA deserves lmao
They’ll revert back to 45 year old LeBrons legacy being ruined. Stupid engagement gonna stupid engage.
The Kennard foul that wasn’t a foul.
Trust me they’ll still find something to nitpick. I promise you
Lmao like 2 clips will circulate and every talking head will talk about how we play football and the refs don’t let the lakers get physical
This series was over before it started. To think OKC would need a favorable whistle to dispatch this group is delusional and fantastical.
Where is the the upvote twice button for OP’s post and this comment?
Someone should ask Austin Reaves about the refs tonight lol
He was busy crying and winning for fts despite shooting 8 fts in the game
He literally complained more than the entire thunder team today lol.
No post game press conf with the refs at least.
Using raw box score numbers is almost as bad as blindly calling it a conspiracy
Sure, let’s do FTs per drive in stead?
there isn’t even a vague correlation with OKC supposedly getting a favorable whistle (like there is for the Lakers), so when will we see real proof other than cherry picking highlights and redditors repeating the same narrative?
Real proof would require someone to go through all the game footage and exhaustively tally every foul that should’ve been called, which is almost impossible to do since half of them would actually get called in real time.
The numbers from this thread dont really prove/disprove anything.
Nobody can prove or disprove anything but that won’t stop the top posts from all being that the nba is rigging it for Oklahoma
“That should’ve been called” is the fucking most hilarious qualifier. Fans will cry for 50 fouls against their team every game and say the majority of ones against their team weren’t fouls. Subjective bullshit like that is why the discourse is so god awful.
But but but okc is ruining the league
They do foulbait a lot. Shai’s had games where the first thing he does is foulbait
Edit: It’s cute that OKC fans just ignore the numerous pics of SGA flinging himself in the air like a ballerina in order to draw a foul
For being champs, yall really can’t handle criticism
As opposed to all the other teams that have 0 foul baiters? Detroit I guess
Every team foulbaits, but OKC foulbaits and is allowed to foul the fuck out of players freely
I understand Thunder fans acting defensive, but im puzzled when other people like you try to act obtuse about this
Every team is hacking everyone. These excuses are just pathetic
But usually the refs call it. But with OKC, you have them fouling right in of refs, and yet the refs don’t blow their whistle
We’ve seen clips of a Thunder defender grabbing and holding the ballhandler’s arm, and yet no call was made
No they don’t. Are you watching these playoffs right now? Every series has guys holding and grabbing and hacking all game long. Harden literally today got clobbered on a last minute 3 with no call
Every game has missed calls. Issue is OKC’s strategy is “the refs can’t call everything”
We have two seasons of this, and multiple teams calling them out. Idk why you keep arguing about this
Every team plays like that now. I don’t see why you refuse to acknowledge it
And now you’re straight up lying. If that was the case, nobody would be criticizing OKC about it
If everyone is calling a single team of something, then maybe there’s truth to it
when’s the last playoff series that Lakers had fewer FTA?
There was one against the Wolves a few years ago but the last like 12 series or something they’ve came out on top
Literally last year
OKC is a much better team expected lakers to lose to them without doncic, lakers shot 10 FT in the 4th when they were down 16 lol.
first 2 games were horribly officiated
It’s only fairly officiated when the free throws go to one team sure
i never said it was fairly officiated, they ignored a lot of actual fouls on OKC today.
the calls are inconsistent on the defense which was very obvious in the first 2 games this isn’t a knock to OKC or their players
I don’t think hartenstein or Chet got a single foul call tonight and were getting mugged a bunch
yeah both of them were getting hacked
That’s cool and all but person you’re replying to is talking about the first 2 games
But they still went to the lakers in game 2. 😂😂 but iT’s nOt tHe nUmBeR iT’s tHe “insert elitist bullshit that can’t be proven with anything except the eye test”
i watched the entire game, woke up at 6am just to watch also elitist??
Yes condescending as if a Thunder fan couldn’t possibly understand the nuances of the flow of a basketball game. That we’re all just box score watchers and could never grasp what “your eyes tell you”. Except any time there’s a game OKC or SGA shoots more FTs, that’s the first thing people point to.
R/nba in shambles
This isn’t an okc vs la issue… my gosh. This is a league issue. This is foolish. All of a sudden everybody is content with the WWE state of the game.
Yeah. NBA has become more like entertainment than sports because of bad reffing and sports gambling. And maybe it always has been but it’s becoming more obvious now.
This WWE Ball is terrible bro this might be my last year til there’s a new commissioner.
It’s crazy cause the quality of competition is great right now but it’s just a circus to engage with.
Well all it takes is for a team to get more free throws than OKC and all is forgiven!
No it’s been a “Let’s shit on that hick town because they’re the ONLY problem with the NBA issue!!!”
(Not saying you specifically)
Bit of a strawman argument. No one has complained about the number of free throws either team has gotten or solely believes the Lakers are losing because of the refs
that’s just simply not true, multiple people have said that not only on this sub but other nba subs too
Maybe not you but multiple posts across multiple subs saying the refs won game 2.
The Thunder were destroying them even when the Lakers had Luka and were fully healthy and having their best month
NBA is a little more predictable than the nfl due to having a series
It’s pretty clear why the Thunder are the favorites and the Knicks are the clear #2 with the Spurs being 3rd, and I’m a Pistons fan
Knicks are not beating the Spurs in 7
What if they beat them in 6?
I haven’t really been seeing people say that the Lakers are losing because OKC are shooting more FTs or anything like that, just that OKC is getting a whistle where they shouldn’t. FT totals really doesn’t do anything to contradict that notion. Lakers get swept 4-0 regardless of ref treatment, but that isn’t the point. The point is the whistle OKC got last game shouldn’t be happening regardless. A team shoots more FTs than the Thunder and all of a sudden here come people out in droves with their strawman when this isn’t even what people are arguing about in the first place. You’re in fairyland.
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people really built on hating
OKC were always a better team. I don’t think a single person believed the Lakers could beat OKC without Luka. But if you’re just looking at the box numbers as an argument that OKC is not foul baiting then you’re not watching the games. If numerous players and coaches are calling your team out for the last 2 years eating the fines then there is a problem.
The Lakers have notorious foul baiters on their team. Reaves and Luka are one of the worst. It’s not just okc doing it.
Not a single person said OKC doesn’t look for fouls. What has been stated is that they don’t do it more than any other team so we don’t need 100 posts a day pretending they are uniquely bad.
Opposing coaches have been working the refs for decades. That’s the reason the fines exist in the first place. Whichever team is winning the most will have more attempts than the others. And look who has led the league in wins the last two years. If the warriors were relevant this year, every opposing coach would be complaining about Jimmy Butler having by far the highest percentage of fouls drawn per attempt.
But you see, with the right r/nba math, or instagram math, the thunder had 400 more foul calls
Imagine the Lakers and their fans acting like shit is rigged against them, and anybody not just laughing.
Lakers fan since we got Kareem in ‘75: Thunder are clearly better, Lakers just don’t have the athleticism to stay with them for 48 minutes. Effort not an issue. Spurs and Wolves DO have that athleticism. No shame for me losing to OKC, I thought we’d get swept. Reminds me of a couple years ago when we couldn’t beat Denver.
Yeah I’d love to hear the excuses now
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Lmao fucking loser
Yep, that’s a Laker fan using the word insufferable, par for the course in self awareness. This is the exact kind of poster I came by to give a big 🖕to
Reeves is getting robbed. He should have at least 40 more FTs
Bron bandwagoners can’t handle their idol losing. Have to blame something
Beating Sengun made him the goat or something
He has already been the GOAT for years. Stop hating
Lmao, he’s nowhere close to being the goat
This is some nasty hating
Sorry grandpa but LeBron took MJ’s GOAT status and nothing you say will ever change that
35% shooter outside of 3 feet playing in an era with defensive 3 seconds. What a legend
Defense in the 90s was horrific dogshit compared to nowadays
What is this fake ridiculous stat lmao
Bron haters have now resorted to making up bullshit to slander him. Oh wait, that’s what they’ve always done
Statistics are slander now? He’s not top 3 all time
Ok look having MJ #1 and Bron #2? I disagree, but that’s an understandable opinion. But having Bron out of top 3 is insanity.
40 year old MJ couldn’t even have a winning record with the wizards in an nba eastern conference that was fucking dogshit and MJ Stan’s are going to criticize a 41 year old bron in the second round of the playoffs after winning a first round series down 2 starters who are both leading scorers on the team
That’s sports bias for ya. Makes people say crazy things
the reason bron didnt complain game 2 is because he deadass knew they gonna get whooped game 3 X_X
its not the refs
There is no franchise that benefits more from the refs in NBA history than the Lakers. The NBA literally rigged them to win multiple playoffs series and they have the best free throw discrepancy nearly every single year.
Karen Reaves needs to shut the fuck up
Send that bum lebron to memphis or some shit. Tired of that asshole on the court.
Isn’t these whole series a case of how multiple things can be true at once? Like:
The Thunder beat down the Lakers with Luca in the regular season.
So now what? Lakers keep losing by 18+
Why are we acting like bad officiating only shows up in free throw disparities?
Cause OKC fans are desperate to make it seem like they don’t have the princess whistle so they try and boil it down to FTAs so they can pretend a little harder
The lakers were always going to lose because they are ass. Shai is really the one that benefits from the refs and that’s why he hasn’t been great this series
Fouls aren’t just for shooting free throws…
It still isn’t about free throw disparity (anyone making that argument is being silly). OKC is a physical defense. Shai is a prolific driver (who does draw fouls often). There is a dramatic difference between fouls called on OKCs defense and Shai’s offense. Even if it’s not a big deal, if there isn’t a FTA advantage, if there are worse foul baiters, the contrast stands out.
Reeves and Luka are similar foul baiters to SGA, but the Lakers offense is shit. So there isnt a visible contrast within the team to complain about/latch onto. Detroit plays super physical defense, but nobody on that team is particularly good at drawing fouls. So there isnt a visible contrast.
It’s not the free throws. Fouls don’t directly translate too free throws either, a lack of foul called will lead to transition points and turnovers, which the Lakers give up a tremendous amount of. Stats are not everything, there are things stats do not explain but also a ton love hating on the Lakers. Who was the star player with the worst whistle??? Shaq, who was a Laker, the Lakers have never given into the the 3 pt line as a main source of shots. They’ve always sought dominate centers and highlight reel players that drive to the basket. So yes, their play style draws contact and gets fouls. Yes OKC also drives to the basket and is physical, but the are legit flopping (with no contact), kicking their legs out and not getting penalized for it. Then also, play hyper aggressive on defense, which is a good thing, but only if teams can do the same to you. A biased whistle, isn’t a good whistle. But we all knew the Lakers were going to lose, that’s fine but the disrespect of the game and issue of game flow, as well as sportsmanship is what is in question. Not the amount of free throws
The issue people have with OKC is the no calls for them, not just getting free throws.
Thunder changed their gameplan later on. Shai cant get away with those flops anymore.
When you’re used to being privileged, being treated fairly feels like oppression.
Edit: all these privileged little Lakers fans all in their feelings
Preach it, Doctor Kaladin!
I’m glad that Thunder fans are happy going up 3-0 and are totally not throwing a hissy fit every time someone mentions the refs.
When the entirety of the media and NBA world rallied around the Lakers bitchfest session when they surrounded the refs, it feels pretty good say “fuck all yall” right now
How many uncalled fouls on Thunder especially from Dort and Caruso? FT counts ain’t everything when it comes to refs cheating.
If you think the peoples problems are with raw FTA numbers then you are being obtuse
Wow. Somebody who watches the game and not from YouTube shorts or TikTok? A rarity for this sub.
But people on here will deadass tell you that OKC needed the refs to help them beat the Lakers. 🙄
Imagine thinking game 2 was not rigged to favor the thunders
But…But…
Cope harder
no luka … Astrid in my books
Is Astrid an original character? Is your book a novel?
once upon a time, there was a player named Wemby
The Thunder have a 40 pt finals performer hurt on the bench bum. And he actually plays defense
Wouldn’t change a thing. His poor defense would make them lose by 7-10 less
yep placing luka out there is almost the same as plopping ur chud ass out there #PIG
Luka doesn’t have PJ Washington or Hardaway jr or Gafford nor is facing the Giddey and no Hart or Caruso or Ajay or McCain
cope have fun you beat up on a shit suns team and a injured lakers team whats gonna be the excuse when wemby annihilates this fraud ass team in the wcf
We are missing our second best player. We destroyed Luka with the Lakers before. You better hope the Spurs win the Western Conference finals. Pray to God they do.
🤣 bro… you destroyed luka 0 times in the playoffs regular season doesn’t matter
Luka has never won a championship lol. He also was on the Mavericks. Enjoy failing to build a team around them because the Lakers can’t draft nor have the draft equity to trade, enjoy being the doormat.
Live in the past. Cowboys. Yankees. Lakers fan.
Go to bed and stop throwing a tantrum
The only things that matter are the things that prove the point you’re making in the moment, typical Laker, LeBron Stan. Your username is perfect.
Wouldnt really matter.
Asterisk, fool.
If you watched the box score just say that lol. OKC fans aren’t real people i stg
What are you even talking about?