[Highlights] Isaiah Hartenstein vs. Victor Wembanyama in Game 2 - Western Conference Finals - 2026 NBA Playoffs.
All the times they went 1v1, all the arm pulls, the jersey pulls, the grabs, the contests, the buckets, the physicality - EVERYTHING.
I’m fine with physicality - but the arm holds are what gets me. That’s not just being physical, that’s fouling a dude so he plays with one arm. Extra pushes, extra bumps? Totally fine. But holds are just fouls, plain and simple.
When they’re moving towards each other it’s fine, let it be physical (for the most part). The problem is how many times Wemby was trying to disengage with Hart and move away from him but got held.
The play at 40 seconds is one of those you can file under physical basketball. Is it too much? Maybe, it’s not that big of a deal.
The stuff at 1:25 is what is the wrong kind of contact. Contact isn’t super heavy here but Hart doesn’t have position to inhibit Wemby, he’s not in the right place.
Honestly I don’t even mind the holding if it’s once in a while during a critical possession. It’s every play and super blatant. The disregard for the refs is kinda crazy.
its not close to every play, but the refs were just bad last night, so the closest it ever got to getting called was when it was called the wrong way, and every other time was a non call. How do you tell a player that what they are doing isn’t acceptable if all they receive during live play is signal that its the correct way to play.
Same with the blatant flopping, how do you discourage flopping when the biggest penalty for it, is the effort it takes to get up off the ground after fake falling. they have a huge sample size across the entire NBA of seasons worth of no punishment for blatant flops. the literal worst case scenario is a flop being reversed and even then the team that challenged LOSES a timeout. its beyond a failure at this stage.
IF you hold someone briefly and let go, I’m okay with it. This is straight hooking and pulling to the opposite direction of a driver.
Exactly that’s the whole argument, that’s not normal physicality and it’s not something that’s happening on both sides.
It’s blatant non stop fouling, only way they can compete I guess
I mean it does happen both ways. SGA to get free to receive a pass has to basically do judo
There’s a difference between the defender keeping their hands on someone’s torso and sometimes even wrapping an arm around them off ball, and grabbing someone’s arm and trying to hold them down as they jump to rebound or dunk. The first is something that happens a lot during the playoffs, but usually grabbing and hooking arms is off limits because that shit is actually dangerous. The most dangerous position for a basketball player is mid air at the basket, you’re not supposed to pull or push them when they’re going up. Both are fouls in the regular season, but the level of severity for each is seen differently.
That’s an example of fouls that’s being let go on both sides we see Dort and Caruso do the same thing. They are putting two hands and grabbing his sides, but not holding or pulling. Wemby is getting hugged and moved in the opposite direction.
What I wonder is what happens when someone inevitably gets hurt from one of these? If Wembys arm is held/locked and he goes for a rebound or contest, he could easily dislocate a shoulder, same thing happened to Kevin Love a while back(at the hands of Spurs legend Kelly Olynyk)
NO EXACTLY THOUGH. The league put the hammer down hard for YEARS after that happened because it was an entirely preventable situation and it’s happening again because those refs were useless last night
Is it time to unleash KO for a little retaliation arm grab? /s…?
/s….(unless….?) 🤣
Like do we not all remember the Olynyk arm bar that put Kevin Love out of the playoffs in 2015? The league literally mandated that any and all actions like this were to be immediately called fouls but here we are 10 years later and this shit is happening to a player that the opposing team doesn’t really have a good answer for on the boards.
It says a lot more about the Thunder that Wemby still nearly had 20 rebounds after dealing with this shit all game than the spurs losing the game
What gets me is when Thunder players starts flopping and Mark D starts crying to the refs after every timeout when it’s done to them. Like fucking own it. Don’t be pussies about it
I even think big guys grappling a bit is ok, but here is the ONE CAVEAT that no one seems to think or care about:
Grappling and jockeying for position? Fine—ok. As long as it doesn’t get out of hand. But when anyone is trying to then make a play on a ball when it enters their radius of influence and they are trying to move towards the ball to impact the play, that is when it becomes absolutely not okay.
And I. Heart has been grabbing and pulling Vic and keeping him from being able to do that. That’s the part that’s not okay, when he’s trying to break away from their wrestling. You can’t just hold a guy and keep him from trying to actually play basketball when the basketball is coming his way.
Edit: Some grammar
THIS! i feel like what the refs are missing with wemby is that his range is so insane because of his length that he can absolutely impact all of these plays even when he looks so far away from these plays. That’s the nuance people are missing in this convo. The refs don’t call everything in the playoffs and they try to only call what impacts the play directly. But i’m seeing some holds here that definitely prevented him from covering the space as well as he does usually.
I don’t think grappling is okay if you mean grabbing and pushing people. I don’t get this. I played at a high level as a center and we just used our bodies to create contact or at most our forearm. It was always a foul if we would genuinely grab or push using our hands or outstretched arms.
So it rarely happened because it was nearly always called. It really is not that difficult. Grabbing, holding or pushing is just plain cheating and not at all what I understand under physicality.
I’m not really okay with it either, but if that’s the kind of viewing experience and product they want to have for something like “playoff basketball” for the pros, then there just needs to be a cut off point where it’s not okay at the very least
Yeah I feel like this is obvious to anyone who has even just played basketball in the park with friends. Some bumps, fighting for position, aggressive defense is fine - it’s part of healthy competition. But when you’re routinely grabbing and yanking on someone’s arm and hooking them then wtf are you doing. It’s just dirty
Yeah I think also a little unnecessary. Hart seemed to have some success just bumping him and using his overall physicality. The arm holds they have to call. That one clip there just standing there and Hartenstein has his hand just wrapped around his arm. Like just holding it even when the ball isn’t near either of them. That’s not physical play. It’s against the rules.
Exactly. Then this is compounded by all the flopping from OKC (I can think of at least 3 blatant flops last night from SGA / Isaiah Joe, which resulted in Spurs picking up fouls and/or giving up FTs), which is never called against OKC even when successfully challenged, and gets their opponents into foul trouble - while the opponents can’t even get calls the other way for obvious fouls.
It was the same story last year for the Wolves in the WCF. I’m not saying we’d have won either way - but from the start of game 1, which gave us a couple of the most commonly used SGA memes (including the one of him contorting his face and falling over while no Wolves player is even close to touching him), it was clear OKC was playing under a different rule book. In that game for example, Finch had to burn both his challenges on SGA flops just to keep (I think) Randle from fouling out, which meant later in the game he couldn’t challenge more obvious bad calls - even though both challenges were successful. It’s completely insane that even when the refs are shown to have made obvious bad calls, all it does is prevent teams from calling them out later when the refs keep making bad calls.
Why didn’t we have a post about it when the Wolves did this to Jamal? OKC is just following what other teams have been doing in this year’s playoffs.
Exactly people are trying to argue that its normal physicality or there’s no logical reason for refs to hep OKC.
Refs swallow whistles every game to prevent bogging it down. Instead of having 2 or 3 aggressive players, OKC collectively plays aggressive and dares refs to call it. This is setting a bad precedent, because sooner or later other teams are going to follow suit, and the product is going to suffer.
This is my feeling exactly. Give both guys a lot of credit for battling, but there were 6 or 7 forearm grabs/hooks that iHart got away with and Wemby had a couple in retaliation.
Any hooking or hair pulling should be an automatic tech or flagrant IMO. Arm bars have effected the course of too many playoffs now. 2015 Cavs got fucked over by Kelly Olynk taking this shit too far and dislocating K Love’s shoulder.
If the refs just hammer a few of these at techs or flagrants they will stop quickly. The rest of the stuff, let em play. Wemby needs to get in the weight room if he can’t handle it.
Seems like the strategy was to hold Wemby so he couldn’t react to drives, effectively freeing up space for creators
That was Hart’s sole role in this game and it worked wonders. Spurs got killed in the 4th due to the second chance 3’s. They are going to have to find a way to deal with it but lacking a big 4 hurts.
They need to send in olynyk to elbow the shit out of him if refs won’t call it
12 fouls to use between Bizzy and Olynyk, if called same rate as Hartenstein then about 60-80 actual fouls
18, we also have the Plum Dog millionaire
Plumlee is quite strong but also might be too polite
It’s funny because he looks like a caveman time traveled to current times that was forced to join the American military, but I think you’re probably right.
shhhhhhhh! They might not know that yet!
We both know it’ll be immediate foul calls. Put Wemby at the 4 and have Kelly start game 3. Clearly the best way to solve this problem /s
100%, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what happens. If refs won’t protect Wemby, an enforcer will. NBA asking for this to get ugly, and ugly is what it’s going to get.
This is the way. OKC will keep doing this until you hit them back.
No i fucking assure you they will keep doing it regardless
Yeah doubt they would stop but need to match the physicality. Refs not calling anything so might as well be super physical with them
I forgot who said it (either Charles Barkley or Karl Malone, I think Barkley), but one way they dealt with Rodman was to basically hit him as hard as possible so Rodman would leave them alone lol.
Or per Matt Barnes…“violence is never the answer, but sometimes it is”.
Just have wemby do it. He’s pretty good at that from what I can tell
The way you deal with it is flopping or playing dirty back. Since the Thunder obviously don’t think they can win by just playing basketball.
Someone needs to pull a people’s elbow on Hart lmao and it can’t be Wemby
That early clip of Hartenstein having the AUDACITY to just… ragdoll down to the ground after he was tugging on Wemby’s arm.
Goddamn. Imagine working your whole life to be one of the best at basketball and then that’s what you end up doing when faced with a challenge. Fuck me lol
Yes, the strategy was to cheat and challenge the refs to do something about it.
sure, I mean that was the strategy against steph curry too
it’s not a bad strategy, it’s these guy’s weakness, but ya the refs probably need to help here (fwiw they never helped steph as he was getting grabbed and chipped running around screens)
unfortunately I agree, it’s on the refs to call it. If they don’t, it’s an effective (but BS) strategy to use. We’ll see if Spurs just try and match the physicality or sell it more to try and get calls. We’ll see!
Every time they match physicality the thunder flop and get the call. They probably have to sell it but that sucks for everyone watching lol
We can agree on one thing, yes Steph has had to deal with it and it’s always been bullshit in his case too. And also the refs need to do their jobs and actually control the game.
I mean, the Spurs were winning against that strat with both of their successful challenges… but the rules allow you to only catch them in the act twice? lol
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And illegal screens at the rim
Also it’s exhausting when every time you to in you are pushing and pulling. Imagine running but every time you are about to turn a corner someone just pushes against you. You wouldn’t be able to run very far.
And wemby is tall with a lot of weight behind him so he just can’t have the level of stamina as someone a bit smaller. He looked completely exhausted by the end.
People just now learning about Gortat screens is hilarious
it’s incredibly effective in pickup bc most ppl don’t notice or know it’s illegal lol.
In the NBA tho I am surprised when they don’t call it, feels like KAT gets at least 1 of these a game
KAT gets every stupid foul call ever. It’s so frustrating, and entirely his fault, with how obvious he is haha.
Nah I guarantee the okc coach told him “ just go in and get as many fouls as you can before you foul out, just do it off ball, block him grab him whatever” turns out he surprised everyone by not just getting a quick 3 fouls.
the level of NBA discourse in 2026: arm pull highlights
Followed by screams of player safety haha
I always thought that tugging highlights were more of a r/nbacirclejerk thing.
Gee, Wolves and Thunder fans being the only ones scoffing at this…wonder why
It’s really refreshing to listen to podcasts by actual basketball people and the discourse is about actual basketball things. It’s a good reminder that the depths of Twitter and Reddit are not reality.
Which is hilarious because some of the biggest voices are rightfully talking about how fucked up the no calls on the arm holding in game 2 was
This is how playoffs usually is, Jokic has been getting this type of physicality for the entire of his career. I feel like if you compiled clips of Vassel or Castle on SGA, you would see very similar physicality.
There was a compilation earlier which displayed this. It got deleted.
The clip of Wemby diving into SGA’s knees after a turnover was also deleted. Not sure why though.
Right, won’t fit the narrative here.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTB8yAypy/
Maybe this will be Wembys “Bad Boy Pistons” where he puts on some mass to help
The comp to bad boy pistons is so bad. Their strategy was to foul Jordan hard, but the got called for the fouls. MJ shot 13 freethrows a game that series. Wemby had 2 last night.
Also the bad boy piston were genuinely hard. The thunder do this and then flop on the other end.
And the whole league flops. It’s just a different era. Comparing the vibe of any team today to those pistons is hilarious.
Bill Laimbeer was like the OG flopper man lmao he’s admitted it
I love Bill Laimbeer because he never once was ashamed of what he was. He knew he was dirty, a tough defender, a irritant, and a flooper. He knew his job was to get into the heads of his opponents no matter what and he was great at it. He loved wearing the black hat and took pressure off of Zeke and Dumars
Jokic gives even more than this, his rebounding is littered with fouls. It’s the whole reason he can do much of anything around the rim without athleticism, all the pushes, stealthy grabbing, and leaning weight down on opponents.
It’s also stupid when teams are allowed to cheat vs Jokic.
It’s not popular to take on any team that isn’t OKC dude. You’re getting it wrong. 😂
Nothing to do with the Ihart vs Wemby debates but man, that move where Wemby finishes his missed shots with his offhand is just bonkers lol
In slow-mo you can see every player think he’s getting the rebound but he’s just freakishly long
Lol I said every time loudly YOURE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT PHYSICALLY. Dudes a specimen.
Btw shoutout to you, everytime I see your comments, you keep it very positive and about hoops. I appreciate you
Thanks bro, I definitely don’t manage to keep it positive 100% of the time but I try to be nice to people
You definitely do a way better job than me, so props to you
Yeah, as a Thunder fan I kept seeing that like “don’t just let him do that!” and then they’d show the replay and most of the time it’s like “oh, they’re trying to stop him from doing that, he’s just too long. If that was any other player, we get the rebound, but instead it’s Wemby and he just casually putback dunks it.”
Big men do this all the time lol
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills here. Is this not just the classic “playoff basketball” that everyone clamors for during the regular season?
The same shit they knock Embiid for “falling off” in the playoffs btw. Refs let a ton of stuff go with big men. It’s always been part of the game.
i watched tim duncan for 2 decades battle in the low post. there are hip checks, shoves, shoulders, elbows. big men including duncan would clear out or hook defenders with their elbow while spinning.
i swear i do not recall the outright grabbing and holding down of limbs as a strategy we had to deal with
I’m pretty sure that’s just because they don’t usually highlight it with replays on the broadcast
Wolves and thunder fans seem to be in the same boat. The broadcast purposely ignores offball fouls because if the refs are ignoring it thwn the league is acting like they dont occur.
I hate that I have to align with Thunder fans on this one, ugh
Hey, it’s okay. Be a rebel and go against the hive mind around here.
You think you guys played Shaq straight up?
One of Duncan’s signature moves was using his off arm to push down offensive players while he used the other arm to contest.
He was doing this type of stuff, no one was soft enough to make compilations about it.
But here we are in the soft era, SMH
Then whats your reasoning for the way sga is being guarded? Because you guys are doing the exact same thing to him.
Yep, and also the kind of “Olympic / euro style” calls that this sub claims to love.
I’ve been around here about a decade at this point, never seen this sub work itself into such a lather over something of such little substance.
Yes, that’s exactly what this is. It’s not for the softies.
It is. Literally normal basketball. It doesn’t help that okc is so hated and the NBC broadcast made a montage of Hart grabbing his arm and aired it mid game. I watched SGA getting wrapped up all game but it’s just another normal night for him.
It’s not allowed against the golden boy. That’s why there is discourse. That and it’s a player from OKC doing it. Two very big no-nos for this subreddit.
Maybe this is a cultural difference, but I played at a high level in Europe as a center. Pushes and holding of course happened, but they were almost always getting called if a referee saw it. Wrestling like Hartenstein does in this highlight would be the best way to foul out quickly.
So we mostly just used our bodies and at most our forearms. It is honestly not that difficult to do. Holding or forcefully pushing players who are trying to contest or jump were just very blatant fouls. Those are genuinely the rules of the game too.
Either follow the rules of the game, or change them if you want wrestling to be a part of it.
Yeah but the hair pull was crazy and so people are taking a microscope to iHart the rest of the time. I agree these holds kind of like how o-linemen hold all game and it’s just about being subtle so it doesn’t get called
Left Tackle for the OKC Thunder.
Yall still crying about this lmao
It’s actually going to ruin some people’s summers if OKC wins another ring lmao
I’m here for it
Hah there are a million posts about it but it’s also been less than a day
The entire front page is 3x videos of of hart getting dunked on. 6 cherry picked ihart arm holds (excluding the hair pull) 4 sga falling down posts after being manhandled the entire game and landing space being invaded without calls, and like 10 other “insert OKC is terrorism incarnate” posts.
“6 cherry picked” is a wild phrasing lol. How many before it’s not cherry picking?
Just 6 holds lol
6 cherry picked ihart arm holds
So…enough to foul out? Hartenstein only had 4 PF at the end of the game, lmao.
It happens every time Reddit’s favorite star player faces a physical defense. Curry held every play :(. Alex Caruso is mauling Jokic :(. Wemby getting grabbed and pushed around the rim :(. Every time like it’s the first time it’s happened. No one has to post about Shai getting held so hard he couldn’t even come up and get the ball because he just played through it and won.
Honestly I’m not seeing much holding here, and the most egregious ones are called. So is everyone really just losing their mind over good defense? This sub is just unbearable for a day after every Thunder win, lol
*Is everyone really just losing their mind over good defense?*
Ding ding ding! We have a winner.
The hair pull on Castle was bad. I’ve yet to see anything else even remotely egregious enough live last night or in these clips to warrant the absolute meltdown on this sub.
1:44 Wembanyama has to contest Caruso’s shot with one arm because Hartenstein is grabbing and holding his other forearm. Clearly an uncalled offensive foul.
Same thing happened on a Wemby putback in game 1. Chet was pulling his arm so it had to be a one handed putback. No foul called.
Sure, that’s a common missed call that happens in NBA games all the time. The exact same thing was done by Wemby to Chet in game 1 and not called.
Again, nothing remotely egregious enough to justify even 1⁄10 of the outraged rhetoric on this sub.
I even wonder with the hair pull if it was intentional. Hartenstein doesnt seem to be looking at castle and seems to reach for him and gets his hand caught in his hair. It looks very minimal at full speed
Can’t get on board with that one chief, there’s pretty clearly a follow through movement there after his hand is entwined in Castle’s hair, even IF the initial contact was incidental.
It honestly is a bit overblown how bad the holding was, the worst of it was shown already on broadcast for sure, and replayed. However, there are two called, one is an on the ball lob so that one needs to be called. All others are ignored except for one, which was called AGAINST Wemby and they had to challenge to reverse it (losing a timeout).
There were a couple that weren’t called that the broadcast showed over and over again. Most of these are just good hard basketball though.
OKC is straight spamming Gortat screens.
It’s the only way when Wemby is on the floor😭
If every comment was like this it would be a lot easier to tolerate OKC as a fan base.
I genuinely understand the mindset of “we kind of have to do anything we can to win even if it’s technically not legal because otherwise we’ll probably lose”.
Most people just can’t stand the collective delusion of some of OKC’s fans.
Agreed. If OKC fans just admitted that Hart was only sent out there to foul out on Wemby and the refs just didn’t call it for some reason, then we could all agree and be happy and they could take their win.
It’s so annoying seeing OKC fans argue that it’s actually good for the game or some shit though
I wonder how much of this has to with the fact that the Timberwolves were able to use their physicality to piss Wemby off enough for him to do something stupid and get ejected. I wonder if Wemby never threw that elbow if OKC would be going this extreme.
Because if it gets to a point and Wemby just loses it again and does something to get ejected he will definitely be suspended for 1 game. That would be a huge win for OKC.
They’d be doing it because he’s that good.
Him showing you can get under his skin and get himself ejected just makes it a bonus.
It’s superstar treatment. Le Bron got it, Curry got it, Kobe got it, Jordan got it. Jokic gets it constantly. Shit the spurs hold sga every play about. It’s a way to get under their skin.
I agree. When a player is that good you just have to try any and everything to throw them off their game even if it’s just a little bit.
lol the second clip Wemby flop. Ironic given today’s discourse.
It’s a funny when Redditors see a slow-mo clip and say “haha flopper”
Damn just admit it you all are soft
They’re soft as hell.
I told Spurs fans when they cried about Minnesota they weren’t ready for OKC. They lose one game and go right to “BUT THE REFS!”
To be fair to Spurs fans, it’s not just them. It’s about 95% of this sub plus a shocking amount of NBA media.
I mean Hart committed a flagrant foul in front of a ref last night and the picture is like modern art with how fucking stupid it makes the ref look
This is the Tony Brothers crew who reviewed a foul in the first Timberwolves series of literally no contact for 3 minutes and then called foot to knee contact, again with like nothing happening
Tony is just built different
some of the flops by wemby in this montage would be 10k upvotes straight to the front page if wemby wore an okc jersey lol
can’t stand OKC as much as the next guy, but none of this really bothers me that much.
I suppose this is what the game is now. Two extremely good basketball games between two supremely talented teams and this is the shit we discuss. I follow some other sports, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a collective fan base hating the game so much, just straight up not watching games and/or bragging about doing so.
It’s sad as hell, honestly. This sub is filled with the typical bullshit to pass one narrative, then damage control comes from the other side and it’s just this over and over.
Barely any talk about the coaching battle, the elite shot making and defense or even just saying this has been a fantastic series so far. It’s refs here and refs over there, fucking arm pulls, dives and other shit. Good lord, man.
People have money on the line like never before. This is the lens a LOT of people are looking at the game through. Every perceived unfair advantage or disadvantage is someone losing money. The discourse isn’t about the journey or the story, it’s the outcomes that are driving the bus.
That shit too is a cancer, for sure. Sports betting is absurdly bad for any sport, mostly because that crowd is absolutely unhinged and also routinely throws abuse at players.
I think I’ve read in this sub that even the players think it’s a big issue. That’s a pretty good observation on your part, another factor for this shit.
There was a post a few hours ago showing all the holds and physicality SGA was dealing with and it got deleted. The mods are apart of the trend we’re seeing. Though in all fairness, it is everywhere on social media.
There was a play last night where SGA got doubled and threw a bounce pass between Wemby’s leg to a Cason 3 and it wasn’t even posted here or if it was, it was removed by the mods. Such a fun basketball play, that should be a top post to entertain people but it was ignored.
These mods suck. They shouldn’t be deleting that clip and allowing all these clips showing thunder comps. Also the “despite refs” post from yesterday. Just show clips or stats in the post and let the comments decide the discourse about the clips or statline. This subreddit is one of the worst ran ones. I just want to watch basketball and discuss stuff other than the refs.
Everyone wants to discuss why they think refs or the league has ruined the NBA when half of what’s ruined it is their own shitty biased discussions. Everyone is pissed off about the Dodgers spending in the MLB but fans aren’t out there deluding themselves en masse that the league is giving them better balls and strikes calls.
Those are some high ass push shots.
MF-ers gonna tell me twig man here could hande prime Shaq, pffft!
Wemby would already have all four forearm bones broken trying to block a Shaq dunk. I love Wemby, but he’s not the first physical freak the league has seen.
Did you see that first play?!?!? He PUSHED HIM!!
OH THE HUMANITY
This is basketball as it’s played in 99% of the world. A whole lot of fucking cry babies in this sub.
You guys need help
Now show all the times sga was held and grabbed
They won’t
Why we looking at the same clips being posted over and over again
The wolves were doing the exact same shit but y’all only notice stuff when it’s the Thunder lmao. Clowns
Wah wah wah
As a non OKC fan, I need them to win the chip just to see you bitches cry😂
I love it all, inject this sub into my veins
As a neutral I just wish people would stop bitching about either team and let them play this fantastic series
boo hoo call HR
What’s the over/ under line on games until the next Wemby elbow?
2
I’ll take over. I’m thinking game 5 meltdown
You guys never seen prime Marcin Gortat do this shit on the regular to free up driving lanes for his guards
This is what everyone has been complaining about? Jesse Christ this sub is lost.
Because it’s wemby and it’s the thunder doing it. If it was another team they’d be calling it “elite” defense
Now make one for castle on sga
if you want the old NBA back, here you have it. Only the stronger person wins
I miss the days Charles Oakley would pancake a bitch.
Hartenstoople!
Stop crying
Petty edit lol
Im convinced he can hold wemby by the balls while Chet steps on Wembys foot while holding both his arms.
And refs will just let them “play”
Spurs need to control their TO more, 20+TO a game is crazy
Brother it’s a 9 minute clip
Edit: I mean it’s incredible to foul for 9 minutes of a 48 minute game
Then imagine how much time it took me to go through each play, carefully checking what to put in the video.
When does hart even touch wemby at the play at 26 second’s? He’s not even within arm’s reach ever.
This is definitely going to be OKC’s gameplan for the rest of the series
After game 1 Wemby isn’t going to get an inch to breathe on or off ball lol
Idk why Chet doesn’t get that same treatment. Chet is ranked higher than Victor but he gets zero attention off ball is played straight up but Victor is getting Jordan rules defense. Doesn’t make sense or it’s fair for Chet who is miles better and ahead of Victor in terms of talent.
90% of the clip involves no fouling. It’s literally every possession that hart guarded wemby. There are 4-5 threes hart doesn’t even come close to wemby.
That’s it! I’ve seen enough! Time to throw the book at em! 📕 💥
Playoff hoops baby!
If you think this isn’t new in the NBA playoffs well then welcome to the league. Players will do anything to gain the competitive advantage.
This magnitude of complaint didn’t ever happen when Shaq or Duncan or any other post players in the past get bumped by lanky centers whose role is literally actually to just bump them, which is what Hartenstein is doing now. We didn’t complain when MJ was getting practically suplexed by the bad boy pistons. There is no non-rough way to defend Wemby. There is no non-rough way to defend Shaq. I thought this is what we wanted in this cottonelle era?
Thats pretty blatant historical revisionism. There were absolutely complaints about how all 3 players you mentioned were officiated back in the day, the difference is we weren’t all on the internet talking about it all day 20 years ago.
It was wack when the pistons did it, as well as when it happened to Shaq and every other time too. If there is no way to defend a player without fouling, then its the refs job to call that foul every single time.
Feel free to imply that everyone who disagrees with you is soft, that doesn’t make it more true.
Kuroko looper is crazy. Love seeing it.
The holds would be fine if the offense wasnt gifted calls. For all teams
Holds are definitely not fine SGA is getting the Steph holds off-ball and Wemby is getting Olynyk’d out there, it’s not fun to watch. Police the off-ball stuff and make the on-ball contact calls looser
Will you also be posting one for Castle & Harper’s off ball defense on Shai?
These are highlights? Or highlights gor the people only trying not to enjoy the game. Lets get some highlights on this sub. Am i wrong
That SGA drive lol “trying to carve out space”…this shits unreal
old heads: “todays NBA isnt as physical”
Yall are nuts. if yall are bitch about this go ahead and use that same energy to defend SGA getting hand checked all playoffs lol
It’s ironic because I want a more physical landscape for the nba but he’s getting away with cheap bush league bullshit I want no part of watching
Flop & Foul is a conscious strategy that OKC has embraced as their version of Moneyball - the officiating is an inefficiency that other teams have not yet exploited, so they are doing it.
Every flop won’t get called their their way. And they’ll get called for some of the fouls they commit.
But they will get enough flops called and they’ll get away with enough fouls that it makes the difference between being very good and being a juggernaut. They start every game with a built-in free throw advantage and knowing that their players can play as if they actually have 9 fouls to give instead of 6.
They play the refs and the rulebook, rather than trying to really play basketball. Because Adam Silver is weak, it’s currently a winning strategy. But every team is about to start doing it and it’s going to destroy this league if he doesn’t take it seriously.
Thunder fans still defending it 😂
Those people who say this normal are crazy. I don’t see this kind of cheating happening on a regular basis, and when it does happen it usually gets called.
Every team seems to get a pass when it comes to being overly physical with Wemby and it’s ridiculous. He’s an incredible player and the NBA does nothing to protect him.
You guys are exhausting. EVERYONE DOES THIS
Cheaters be cheating
Dirty Mofo’s
Get some iso wemby on ball vs hart and foul him out… the only way… clearly they’re not calling fouls off ball
The is the first year I’ve watched basketball in 7 years. What the fuck is this arm hook shit