SGA on Hartenstein’s impact tonight: “I’m not sure it was good”
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2 free throws and the ball!
Best comment in the entire thread
squints in illiterate hey I had to sound it out, but you a bitch
Your joke is good but Shai wasn’t joking. Shai said he misheard the question. He’s usually pretty serious so I was confused by his answer until he cleared it up later
“please clap”
So uncharacteristic i assume it was a joke that didn’t land
Very strange
Would be nice to see more than a 2 second clip of it and see what else he said. Easier to judge context and joke or no joke or maybe a misunderstood question etc
Watching it live I don’t think it was a joke. But I don’t think he was trying to trash Hartenstein either. Just like a poorly worded thought or something.
I think it was more of we didn’t stop Wemby.
But didn’t land. Was funny to listen to.
They did though. That’s kind of the dissonance
He said later he didn’t hear what she said correctly at first. And the longer clip has him complimenting Hartenstein’s defense
Watching it live, this is exactly what I thought happened.
Ok but then what did he think she asked to elicit that response? Is doesn’t make sense no matter how you slice it
“What did you think of The Mandalorian & Grogu movie?”
Oh no…you saw it and didn’t like it?
I saw it live and it seemed said what he thought then caught himself n changed it to complimenting. Now he is lying to stop any trouble in the locker room.
This is exactly what happened. Anything else is wrong
Getting downvoted for interpreting what was actually said. Wild
He always tries to downplay their success and not overhype things. It’s back to work. It was probably in that vein but it came out weird
Yeah I think if anything just kind of saying like you can’t do a good job defending Wemby because of how good he is.
But yeah just really weird to hear said that like. Who knows, maybe he did actually think Hartenstein played poorly in defense.
He said later he didn’t really hear the question clearly
The fans are good about this too. They always downplay the impact of the extra three guys out there. Very humble about it.
Shai is kinda awkward in front of a camera tbh
I think the word you’re looking for is corny.
I like Shai as a person and a player and that word is kinda negative but yeah he’s pretty corny. The what a pro wants commercial sunk any shot he had at being cool lol
For your own sake, it’s probably best if you don’t google any of his pre-game “fits” then
I think Shai meant the change of putting Hartenstein on Wemby wasn’t good. I don’t think he meant Hartenstein himself wasn’t good, just that the change wasn’t good schematically.
I think he was more so responding to the first part of her question, “You made a pivot defensively, Hart(enstein) on Wemby. What kind of impact…”
I think his response was loaded before she finished her statement.
I saw it, it seemed like he didn’t want to give Wemby more bulletin board material
I thought he misheard the question. He looked confused
To me it seemed like he wasn’t listening to the question and just answered, then realized what he said and what the questions actually was and tried to walk it back.
She asked him to clarify what he meant, and he responded with “give me your girl and I’ll breed her”. Very off colour remark.
It was very weird your honor
The entire interview was awkward, dude bombed for some reason
Aura farming attempt unsuccessful
I think he just couldn’t hear her. He kept answering about how he could play better himself
He immediately smiled after this and said “nah he had a great game”.
she asked “can you unpack that?” and there as an awkward pause and then he said “… he did okay, he did good”
That is not what happened…
you’re just lying?
Seemed very insincere
If only there was a way to do that
There really wasn’t any other context
Shai said he misheard the question
She asks him to elaborate and he stops himself and was like “…nah… it was good” then scampers off
Didn’t seem like a joke at all to me
I agree it didn’t come off that way. I’m being charitable because I’ve watched a ton of SGA interviews and he’s never disparaged a team mate
It was a joke. People wonder why athletes give terrible interviews, this is why
Because they suck at telling jokes?
Bro if that was a joke attempt its one of the worst ive ever seen.
Execution!
The little half smile at the end is always amazing. I love when athletes stop giving a fuck
Because he just played his ass off for 3 hours against a monstrous team and is tired? Fans shouldn’t over analyze interviews like these
I’d be a shit interview too if I had to run up the court guarded by Castle and Bryant all night.
He misheard the question. He thought it was about himself.
Yeah he misheard the follow up too and then was like, “actually nevermind”
My take is he didn’t want, in any way, to make it seem like anyone on the Thunder was actually “stopping” Wemby. Probably meant to say something like “I-hart was great, but we still as a team need to play better defense against a great player like Wemby” bla blah ect.
Definitely came off awkward as fuck
Yeah this was my take. I think he just had exhaustion brain
I just don’t think he heard the question correctly or just froze up and said some awkward shit for another reason. It definitely doesn’t seem like a joke or intentional sarcasm. Very strange indeed
If they let the clip play for a few more seconds he pivots and says he played great.
I think he misunderstood with all the noise.
I don’t think so. He’s trying not to give Wemby extra motivation
I mean she gave him a chance to elaborate and he doubled down on the “not landing a joke” thing, I do think what he meant to say was along the lines of “we’re never satisfied” but yeah, wasn’t smooth whatever was being conveyed
He probably thought she meant Isaiah Joe.
he was almost honest. worst thing you can do in sports
he had a hard time hearing her questions if you watched the interview on court he asked her to repeat the questions twice .
He didnt smile or anything though. If it was, horrible delivery.
Shai we’re live
I don’t give a shit
“I know..”
He def did give a shit he walked it back a second later lol
The interviewer nailed it with “thanks for being honest.” I thought his response was refreshing
lol he didn’t hear her.
One possibility. Weird he heard all the other questions. Also weird that his answer matched her exact question perfectly. Not saying it isn’t possible that his walk back isn’t what could have happened it just isn’t the only possibility and actually undermines the actual words asked and answered.
W shaq reference
I so pale
..you’re on!
Lmao! One of our family’s favorite memes to quote
“Fuck it we’ll do it live!”
This is confusing the fuck outta me lol
I think he’s just exhausted and his brain was starving for oxygen at that point
This is what I’m going with. It clearly wasn’t sarcasm or a failed joke, but no way does he say that seriously. Just a tired dude fucking up a social interaction lol.
He never really jokes so I was confused too. Shai later said he misheard the question
He was tired and I think he did misunderstand or not hear it properly. What Hartenstein did was very good for OKC and a big part of them winning.
Whether it was good for the league or basketball in general is a completely different question with a very different answer.
“Shai, what is your opinion on Sherman’s march to the sea?”
“He went easy on them.”
“Shai, thoughts on the Trail of Tears? Follow up question, nuclear weapons?”
Yep. It seemed like he hadn’t really heard the one before either because his answer was sort of “generic basketball speak”.
This is why they shouldn’t give interviews until they’ve had a chance to hydrate and come down a bit.
This isn’t a huge deal, but I’ve never been a fan of them shoving a camera and a mic in a players as soon as the game ends.
He has to do 200 push ups per game because he falls down so much. He’s definitely starved for oxygen
I thought I heard her say “go hard on wemby” or something like that. Maybe he thought the same? Still doesn’t make his response any less awkward I suppose.
https://youtu.be/NUCefQ1Md6w?si=ZAI8r1C0qu35ULxx
he’s hearing the question, remembering that wemby had 20+ points and 15+ rebounds, and is sighing bc he cannot be stopped
I think you just have to assume he’s being sarcastic because saying something like that after the game about a teammate would just be so odd. I’m with you though, face value it doesn’t come across as sarcasm at all just a weird answer.
Hartenstein had 8 offensive boards too he didn’t play terrible to the point where it would make sense for for Shai to call him out
I think he knows hart was playing dirty as fuck and it’s gonna come back to bite him for the remainder of the series
I don’t know why this isn’t a more prevalent thought in this comment section. My take on this is SGA just watched hartenstein Pearl Harbor Wemby and is thinking “we have awoken the sleeping giant”
Pearl Harbored him 🤣
I saw it live and took it more to mean that Wemby is just good and that it’s a tough match up in general.
Last thing he says is “no it’s good it’s good. You gotta mix it up sometimes.”
2 scenarios:
- He’s being being sarcastic but it’s awkward af and didn’t land.
- He’s serious.
Hopefully it draws attention to his dirty plays wrapping up Wemby and yanking Castle’s dreads
Or he didn’t hear her properly
But she questioned it and he didn’t really correct himself. IMO maybe just tired and fumbling his words.
that’s what it seems like to me. Shai doesnt seem like the type to throw a teammate under the bus. I think he realized that she didnt say what he thought she said after, and tried to play it off.
I think his fumbled attempt at recovery indicates that he was being honest, then realized he slipped up.
He strikes me as a very honest person who probably calls guys out behind closed doors all the time. That he slipped up here is understandable though, he was exhausted after the game, so he probably forgot his media training.
i heard it live and it didn’t sound like sarcasm at all. i even said to myself “no way did SGA just bluntly say that”
he literally says “umm, i’m not sure if it was good, to be honest… yeah”, i don’t know how anything about how he said that could be construed as sarcasm.
When I first heard it I thought he was talking about Wemby’s impact, and trying to trash talk Wemby.
I couldn’t believe he was talking about his teammate after I played it back.
He said in the media session that he didn’t hear the question at first,but didn’t really elaborate beyond that
But when asked to unpack that he backtracked without hearing the question a second time.
it looked like he was holding back a laugh when he said “yeah tbh” then broke when he smiled. i just think his joke didn’t land
Same I thought he was talking about wemby
Yeah he seemed to try and walk back what he said after she asked him about it again and realised what he said.
I guess he was maybe trying to kind of give a compliment to Wemby?
I definitely took it as “my opponent is very formidable and it’s hard to really truly stop him, but we tried our best”. You don’t wanna sound like “oh yeah we contained him fully, we figured him out”
I mean maybe he saw the hair-pull replay and thought it was a bad look, I dunno.
SGA has cornrows that hang down in the back.
He could get yoinked down by them too. I’m sure it would be easy to imagine for him.
It’s 1000x harder for someone to (even purposefully) pull Shai’s braids than to pull a head full of locs.
Same here. He didn’t even play it off as a joke he just strangely walked it back when she asked for clarification.
For those who dont know her, Zora is one of the best sideline reporters out there. She’s a former player who knows ball.
yeah agreed the full clip gives even less indication that he was joking
I know this comment will just get buried - but he clarified in his postgame presser that he misheard the question and directed a lot of praise toward Hart.
I agree with you. Nothing about this indicates sarcasm.
i’m with you
I don’t think you’re autistic, sga just the type of guy to make a joke that doesn’t hit
Everybody on earth has made a joke that didn’t land, what are you trying to say
It wasnt a joke, this is just weird copium because it was a weird thing of shai to do
I’m not autistic and I was extremely confused.
Wrong. Everyone on reddit has autism, OCD and trypophobia.
I agree with you. He just sounded normal. It would have read as sarcasm to me if he didn’t usually sound and look like that. I can tell when other players are being sarcastic though. For example I think people fail to pick up on OG’s sarcasm and trolling a lot. Contextually it would be weird for it to be sarcasm but with his tone and body language it doesn’t land that way
That said though I am actually autistic
You were right. The normies were wrong. He just said he didn’t hear the question right.
Guys, he quite obviously misheard the question. Pretty sure he thought it was a question about his own impact.
Edit: Maybe something like, “What do you think about your impact slowing down Wemby?”
“Not good, to be honest.”
I know this comment will just get buried - but you’re right, he clarified in his postgame presser that he misheard the question and directed a lot of praise toward Hart.
That brother is tired as hell. He looked exhausted for the entirety of the 4th quarter.
Part of this is cut of out context. Pretty sure right before this clip starts she asks about the team’s defensive impact on Wemby at first, then changes it to Hartenstein. Maybe he didn’t hear the second part clearly
Edit: just checked and she starts with “you all made a pivot defensively, Hart (speech slurred) on Wemby…” could see how he tuned out for the rest of the question assuming he knew what the question would be
That’s not possible. When she followed up with “Why was his impact not good?”, he smirked and said “it was alright, it was good, we gave him different looks.” He definitely understood her question.
this one game was enough to make me hate hartenstein for life
starting to look like next game gonna be a hate crime bc of him
I don’t see why they should even rock up if this is that scripted. (Not a spurs fan) San Antonio should protest this sh*t. The refs are taking the piss now. They need to review some of these calls
Hes been doing this the whole time at OKC. He was doing the same thing last year at the NBA Cup for sure.
I hated him because of how his name is pronounced. SHHHHTEIN. I get it’s how it should be said, just hate it. Lol.
Even if that is sarcasm, it might not be the best decision.
i’m sure ihart knows he was being sarcastic they don’t care what the internet thinks
You’re telling me they don’t read Reddit and over react 😤
This generation of players absolutely does and they’ve been quite vocal about it
This generation does not mean every player. You think the most hated player in the nba or his team cares what the internet thinks about his 91st post game of the season?..
I agree, but unfortunately, you have to take into account what the media will try to make of it.
I don’t think anyone on OKC gives half a shit about what the media says
It’s not like KD is still playing there
Why? If they both are in on the joke and the team knows it’s a joke why would this affect anything?
People only think it’s sarcasm because, if it’s not, it’s an insane thing to say about a teammate.
It’s not sarcasm at all
Hartenstein should bring a pair of chains next game and just chain himself to Wemby and the refs would probably be ok with it
Is the sarcasm in the room with us?
This is what you say when the guy still ends up having a 21 and 17 game shooting 50% from the field and 42% from Three
That’s 4 less point than his regular season averages, and half the points from his previous game.
How do people think this is a joke…? He never smiled…laughed…he even hesitated to say that.
Definitely not a joke. He may have misheard the question, but his response was 100% not a joke. Just the way reddit is lol, whatever narrative is commented first is the one that takes off on a post
the circle jerk echo chamber that every reddit thread is. sad thing is most of the narratives are pushed by bots and ppl still follow them. fucking insane
Doesn’t look like a joke at all. Or sarcasm.
There’s no way it wasn’t an attempt at a joke. He just has no charisma
He thought he was dirty too lol
That hair pull darkened up the mood
Exactly it seems obvious to me that SGA prob felt like Hartenstein went too far.
Okc fans trying cope and say it was sarcasm lol usually you give some sort of indication of sarcasm
You think he would call out his teammate like that? Based on how he has spoken in the past?
Nah, but still said it. Either didn’t hear the question or was doing some deep reflecting
My guess is he didnt hear the question
Whats with clipping out the follow up
What did he even mean by this?
IHart fouled Wemby every single time he was near him. Stomping on feet, pulling on hands. Not hard bball. Just pure slop
He grappled people more tonight than a WWE wrestler does in a match.
He would have literally gotten disqualified from a UFC match with that hair pull.
Pretty sure he just let his real thoughts slip and tried to recover but failed. Dude was prob too tired to think straight and instead of a PR answer he let an honest opinion slip. No one in the damn league can defend Hartenstein’s plays tonight even if you’re on his team you feel a little disgusted.
Objectively Wemby nearly got a 20⁄20. We didn’t stop him, so I don’t disagree.
Harts ORB was insane though.
He’s perfected the hair pull. Pairs nicely with Chet’s foot stomp
Yeah those were some crazy offensive rebounds
Anyone who thinks he meant to disparage Hart is objectively stupid. Whether it was sarcasm or he just didnt really understand the question there is no plausible universe where he was saying Hart played bad and thats pretty obvious
I didn’t take it as him saying Hart’s defense was inneffective. I feel like he was honestly calling out the dirty play, none of that bullshit is a good look for our “MVP” to be winning with. Rare moment of self awareness in which he forgot he’s not supposed to dog on his own team.
Oh man this is how us Eastern Europeans deliver jokes, and we usually always get the same reaction, lol
God this team is so unlikable. It’s insane.
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Don’t understand this sentiment. OKC only had 7 more FTs and that is despite having 13 more possessions and 10 more field goal attempts than the Spurs. If anything, the gap could’ve been higher
- He’s serious lmao
Either way, hopefully it draws attention to his dirty plays wrapping up Wemby and yanking Castle’s dreads
My guess is he was being sarcastic but he’s so tired after the game there is no smile or change in tone to show it is a joke.
Hartenstein’s play definitely made up for Chet being shut down.
I can’t say Hart was the reason OKC won, but he’s definitely a reason behind the Spurs missing out on a baker’s dozen of extra rebounds.
He wasn’t joking. He heard the question loud and clear. When asked for clarification he decided he didn’t want to get into it and just said “nah he was good he was good.” But he also said it was good to make switches iirc.
Honestly even if he was joking/didn’t hear the question, I kinda agree to an extent. While IHart was doing great on the boards (specifically in the 4th), his actual defense on Wemby wasn’t good
There were multiple possessions where IHart just left Wemby wide open from 3 and/or just didn’t contest his shot. Not to mention, IHart just can’t move his feet well enough to hang with Wemby on the perimter
I took as him misunderstanding the question
Isaiah= Isaiah Joe
IHart= Isaiah Hartenstein
Man… some of you boys out here grasping at straws just to circlejerk the narrative.
Oh yeah for sure. Dude should’ve been ejected mid game lol
Did he think she was talking about Joe or Hartenstein?
This sub after a Thunder win makes me feel like I’m on ayahuasca
I think he was expecting IHart to really take down Wemby and get him out of the series.
I interpreted as it was decent but it could be even better. Like there’s still room for improvement. Don’t know why people are getting their panties in a bunch.
Ge got posterized and pulled a grown man’s hair
He gives her the side eye and a little smirk. You guys are seeing what you want to see… Also why does the clip cut off so fast? To purposely leave out context so that this clip can get passed around social media?
He thought he was asked about his own impact. He clarified this post game.