[Highlight] Mitch Johnson on Shai’s free throws: We were undisciplined. He got us off the floor and took advantage of it. I can remember a few in my head that were defensive fouls
nah they are legit fouls, shai embelishes contact but they are legit defensive fouls. Bench is the reason that spurs lost this game. Kj needs to step up or accept 0minutes this series
Leaning towards 0 minutes and give old man Barnes more minutes, KJ doesn’t look at anything besides the rim. No passing and drains half shot clock when he has it
his entire playstyle is bulldozing people and screaming ayy on every shot he takes
There was one play last night where he was just flailing his arms around in the paint until he found someone’s arms
Barnes kinda sucks too tho. He cant playmake on his own at this level, his defense isnt that great.
Only way he can contribute is catch and shoot. But the spurs guards are kinda checked and their playmaking isnt that great today. Literally couldnt feed Wemby
Barnes isn’t great but he doesn’t need the ball much at all while Keldon really wants it and will get it unfortunately. Keldon also is horrific as on and off ball defender, he gets beat back door doesn’t try to work around screens and has bad rotations while giving up a lot of height for a mostly inside playing wing. He isn’t making winning plays he’s making selfish ones and a vet that has won it all won’t do that (that’s the thought at least)
So funny, this was old HB at the end in Mavs
As a warriors fan, i do not wish anyone having to experience HB going 1⁄16 in a crucial playoff game again on anyone lol
and champagnie needs to find his shot
Honestly, I would be happy if he just shot. So many double takes that allowed the defense to recover this game and the last.
He shoots like everyone can block his shot. Chet under the basket? Can’t shoot my 3s
Yeah what has happened there? He might have a game coming up where he hits nine 3s though.
Fox, Castle and Champagnie shooting 4⁄19 from 3 (21%) is probably a bigger reason for losing than the bench
eh, even if they did make those at their post all star break averages it’s still only like, 7⁄19? 8⁄19? An additional 9-12 points still doesn’t win them that game
It’s not just the points but also missing so many deep shots makes it easier for OKC to transition before Spurs can set their defence. You cannot miss that many 3s and expect to win in the modern game
Respect bro. Also, the reporter totally set up Mitch here to bait him to comment on SGAs free throws but he answered the question well.
This was an ethical win by you guys imo, last game I felt it was a shit show and that goes to show yall don’t even need to be doing all that, you have great players
Agree. Castle had zero discipline. I do find it annoying that everyone shooting a 3 with a player on them will fake and then jump 4 feet towards the hoop. If open- they just go straight up. This isn’t just SGA- they all do it- he just falls down more.
Wish NBA players would move to score not move for whistles
That’s my biggest gripe. They’re a great team and Shai is so good. They don’t need to embellish the foul calls or flop at all and they’d still be so good.
The guy is a master at feeling contact. It’s like as soon as he feels the wind move from your hand starting to swipe down he knows the contact is coming and sells it.
Harden used to do that so well too
Harden is the OG
If only they would call it offensive fouls. It’s one thing if a defender is in the air looking to block a shot & the offensive player initiates contact, but it d a completely different thing when an offensive player does it while a defensive player is just standing there. The league needs to actually enforce these new rules instead of letting a handful of players milk it just because of a loophole
Wemby would have fouled out by the half
I’m just tired of the blatant foul-baiting & flopping after contact. Harden was the master of it for years, Luka does it, LeBron does it on occasion, so I’m not just going to single out SGA for it. But clearly, that’s not in the spirit of true competitive basketball. It’s just players looking for every loophole in the playbook to get calls their way and nothing is gonna change unless Adam Silver and the NBA decide to actually do something about it.
Castle has zero discipline.
Agreed. Yea SGA has the best whistle but tonight in particular…almost all of those I saw were legit fouls. He sold some (as always) but they were actually fouls.
He’s pushes off, then the defensive player has to overcompensate to make up ground, and he jumps in the air. Boom foul everytime.
He does but Castle straight up jumped on every fake
Most of the complaints should be around the fact Shai shoves off 99% of the time. He gets so much space and allows him to draw these fouls because players naturally react to the large gap.
There isn’t a single player that can truly consistently deal with that since it is a foul that isn’t being called. Spurs just need to find a rhythm and get offense out of other players.
If only there were self aware Knicks fans bc why are you talking about a star player embellishing contact when Brunson gets whiplash every time he drives to the rim
Embellishing contact isn different than actively causing contact off a consistently missed foul call.
Brunson still gets called on push offs while SGA pulls it off every play.
Remind me again what was Brunson’s FTA this season and what was SGA’s?
Brunson will dive into players like he did last game in hope of getting a foul call. You don’t even watch your own team.
Shai drives to the rim while Brunson gets whiplash as soon as he crosses half court.
To be fair, SGA didn’t drive once to the rim this last game.
He usually does, but not really against the Spurs. Most of his embellishments last game were from jump shots. He did a good job drawing fouls.
Yeah I feel like this is a funny game for people to be like “no he really gets fouled!” when he did like 3 “create space and then jump into the defender” in a 4 minute period down the stretch that got old fast.
The last one where he crumbled to his knees was particularly egregious.
Yeah, I think this is one of those “two things can be true at the same time” situations.
SGA is a phenomenal player with a generational level of discipline and talent.
SGA knowingly and intentionally does whatever he can, including embellishing, falling down, and flopping to game the system to win the game.
At least to me it’s just a sleazy, disrespectful, and boring style of basketball. Heck, I started betting quarters with my cousins on how many times he’d “fall down”
Again what is their free throw attempts for the season.
Seems like you don’t watch either because SGA is the diver and falls on most of his foul draws. While Brunson trucks through players and tends to finish the play.
If you don’t watch the games and spend 99% of your time on Reddit I understand why you would think that. But stats don’t back up your claims nor does real life.
You tell me.
Lmao Brunson trucks through players? Once you stop deepthroating Brunson, you’ll be able to see the reality that both players embellish contact to help their players win games.
Acting like one doesn’t over the other just makes you look like a tool.
Stats don’t tell everything, champ. You can look at all the stats to see how Knicks will lose a series against Thunder tho
It’s convenient that you omit stats because it straight up shows your argument isn’t based on reality.
Also nice strawman when my comments never ignore the fact stars embellish contact. Issue is SGA is committing an offensive foul 99% of the time which is the same shit the warriors did on their dynasty runs.
If you are going to bandwagon at least flair up.
Again, can you pull up the stats? I’m too lazy to.
Lmao offensive foul 99% of the time? Man, Brunson balls deep in your throat, it’s gotten you to not think straight.
I’m a Knicks fan
Claiming to be a Knicks fan while not flairing up and thinking Brunson flops all the time is certainly telling that you don’t watch anything but highlights.
If you are too lazy to pull up the stats then you shouldn’t be making baseless comments.
not according to the refs. you’re allowed to give a push so long as the arm doesn’t fully extend. that’s been consistent all year long across the league. even in replay footage with refs, they’ll talk about how the chicken wing is allowed
Stop hand checking him up and down the floor, then we can consider scaling back the “pushoff”
They not gonna like this one
Shocked it hasn’t been deleted yet
I posted it before and it got removed for some reason. Hopefully this time it doesn’t
People mass report it and the auto mod dumps it. It’s maybe the saddest thing.
This narrative is the most clickbait nonsense I’ve seen in sports social media lmao. It’s completely stupid. Doesn’t matter. And is barely true. Players trying to get calls and these chronically online couch potatoes think it’s a new concept. They must have blacked out LeBron’s entire career lmao
During the dream team photoshoot Magic Johnson makes a joke saying,“can’t get too close to MJ or it’s a foul”.
Stars get foul calls. It’s been this way for decades.
And they’re not stars because of the whistle, they get the whistle because they’re stars. This isn’t chicken or the egg.
MJ, LeBron, and every other “star” has an elite toolbox of moves that RESULTS in those fouls. Those moves are unique and effective at generating points. They may get leniency because of the star status but they’re are the 1% of the 0.001% of basketball platers.
I’ve seen Jimmy Butler during his Heat years average between 8-9 free throw attempts a game so maybe I’m biased but it seems people really are making this a bigger deal then it really is. Not saying Shai doesn’t seek out fouls but it’s honestly on the defenders not to foul him.
You’re a real one
Man he’s super likable as a coach. Glad we have you guys instead of Chris Finch as our opponent.
Lmao I told my bro thay exactly during the last 2 min of the 4th when it panned over to him looking like he accepted his fate, like damn Chris finch would’ve been had 9 panic attacks and 3 ejections by now
Removed it cause it’s not him crying like other coaches do
the inverse of Chris Finch
Fins Chrinch?
The mods here are weird
Y’all are so soft lmao always fun to watch, like kids throwing a tantrum
I think you mean the opposite? It’s not us deleting posts because a team is good
Nobody will ever take your team or championship(s) seriously
Ever
Damn man… making basketball your entire personality isn’t healthy. The Spurs coaches and players aren’t complaining, yet here you are.
ehh i really respect the Thunder squad for how deep yall are though. sure there’s some flopping and physicality here and there which can annoy me to no end, but there’s no doubt that you guys have a deep and talented team with high IQ players who can step up at any moment. and I wished the Spurs had the same depth but unfortunately we rely more on front loaded talent
Projection
I don’t think you know what that means lmao
Basketball is like my 4th favorite sport and I don’t even root for a team in the west.The guy with the Thunder tag claiming that basketball is my whole life is projecting
I don’t really care man sorry lol
Yep, that’s what you’re doing.
lol
Seems you respect enough to say (s)
They win, nobody disputes that. It just is overshadowed for most people by the way they play
It just ruins the watching experience, which is like the worst thing a sports team can do imo
…if you’re like 15 and reactionary, you’re correct. If you stop bitching and remember that dominant teams are hated and later respected, you’re incorrect. A brief overshadow at the most. People whining about the patriots/cheating in 2015 have wiped that from their minds.
Nah dude Tom Brady is a flopper 😅
Okay
Any level-headed fan can see the foul-baiting narrative falling apart in the playoffs. Shai just a top level playmaker on a deep fucking team up against a Spurs squad thats still learning. Still hate OKC tho.
Reporting trying to bait the coach into complaining about freethrows.
Reffing was pretty even all throughout the game and we unfortunately got that awful long 3rd quarter as well.
Yes, they want to feed their articles with rage-baiting questions.
Reffing was unbearable tbh but even. They were calling a lot. Most of them were fouls though.
Not going to lie I barely noticed the officials. Seemed pretty accurate. This series has been amazing to watch. So much more tactical and intense than in the east
I think it was even but no way you don’t notice officials with 33 FTs total in 3rd quarter
What are they supposed to do when both teams are fouling like crazy in the 3rd quarter though? We can’t just always blame the refs for the number of free throws.
There were over 60FTs taken how could you possibly not notice the officials?
I only notice the officials if they account for over 60% of the points in the game. Close to half is barely noticeable.
I just meant people weee fouling a lot lmao
Barely noticed? The 3q was wild.
Wow he does not sound how he looks
Kinda sounds like Doc
Haliburton syndrome
him and bickerstaff should trade voices
read your comment and expected it. but did not the expect doc divers deep
This was slowmo for me, can not be the voice that comes out of that face.
they run “sounds of the game” with him a lot, and every time they do i’m ALWAYS surprised
Did the mods delete first post of this?
I’m gonna just repost what I said in the last one:
If this doesn’t stop the incessant whining, complaining and bitching on this sub, then I’m afraid this sub is completely cooked.
Spoiler: it won’t
[deleted]
“If you have an issue with the discourse on this sub, maybe you should leave.”
🤣🤣🤣 and miss out on these gems? no way brotha
These generic name no flair posts are the best they always just spout the most basic same old shit
The Thunder will never ever hear the end of this, no matter how much they win. The flopping is as much their legacy as the winning.
We will dry our tears with confetti at the parades I guess
God it must be hard hating on a team that rarely loses. It would drive me crazy too.
Do people just type this out and not read it. This is embarrassing
Once people start pulling out the “You won but in a way that bothered some people” it’s like brother I don’t give a fuck. Like oh no the Lakers won a “bubble ring”, I still got to watch my team win a championship and had a blast
The flopping is as much their legacy as the winning.
I’ll take that deal. The winning felt unbelievable last year
Ok dork
80-90% of the fouls on SGA are legitimately fouls, he does a good job of putting himself in position to get fouled, and tonight the spurs really fell into those traps. However it is that other 10% of calls that are just bs that really makes it seem like a such larger percentage
Pretty good take. He gets all star calls from time to time, I agree. But all of the all stars do. Like it or not, the NBA has made that a part of the game.
Can’t say I agree that all the all stars get a good whistle. Curry, Lebron, Ant, KAT, and Jokic (tho he seems to get them more now that he’s been flopping) have notoriously bad whistles.
I think the NBA just nerfs SOME of the elite players in that way. Sort of a small price to pay.
All I can say is, compare the whistle that any of those guys get to the whistles that some scrub on a poverty franchise gets and it’s night and day. Ant and Jokic’s “bad whistles” would be all-time great whistles for a team like the Kings lol, both of those guys have out-FT’ed the entire Kings team for a game more than once in recent years.
Not every star gets the James Harden tier of whistle, but basically every star - and especially every “face of the league” level star - gets a VERY favorable whistle.
This is just blatantly not true and coping. All stars that foul bait and flop constantly get those calls. Don’t see steph getting those calls when he’s hammered going to the rim cuz he ain’t a flopper.
You also don’t see Steph go to the rim nearly as much as the other stars in question..
Steph drives literally like 30% as much as Shai
Imagine those 10% plays, get clipped every game and then up voted more his highlights. A narrative quickly would form that all he does is flop. The level scrutiny he gets is beyond reasonable. The fact this video gets auto modded should be proof alone.
You don’t need to watch selected clips. You can watch the full game and see it throughout. He goes to the ground 17% pp- significantly higher than the second highest player. It’s easy to pull clips for every game.
His aggression is one of his great strengths in that area
Yeah he drives literally more than anyone in the league
And even more simply he takes a lot of shots.
As time has gone on I think people should just look at shooting foul percentage. 9 fts look like a lot until you realize that per 2point scoring attempt he draws less a foul at the same rate as booker and ant.
Significantly so. What is weird is how often he goes to the ground on perimeter shots.
This feels about right yeah
The stat I saw was that he’s on the ground 17% pp- exponentially more than the next highest player. Sure- he gets legit fouled but this is noticeable. People want to argue clips are curated- and that is what a clip is by nature, but you can pull at least a dozen every single game.
He (and OKC as a whole, tbh) is good enough to win it all without the extra dramatics, so when the flailing starts it’s just insufferable
Well said, coach
Finch should take notes
The most undisciplined effort we’ve looked in months. I’m really salty about it honestly.
Regardless of how this series goes Spurs definitely need to add more to the bench. Starters played well overall
Need a good 4 and just some seasoning on the other role players, which they’re getting a hefty dose of now.
Kj and champ been so fkn disappointing man
KJ especially. Dude is sadly unplayable at this current rate barring a dramatic wake up from him
Castle jumps at everything.
Damn, what will the non-ball knowers do now?
Ooooh do the mods allow posts like this here?
On a side note has anyone considered starting a throat lozenge company marketed towards NBA coaches?
You gotta understand how much they yell lol. Thibs I felt that wasn’t the voice he had before he got into coaching
I think Ty Lue might be interested
Damn you just made me remember the arguments people had over what that was in his mouth
Yeah - There were *some* uneven calling early on but it wasn’t really involving SGA + we absolutely got overly frustrated by it & in turn completely lost our defensive discipline. The fouls in the second half were pretty much all legitimate, and very dumb on our end.
The catch 22 of playing the Thunder is that you want refs to call fouls because of how physical the Thunder defenders are, but if refs call every little foul, SGA feasts.
You watching how guys are guarding Shai on and off ball? You usually have to pay for people to be that handsy with you.
I wouldn’t expect any less. When players are as good as SGA and Wemby, you do whatever you can to slow them down and get under their skin. I remember my high school coaches teaching me some slightly underhanded tricks to ruffle the feathers of the other team.
Yeah man I’m a lifelong Pacers fan and experienced it on both ends last year, but as far as I’m concerned it’s part of the game and elite gamesmanship when SGA gets the better of it. He’s just that good…you want to beat him, you have to be better at it.
These games are won in the trenches just like the NFL, but the trenches of the NBA are on the perimeter where scorers fight for an inch of daylight that they can exploit.
Yeah Shai 100% sells contact but these aren’t some Harden-era gimmick calls, he’s just elite at getting defenders off balance.
Spurs bench was brutal tonight, energy and decision making both fell off a cliff. If KJ’s not gonna bring defense and cutting, Pop’s gotta shrink that rotation fast.
Millennial coaches > Gen X and Boomer coaches. Not much whining from the younger coaches in the league.
Or maybe it comes down to individuals and not some generalization?
Real recognizes real
This is what bothers me about the anti-SGA narrative. Let’s say he takes 10 free throws in a game. Well how many of those are legit fouls? Probably most of them. Is it really the 2 or 3 free throws from embellished contact that made the difference? Certainly not in this game. And the fouls had nothing to do with SGA’s 12 assists.
Both teams knew this game would be called tighter after the Hartenstein controversy from Game 2, and in the 3rd quarter the Spurs drew a ton of fouls driving to the rim so it’s not like they didn’t get those opportunities.
SGA is playing everyone now. You cant even hate it tbh. He’s on tp the next game
He didn’t shoot a free throw until the third quarter
Some embellishments but in totality was not nearly as bad as game 2.
Spurs defense just got beat into jumping. Shai at the line wasnt why they lost. They just turn into a G league team when Wemby sits
The Wemby foul on Caruso’s 3pt attempt drove me crazy. Why is he biting on a pump fake when he can literally block the shot on flat feet?!
No coach! It’s “somethings something different whistle, my guys deserve the same respect something something”
If the Spurs buy into this they wouldn’t learn the proper ways to counter, better to accept their faults and build from there.
They’re 100% legit fouls just stop fouling
To difficult to defend without.
Just have to accept some fouls or let more shots get put up
This game Spurs were doing well just got caught not finishing defensive possessions. Bench issues were more glaring. OKC didn’t embellish badly in this game compared to game 2 where it felt like almost every play someone was on the floor immediately
Finally, what I’ve been saying for the past two years, defenders don’t play disciplined defense against Shai. Just because I’m a Thunder fan I’ve been downvoted and called bias. I’ve even pointed at teams that have played great defense on Shai and have been physical and no fouls were called because they played disciplined defense. Indiana last year in the finals (except for Neesmith), Detroit, Spurs, Lakers.
People want to bitch about foul baiting, but why wouldn’t you do it if the team has stupid defenders. Why wouldn’t you capitalize on mental mistakes. This game the Spurs looked exhausted in the second half, which o think was a cause of the defensive discipline on attacking close outs and jumpers, and also reaching in instead of contesting the shot at its apex.
I know people would complain about flopping but at this point is anything really going to happen if it’s been two years of fans complaints. You’d have better luck yelling at the clouds because the NBA has found a new villain and nothing makes a story better than a great villain.
Leaning on your jumper to land into someone isn’t a foul, your landing space isn’t 6 feet in front of you, 6 feet to either side of you. His feet aren’t even under his body when he jumps to shoot because he doesn’t plan on landing. It’s bullshit.
I must be crazy seeing people defend this style of basketball. Okc not just Shai lean into their shot to draw a foul. How in the fuck is this ethical basketball? And yes I know every team has players that do this. But to this extent come on. Its boring to watch.
Spurs probably gonna focus on this to be more disciplined next game. Still always a toss up depending on how the refs are gonna wanna whistle the game.
No use of … and the last sentence isnt even what he said he said “i can remember a few in my head that were undisciplined fouls”
This sub shouldn’t allow posts like this.
Other nba coaches need to tell him how to do this press thing, blame the refs and talk about how okc can do whatever they want on d but you can’t even look at Shai. Cmon Mitch, quit being reasonable.
They are legit fouls. NBA just needs to fix the rules. Offensive players should not be rewarded for diving into defensive players.
Coach is right. Spurs got beat tonight by a better team in a pretty reasonably officiated game. Better coaching, better execution, better discipline. That is not what happened in game 2, but that’s what happened in game 3.
I like this guy as a coach. He’s got work to do though, needs to run more plays to get wemby the ball or at least more involved
Did AI write this headline?
I mean Castle took 14, that’s on us. I don’t know that this is really highlight worthy
Maybe you should tell your guys to drive with 8 minutes left in the 3rd instead of jacking up 3’s
Refs were not the problem in this game, OKC played like defending champions, and Spurs showed their inexperience in this one, which is completely normal for such a young team. Just shows how OKC is good and I would love them to play like this, without those dirty plays they often use, they don’t need that shit, they can win without that.
Wow a coach not being a total dweeb about this stuff. Super refreshing.
Last night is exactly why OKC has been getting so much shit lately. They are so good that they can dominate without all that flopping shit. Yes there was still embellishments but it was nowhere near as extreme as the last few games. This was just a thorough ass whooping by the deepest team in the league.
It’s a reaaaally bad sign when the head coach is the one making excuses.
There was a moment when Shai got called for a real ticky tack foul and while the spurs were shooting free throws Shai was giving the ref a look like “okay so this is how we’re calling the game?” I knew the spurs were in trouble after that
Come on don’t feed the narrative. Shai was getting mauled on most of those calls.
No I agree they were 100% fouls I’m not trying to push that narrative. But you can see how the refs are calling the game and adjust how you attack. That’s all I’m getting at
Definitely. Happens at every level. Some refs you need to play safe some you can be more aggressive. Just part of the game.
Cope and seethe clowns 🤣
Refs made some shit calls in OKc’s favor, but Spurs were absolutely falling for SGA’s fakes and fouling him. Both things can be true.
That being said - this isn’t the way Mitch. Mark would never concede fouls called against his team. 😂 He needs to play the ref game better.
Refs made some shit calls in the Spurs’ favor too, let’s be real now. Ajay flagrant was sus as hell and then to get a T afterwards when Vassell instigated was super weak.
What? That’s an obvious flagrant. You can’t push someone in the back when they are airborne. You’re lucky Caruso didn’t get one too.
Wow. Okay man. Just keep it a buck if it goes the other way against you.