Stephon Castle checks out for the game: 14 points on 1⁄8 FG and 11⁄14 from the free throw line
https://www.nba.com/game/okc-vs-sas-0042500313/box-score
Stephon Castle stuffs the stat sheet despite the loss.
THE REAL FREE THROW MERCHANT
He was flopping so hard tonight lol I respect it
True but he also got hacked hard like 3 plays in a row. Smart plays too cuz he had dunks lined up
Seriously like he gets one little shove in the back while in the air and he has the nerve to lose his balance??? Fucking flopper!
he hadn’t left his feet lmaooo
3 times, as he was literally going up he is grabbed from behind blind, unless you are pretending that all 3 of those players are 100% unaware of Castle’s tendencies? are all the Thunder unaware of who Stephon Castle is?
All 3 fouls are dirty plays 100%, they are at the moment he is going UP, and are as close as it gets to blindly grabbing an airborne player.
Insufferable fans tbh.
weak
you seen the plays? one was called a flagrant one btw. if it happens a split second later its a flagrant 2.
idk why yall like pansy basketball
enjoy your tornadoes tanner
ty
Wasn’t even airborne, you’re soft as hell
He got back up a lot from those hits he’s tuff but no 10 TOs this time lol
-17 this game and last game he was a -11 on top of 20 TOs in the first two games oof
He’s the starter that gets the most minutes with the bench to be fair
And the 20 Tos?
Cason Wallace.
He’s a young guy playing out of position, having to handle the ball against an elite perimeter defense.
And doesn’t have the tightest handle
Were when fox was out.. castle ain’t the main ball handler
To be fair last game he had to handle the majority of the ball handling and facilitating with Fox and Harper being out His turnovers aren’t as bad when he can play with other better facilitators and operate more as a slasher than a play maker
He’s a fine young player who gets a ginormous boost because of Wemby that’s just the reality
Not nearly as good as some of the talks he’s in
Better than Fox though…..
Fox is injured. Castle might have a brain injury I guess. Low BBIQ. Harper clears.
He got thrown off his game after the hard fouls
He had a monster dunk though
But yeah I love Harper, would be so good in a Thunder uniform
I think hes the worst of the 4 guards.
That 3rd quarter whistle for the Spurs was legendary.
I’m a Spurs fan and the 3rd quarter was unwatchable. Terrible product for TV. I’d rather Steph not get hacked but I’d also rather not watch free throws for 3 hours on my Friday night
Spurs are so unwatchable man
Spurs are a fantastic watch, its you’re deep team, where single player foul counts don’t matter so if they get whistle happy refs, the game is just straight up miserable end to end. Any semblance of a run from the other team is met with a timeout instantly, the average whistle per possession is probably above 1 on both ends.
Miserable 2nd quarter, miserable 3rd quarter, miserable 4th quarter, all just absurd stoppage throughout. Wild to think someone could imply it is Castle’s fault as this thread implies, when he is going up strong every single time with the full intention to finish, and is being hard fouled, sometimes dangerously so from behind.
Do people watch the games or just comment on box score? There were a ton of super hard fouls on the Spurs (mostly on Castle) during the quarter
Are the super hard fouls in the room with us?
Lol yall need to stop. Okc defense was relentless. I loved it. I mean i thought all the criticism would make okc timid. But hell to the no.
They were a couple hours ago
He let those hard fouls get into his head. Once he matures a little that will stop happening. I really like Castle. He’s going to be a good one.
Yeah he was like ready to fight someone everytime he took any contact. Cant get in your own head like that
He’s just way too hot headed for his own good currently
Being hot head is not a bad thing, its how you use it.
Oh I agree I watched Westbrook hone it for years and now Dub when he gets going. It’s about channeling it which is why I said he’s currently too hot headed. He just gets into headloss in moments where it’s detrimental to the team.
I have seen it with Wemby both way too. Sometimes it makes him play harder, sometimes he ends up doing too much. I’m looking forward to see how this young Spurs team grows.
It feels like a coin flip if he’ll progress mentally or still out.
It’s either Ja or Westbrook
You’d be in your own head as well, if 3 times in a row you get pulled down from behind as you are going up. They were all dangerous fouls that weren’t officiated correctly(besides maybe one).
Any sort of “he hadn’t left his feet yet” are just pure delusional fan speak, just imagine that feeling on a fast break, you feel someone behind you, you go to go up and make the layup/dunk, you EXPECT the it to be contested, instead as you are just about to leave your feet, you are pulled down. 3 times in a row.
Its entirely different if he can SEE the contact coming, these are 3 players not attempting a chase down block or contest, but literally pulling a player ahead of them down, its a dangerous play every single time.
Maybe Thunder fans don’t see it that way because the way SGA would finish would include him falling to the ground anyway, he jumps sideways instead of up, and seeks the contact first before looking at the basket. Castle finishes vertically, pretending that all the Thunders players that fouled him don’t know this, is pure fantasy. They killed his confidence, because they made him question his own safety to go up, if you’re fine with that, seems like you are a fan of the right team.
Pull him down? What game are you watching? Caruso hit his arm and Ajay pushed him in the back allegedly. These are playoff fouls. Go watch playoff games from 10-15 years ago. You don’t give up easy buckets. Make them earn it. None of them are dangerous. They just look worse because of how he landed.
hand should never be near his back when hes behind a player on a fast break, caruso was a mile away and as hes in the air caruso doesnt even jump and is running full speed and slaps his left arm. Lack of ability to do a chase down block, isnt an excuse for players to take out a player’s limb from behind while they are mid air.
Totally agree you don’t give up easy buckets, but you more don’t attack a player from behind while they are at their most vulnerable. There is a reason im not complaining about plays where he goes straight up against a defender and draws a foul.
Castle has been a pretty big foul baiter all year lol
His free throw rate this season was basically identical to SGA’s .465 vs. .470
It’s the hair….. Everytime he jerks his head back he usually gets a call
Bro its actually hilariously infuriating that he does that on every play.
Wait until he grows a Harden beard.
And if he ever master the SGA facial expressions, we’re all cooked.
now you got me imagining SGA with pineapple hair and a big beard, that is one goofy look
someone should do it tho
The ultimate would be Brunson with the tall hair and bushy beard. His giant head already gives him a natural advantage.
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With the pineapple hair too
Wemby merchant
I have heard people say his ceiling is SGA. So checks out.
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you’re right, he was a big foul baiter even in his rookie season, it’s insane for someone to get so many calls in his first 2 years of career
Bro moves his head back literally every time he gets touched
I mean the guy attacks the rim a lot lol. Your boy flops every jumper he takes
SGA has led the league in drives for 4 straight seasons
he does, he also flails on every attempt and looks like his head will come off from all that neck snapping he does. He’s as much of a foul baiter as Shai is, and it’s only his 2nd year, his ways are just a little different that’s all
Omg did you just type that first sentence unironically and criticize sga?
Bro saw a statistic that went against the hivemind and malfunctioned lmao
Dude deleted his comment because he couldn’t take the downvotes. Soft behavior there.
Fixed his turnover issue and lost the ability to score from the floor
Clearly they got called for it, whats the problem
more FTA than SGA btw
This will be ignored.
It should be, considering half the free throws are from when he’s going up on the fast break and the Thunder are intentionally fouling
But you would actually have to watch the games…
ya it’s insane to pretend these are similar situations, the fouls on him are intentional confidence scaring type fouls. Come as close to committing a flagrant two and technically not because hes only 99% of the way into the air before they pull his ass down blind from behind. do it with 3 different players, so he has to be scared everyone will potentially play to take him out of the air.
SGA would NEVER get in the air like that, he’d instead jump towards defensive player to draw contact and lob a shot up after hes going to the line. The contrast is stark, and it is painful to watch.
Those ain’t mid ranges. He getting fouled at the rim
By 1?
Sga has 12 in the second half alone lmao
He was fucking awful tonight and got bailed out by a lot of iffy calls.
He’s been bad the whole series but yall overrate him
iffy calls
Do people watch the games of just scoreboard watch? Dude got rocked like 5 times going to the rim and that was ten of the FT
Crowd getting mad doesn’t mean he got rocked. These were normal playoff fouls. I thought the ajay flagrant was unwarranted as well but whatever.
Regardless they were obvious fouls. Where were the iffy calls? Post them
Rocked?? I’ll give him the Ajay foul and the Caruso one on the breaks, but the other ones in the 3rd quarter were soft.
Post one where it wasn’t a foul. The argument here is that he was getting a soft whistle
14 points on 1 made field goal is crazy
Imagine if SGA had that stat line 😂
The true free throw merchant has arrived
This guy is the real free throw merchant
Only 1 turnover committed
Next level hater shit to not include assists/turnovers/stocks
I was told by some basketball savants that they should immediately trade Fox because he’s stealing from Castle’s and Harper’s development.
Please.
You should trade Fox because of his contract.
That little FT run he went on was fucking wild.
Most were earned though, even if that flagrant was a little soft. The two drives where he initiated contact still have been getting called.
Yeah I don’t disagree. Not saying it shouldn’t have been a flagrant but it easily could have been common.
I mean he got fouled on his attempts but did not play well otherwise
He finna fight his pillow tonight 😂😂
If he made another FG or two and had 2-3 more trips to the FT line, he would’ve put up a classic James Harden stat line.
One more fg, 3 more free throwsn 3 more turnovers and much worse defense would be classic harden game.
First thing I thought of lol
God that was some of the worst basketball I’ve ever watched, which sucks cause Harden was really good.
The hair pull adjusted his shot. Big BBIQ from ihart
Its insane that this guy gets star shouts. Incredibly unskilled player with a super superstar whistle. He plays how insane redditors think Shai plays. Ultimate Wemby merchant.
Ethical poops
jared mccain took it personal castle took his rookie of the year
Ethical
NBA has gotta do something about his flopping
Unwatchable
Thunder defense frazzled him. I love Castle, he reminds me of Westbrook so much, but that extra edge can mess with the flow.
Also, he got fouled a lot, this are all legitimate trips to the line. He’ll bounce back.
I’m losing faith in him, in the future he’ll be good but for rn spurs need more from Fox
Bunch of original jokes in this thread
Hes killing them rn. Brutal watch especially the foul baiting that ruins the game
Only 1 turnover tonight is the real stat. (20 total in first 2 games).
That’s a James harden line
Nah Harden woulda went 3⁄20 FG, 25⁄25 FT and been on the floor 8 more times
Should have traded his ass for Giannis back in February
He looked rattled tonight. The Spurs inexperience is showing.
He got fouled a lot but 14 points of 1 fg is prime James Harden like
5-17 from 3
It’s been a rough series for him but he’s a UConn guy (and won a title) so I’m always gonna ride for him. It’s the growing pains that come with being in the playoffs for the first time. He was very good the series before, averaging 20-6-6 while keeping turnovers to under 3 per game. They’re just coming across a juggernaut that can throw so many guys on him and rattle him/his game.
Get the man something for his nerves or anxiety he’s playing nervous and panicky at all times.
How many turnovers?
nice free throw merchant looks like the hair grab made castle play like the dark lord flopper sga like their “ethical” spurs fans hate
Putrid performance
Bill Simmons said this dude was All NBA by the way.
Bucks getting him or Fox in a trade if they lose the series? 😅
DISGUSTIN’
OKC could not stop fouling the shit out of him at the rim.
No, OKC wouldn’t stop making him earn his shots
By fouling the shit out of him every time he drove to the paint. Very cool. They always play the most watchable basketball.
Irony
Fucking bum