Spurs	G1	G2	G3	Total
Victor Wembanyama	49	37	39	125
Devin Vassell	51	38	36	125
Stephon Castle	49	38	35	122
Julian Champagnie	44	36	35	115
Dylan Harper	47	25	17	89
Keldon Johnson	22	26	12	60
Carter Bryant	14	10	10	34
Luke Kornet	9	11	13	33
DeAaron Fox	0	0	31	31
Harrison Barnes	6	12	3	21
Jordan McLaughlin	0	7	2	9
Kelly Olynyk	0	0	2	2
Lindy Waters III	0	0	2	2
Bismack Biyombo	0	0	2	2
Mason Plumlee	0	0	2	2

Thunder	G1	G2	G3	Total
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	51	38	36	125
Chet Holmgren	41	27	28	96
Alex Caruso	32	25	24	81
Cason Wallace	28	25	28	81
Ajay Mitchell	34	28	17	79
Jared McCain	18	26	27	71
Lu Dort	22	16	23	61
Isaiah Hartenstein	12	27	21	60
Jalen Williams	37	7	0	44
Jaylin Williams	10	10	22	42
Isaiah Joe	0	10	9	19
Aaron Wiggins	4	0	2	6
Kenrich Williams	0	0	2	2
Nikola Topic	0	0	1	1

Beginning_Ground4832

359 | 4 hours ago

I thought the bench cleared early but it makes sense.

This is a war of attrition

ositola | Lakers

125 | 4 hours ago

OKC just overwhelms you, they can compete without sga and j dub

No_Diver_629

82 | 3 hours ago

Jesus, continues this bullshit. Thunder would ble blown out without SGA, he is the engine to everything.

There is a reason why Thunder can play 20 different lineups in a series and as long as Shai is playing, they will play good basketball

DoobieGibson

23 | 3 hours ago

based on what?

the lead went up with Mitchell on the floor and not SGA

i think people are completely overlooking that Ajay Mitchell is starting on ²⁵⁄₃₀ teams.

Cason Wallace is shooting 46% from 3 in the playoffs and was 7th in DPOY voting. he’s probably OKC’s 5th best guerd

Dummmy99 | Lakers

1 | 32 minutes ago

Honestly bro people acting like SGA the only one who can generate offense on this team is laughable. He’s a superstar that draws a ton of attention duh but he has some of the best surrounding cast you could ask for.

Aggravating_Alps_953 | Pacers

13 | 3 hours ago

I bet the reason they can play 20 different lineups has nothing to do with an extremely deep team with like 8 +defenders and multiple non sga creators

Dummmy99 | Lakers

8 | 3 hours ago

I know we not comparable to the Spurs but in the Lakers series multiple games we got buried by Mccain and their bench bro.

ComradeOmarova

1 | 30 minutes ago

Spurs got obliterated by the Thunder bench last night. The guy you’re responding to doesn’t know ball.

[deleted]

1 | 3 hours ago

[deleted]

kitsunegoon | Rockets

24 | 3 hours ago

This is so dumb. The reason why the role players are doing so well is because SGA is getting doubled.

twistedfantasyy | Supersonics

6 | 3 hours ago

I’m an OKC hater but if you genuinely believe this you might not be understanding what you’re watching.

FlatMilk | NBA

4 | 3 hours ago

no way, they would struggle to cross halfcourt if the spurs decided to press

CrateBagSoup | Pacers

64 | 3 hours ago

Which is interesting because last year they were getting murdered in the non SGA. The bench unit really has come alive this series.

BlairEllis | Thunder

41 | 2 hours ago

McCain is a huge part of this, we were desperate last year for a spark plug off the bench who isn’t afraid to shoot when its not falling

DrPuzzle

9 | an hour ago

I can’t believe the team you guys have. Legitimately so good and so deep literally the only problem you will have is salary cap and making it work. For years to come. Lol that’s it! Don’t need offensive help, don’t need defensive help, have absolute stars and studs, great young coach, Presti running the show. Jesus

I say salary cap and then you remember Presti for the last few years loading up the war chest with the picks too lmao he was expecting this. The man’s a prophet

WubaDubImANub | Lakers

1 | 31 minutes ago

Fuck Daryl Morey

arthurbuster | Raptors

54 | 3 hours ago

They can compete without Jdub, no way without SGA

flaming_burrito_ | Wizards

3 | 2 hours ago

They pretty much did against the Lakers. That was the Ajay Mitchell show, SGA could’ve sat for most of it. Maybe not against the Spurs, but against most teams they don’t necessarily need SGA to win

OKC89ers | Thunder

27 | 2 hours ago

Yeah this is an iso based view of basketball, it’s a team game. SGA not on the floor is a lot different, whether he puts up shots or not

flaming_burrito_ | Wizards

-5 | an hour ago

Yeah, and they still work really well as a team without him. They have enough ball handling, the role players have been shooting really well, and their defense is minimally affected by his absence. They wouldn’t be so dominant, but I still think they make it to the WCF without him

tortellinipp2 | Lakers

14 | 2 hours ago

You don’t think SGA was drawing the defense’s attention away?

Legitimate_Buy_919 | Slovenia

7 | an hour ago

From the bench? They were like +40 when he was out

PeeledGrapePie

1 | 25 minutes ago

Because lakers backups are doodoo

flaming_burrito_ | Wizards

3 | an hour ago

I mean, he was, but they were doing noticeably better when he wasn’t on the floor honestly. Their net rating was much better with him off. We’re not talking about it because the Thunder are winning, but Shai has had some stinkers throughout the playoffs, but guys like Caruso, Mitchell, and McCain keep popping off to make up for it. Not saying they’re actually better without him, but I think the Thunder still win both the Suns and Lakers series regardless, just not as clean.

TomlinSteelers | 76ers

3 | 2 hours ago

They’ve played pretty well without him when needed

preddevils6 | Grizzlies

49 | 3 hours ago

If you take Shai and Jdub away, they are not a playoff team. If you take Shai away, they are not a contender.

Their role players are good, but it’s easier to look good when teams are running a triangle and 2 on one player.

real_vampire | Heat

19 | 3 hours ago

You can dump many key players but keep Sga and the team is still very good, he’s just that good. You lose Sga and well… good luck Charlie

Kaladin_Depressed | Thunder

12 | 2 hours ago

Even the Bulls without Jordan in 94 and 95 made the playoffs as 3 seeds but couldn’t get out of the second round. I’m sure the Thunder would be at best similar.

DingleberryOrchard | Thunder

13 | 3 hours ago

SGA is the reason the role players are going off. You watched four games to prove this. Bad take.

SageModeKyrie | Nets

-8 | 3 hours ago

The bench/role players do great even without SGA on the floor. OKC’s bench is simply all-time elite. SGA is the best player on the team but he isn’t as impactful as the top players on other all-time teams. You could probably swap SGA with some of the other tops guards in the league right now and the team would be performing just about the same imo.

royalewlthcheese | Australia

6 | 2 hours ago

Disagree.

So many other guards would crumble if they faced the constant double teams that he does. A guy like Donovan Mitchell would not be able to deal with these double teams, his playmaking has already been exploited in the ECF. Now imagine him getting the same treatment as Shai. You don’t understand how valuable it is that Shai rarely turns the ball over, it cannot be overstated.

That logic of the bench do fine when Shai sits doesn’t really hold up in practice. If he’s out for game 4 are they going to be fine because the stats says they do well in the non Shai minutes?

Shai is also still just 90% of OKC’s half court offense. The team can score without him if they force a turnover and get out in transition, but otherwise the offense is pretty ass without him. There’s not another reliable initiator on the roster. Ajay has struggled now that he’s not being guarded by Reaves, and even a healthy Jdub isn’t quite there yet

SplitOk186

9 | 3 hours ago

I think this is why a lot of fans have trouble rating them as highly as their stats indicate

They’re not the Shaq/Kobe Lakers or the Jordan/Pippen Bulls their best power is how insane their depth is rather than having the amount of big names that you associate with all-time teams

When people talk about comparing teams at their peaks the first thought generally tends to be their superstar power and the Thunder don’t particularly stand out in this regard SGA is probably their only player that will show up anywhere on all-time lists

AemonKirk97

15 | 3 hours ago

Ironically enough their most similar comp is either the 2013-2016 spurs or the Bill Russel Celtics

DingleberryOrchard | Thunder

10 | 3 hours ago

We have an All-NBA wing who dropped 40 in a Finals game with a busted wrist.

Pneuma_LooT | Pistons

5 | an hour ago

Well, they arent a championship team.without one of those 2 guys but they are pretty damn good. Makes life easy for them.thats for sure.

ositola | Lakers

1 | an hour ago

Chet, ihart, ajay, Dort, cason is a pretty solid starting five

You can even swap out jwill for ihart if you need more shooting

StairwayToPavillion | Thunder

3 | 3 hours ago

you sound like you have watch OKC play 5 games lmao. The offense used to be zilch without SGA getting the attention of ²⁄₃ players each possession. McCain/Ajay are good but they won’t be half as effective without the space they are getting right now. Wallace or Dorts’ handle isn’t good enough for the playoffs.

Admiral_Tuvix | Wizards

1 | 25 minutes ago

compete does not mean win, they’re getting swept easily without SGA.

MalHeartsNutmeg | Thunder

2 | 3 hours ago

I feel like this would be a problem for the Spurs in any playoff run. Wemby is the backbone of the team and he doesn’t play a lot of minutes in the regular season. You don’t need a super deep bench to wear him down, you could see the wolves doing it with a hospital team.

Any physical team with at least a decent bench would be able to wear him down over a 7 game series.

EarthWarping | NBA

307 | 4 hours ago

holy shit kornet at 33 min and its been that bad

Unlimited_Bepis | Thunder

228 | 4 hours ago

Kornet is -37 in 33 mins over 3 games

Skank_hunt42 | Thunder

106 | 4 hours ago

If Mark calls another timeout while Wemby is on the bench I will write a stern letter. It’s happened every game and it’s making me rip my hair out.

ButtersLLC | Thunder

46 | 4 hours ago

He feels bad for the spurs bench players. Truly ethical coaching from Mark

JudgmentDue610 | Thunder

10 | 3 hours ago

He is such a great guy

Unlimited_Bepis | Thunder

23 | 4 hours ago

Sometimes it’s before the 3 min to go mark in the half, and I think you can only call 2 timeouts after that point so he’s prob doing it to not lose the opportunity, but I’m not 100% sure and if that’s not a rule, that would make it more aggravating lmao

sunpar1 | Nets

10 | 4 hours ago

It is a rule, though not sure if that was the specific case here.

TechnicalAd6932

3 | an hour ago

You’re going to contradict my sternly written letter a little bit. I wanted as few TO as possible when Wemby is on the floor, I want his ass worn out with as little chance to rest as possible. We gotta get our ducks in a row before we start mailing Mark shit.

SwallowsOnSundays | Nuggets

7 | 3 hours ago

Wondering if you could survive with small ball KJ at the 5. It almost certainly cannot go worse.

Mg29reaper | Celtics

19 | 3 hours ago

I would try Bryant at the 5 during the jwill center minutes. He is strong as shit.

Unlimited_Bepis | Thunder

5 | 3 hours ago

It could get worse. KJ had an absolutely terrible game, you have to get more out of a 6MOY than 5 pts, 5 fouls, no assists and a turnover, he was -23…in 11 mins.

Unmissed_Opportunity | Spurs

4 | an hour ago

He’s been so bad. If his 3 isn’t falling, it highlights how out of control he gets when trying to drive.

anonkebab

5 | 2 hours ago

They gotta play Barnes at center

Unlimited_Bepis | Thunder

4 | an hour ago

Worth a try

kawhi21 | NBA

1 | 16 minutes ago

Not sure how he ever got a reputation of being a good defender on this sub tbh. He’s unplayable. This isn’t unique to this series

Ilikesporks_ | Lakers

37 | 4 hours ago

and he’s one of the best back up bigs in the league. idk how they move forward. they need a really good 4 to help out kornet when wemby goes to the bench but who would that be?

Remarkable-Lynx1496 | Spurs

54 | 4 hours ago

It’s a matchup issue, he’s been solid the whole season

Ilikesporks_ | Lakers

9 | 3 hours ago

eh regular season isn’t the post season. he hasn’t been remarkable at all in the post season and it’s not his fault

SunKing210 | Spurs

26 | 3 hours ago

Bruh he was great in the Blazers series when Wemby was out, and he was up against 2 quality defensive bigs in Robert Williams and Clingan

Asoriel

14 | 3 hours ago

OKC has 3 bigs, Chet, IHart, JWill. All facilitate in different ways, Chet is THE 3 and D big, and shares a lob threat with IHart, who is the “point center” with great passes and decent short-range, and JWill is the more mobile 3 and D guy with more 3 than D.

They work so well with the OKC system when you consider the overall gameplan is generally get the ball into the hands of a guard (SGA, Wallace, McCain, Mitchell)

Have your wings keep roaming for easy cuts/layups or open 3s. (JDub, Caruso, Dort)

Have your bigs facilitate with DH’s and lobs. (Chet, IHart, JWill)

But also have a ton of depth and flexibility in those roles so that if anything doesn’t work, or something specific works really well, you can lean away or into that specific scheme or matchup.

And they’re just as young as San Antonio.

Not sure why everyone was crowning the upcoming decade to the Spurs so quickly when this kind of team has already been proven, and has already learned how to start combatting their weaknesses… and they have the draft capital to keep the development line going.

lovo17 | Lakers

10 | 4 hours ago

Something tells me the Spurs are going to offer the MLE to Rui.

ositola | Lakers

10 | 4 hours ago

Fuck he would be perfect there, but I think he gets more than the mle from us

LetTheKnightfall | Lakers

5 | 4 hours ago

Please stop. We’re already a step down from these two

Ilikesporks_ | Lakers

4 | 4 hours ago

please no, we need him so much more

bellmonk | Timberwolves

3 | 4 hours ago

wolves have julius randle for fox.

SunKing210 | Spurs

10 | 3 hours ago

Prior to the All star break I would’ve definitely entertained this trade idea but Randle has looked awful for months now and especially against the Spurs in the 2nd rd

bellmonk | Timberwolves

2 | 3 hours ago

i love Randle but don’t think his value trades across for Fox. he would probably be insane with Wemby’s gravity. his series against y’all was so disappointing to the fanbase and to the organization. not sure what we will get for him, but if it’s a guard it’s going to be one with more baggage than Fox has.

gedbybee | Spurs

2 | 3 hours ago

I would love to trade Fox, but not for Randle.

PlasticTreeonaHill

24 | 4 hours ago

Meanwhile Kornet was cooking my guy Donovan Clingan 😭

spagheddieballs | Warriors

2 | 2 hours ago

Levels

zincinzincout | 76ers

12 | 3 hours ago

The Embiid and Jokic experience

When your scheme is built around a superstar big and every non-starter level big in the league is unathletic, non agile, stone hands, and can’t defend a JV private school kid

mellted_cheese

4 | 3 hours ago

It’s not kornet’s fault rally those are just the non wemby minutes. Not sure how many backup centers are gonna look better. Spurs need a real 4 that can stagger backup 5 minutes. Anything to survive those non wemby minutes better.

gedbybee | Spurs

2 | 3 hours ago

Yeah idk if he’s hurt or what but he’s like unplayable.

freshBlueeyes6391

161 | 4 hours ago

It’s actually sort of surprising. Watching Spurs in the Wolves series I just felt like Spurs seemed to have a bottomless pit of high perfoming roster players to use. They ran 10 players a game that series.

I haven’t looked, but is OKC running 11 this series or are spurs cutting back to 8-9 man usage now? I know both pacers and okc were spreading out the roster minutes well last season. More of this league’s coaches need to understand how helpful that is to the players in a series.

HawaiianOrganDonor | Pelicans

155 | 4 hours ago

The Jalen Williams injury complicates it, but if you include him, they are running 11.

I think the problem for San Antonio is their bench is significantly worse than OKC’s. They are forced to play their starting five big minutes.

Remarkable-Lynx1496 | Spurs

80 | 4 hours ago

Keldon playing like he has been has been disastrous

Spemanz92 | Thunder

50 | 4 hours ago

Keldon really has no place in the court atm. Headless chicken on both ends. Carter can play more even if he is raw, he has been passable. Kornet needs to play even if its not ideal

dreadpirateruss | Thunder

40 | 3 hours ago

I feel like Carter gets punished for being young. He makes 1 or 2 mistakes & gets pulled. Meanwhile, everyone else gets a much longer leash.

Spemanz92 | Thunder

16 | 3 hours ago

Agreed. His leash seems really small. He makes mistakes but he is a clear positive on the floor most of the times. He should get more of keldon’s minutes

BakerStSavvy | Spurs

6 | an hour ago

This been mitch mo since the start of the season. Castle 5 turnovers and get blocked 5 times at the rim in 3 minutes? Keep going champ!

Harper has a lapse on defense even though hes on fire? Removed next chance possible

Yoshinobu_YamaGOATo

6 | 2 hours ago

He clearly bothered Shai in the first game, but since then he’s learned how to use that rookie aggressiveness against him. Shai isn’t a flopper, he’s a master foul baiter, and the Spurs keep falling for the bait.

HawaiianOrganDonor | Pelicans

11 | 3 hours ago

Carter Bryant’s energy off the bench really bothers OKC ball handlers, but he’s a zero on offense.

Spemanz92 | Thunder

1 | 3 hours ago

He still has been passable and playable at times. He hasnt been an actual issue

HawaiianOrganDonor | Pelicans

2 | 3 hours ago

For sure. I just mean that it’s not as simple as “double Bryant’s minutes to fix everything.” Which I know you weren’t saying.

Spemanz92 | Thunder

5 | 3 hours ago

He is a rookie and pretty raw. Not expecting him to play 25 mins in this type of series. But he should be given a bit more leash, specially when keldon is constantlu shitting the bed

WhichHoes | Warriors

6 | 3 hours ago

They fed Kornet a few times and it worked, becUse he can get low post positioning. They immediately stopped because Keldon kept chucking shots

TerrySaucer69 | Spurs

2 | 34 minutes ago

Kornet is fine, but he’s not Wemby. It’s just like Jokic from previous years. The spurs with Wemby in are slightly better than OKC, but are dramatically worse than OKC without him.
They’d need to either 1. Be SO much better with Wemby that the bench minutes don’t matter, like the nuggets were in the past, or 2. Be good enough to survive the non-Wemby minutes. Which is anywhere from impossible to prohibitively expensive for the rest of your team.

Ok-Adhesiveness166

4 | 2 hours ago

Keldon playing like this and Caruso has become prime klay. From 29% from 3 in the regular season to 47% in the playoffs.

TheBlueOne37

32 | 4 hours ago

In San Antonio’s defense every nba teams bench is significantly worse than OKCs.

HawaiianOrganDonor | Pelicans

11 | 3 hours ago

Yes I don’t mean it as a knock on the Spurs at all. Their bench is above average at worst.

FireFlyz351 | Slovenia

10 | 3 hours ago

Next season will be interesting for the Spurs. They’ll have Barnes and Olynyk expiring freeing up 32 mil.

Then Wemby and Champagnie have a team option that will lead into extensions.

They’ll have decent open cap space and a solid slew of firsts to make some wings. I imagine next year is a pretty ideal time to go for it all.

IRanOutOf_Names | Heat

16 | 3 hours ago

11 deep and the next one of the bench is fucking Aaron Wiggins. Genuinely how.

No_Diver_629

9 | 3 hours ago

Hey, man 13 is Kenrich Williams, solid enough to get rotations on most play off teams. But it drops of after that with Topic who have had broken knee and cancer and a injured Sorber. Yes, i am a bit sarcastic cause both of them can pop next year to be rotation players.

Euphoric_Travel6762 | Thunder

8 | 3 hours ago

Yea a dude that dropped 42 in a game last year lmao. He hasn’t been good this year but certainly the best 12th man itl

freshBlueeyes6391

5 | 4 hours ago

I think feeling “forced to” isn’t always a real thing and bites a team in the ass come the 4th quarter if an opponent is spreading out the energy usage.

EarthWarping | NBA

22 | 4 hours ago

Keldon has been horrific and Harper isnt healthy leading to them playing their starting 5 a ton last night.

freshBlueeyes6391

1 | 4 hours ago

yeah that’s why I was asking, I’ve only been able to watch bits and pieces of this series so far. These are the things I’m not up on.

HawaiianOrganDonor | Pelicans

7 | 4 hours ago

It’s definitely biting them, but I still don’t think the Spurs have a choice.

Keldon is -34 in 60 min, Kornet is -37 in 33 min, Bryant is -10 in 34 min.

freshBlueeyes6391

-2 | 4 hours ago

They maybe have a dilemma to figure out how to adjust their rotations a little and stop the bleeding as it were when they play. That’s what a series is for. But I just don’t know that it helps to react by pulling players off court and running your starters more into an energy deficit late. I your opponent is spreading it out I think you have to stick with that. Keep one marathon-runner type of starter on the floor type of deal maybe. But it they are known to get tired, don’t choose them. Basketball games eb and flow. Save it for later

thatsinsaneletstryit | 76ers

4 | 4 hours ago

im dead at you admitting you havent actually been watching this series but you’re sure you can fix the rotations better than their coach

freshBlueeyes6391

1 | 3 hours ago

Never said I was sure about anything. Someone here always has to jump the gun on retorts tho don’t they. We just talking here.

But I did just watch them closely in the previous series and yeah, just pieces of this one so far. That’s why I appreciate others filling me in. Don’t meet many people that admit things honestly, do ya.

Scotch_Blue

1 | 30 minutes ago

it does come across as funny

it’s one thing to be like “i feel like coaches always pull their guys early because they lack confidence in unproven guys”

but you’ve responded a few times with counters for how the coaches should approach it, when the reality is, the Spurs players are just worse. the starting 5 could clearly hang + Harper, but now they’re down to just 4 of those guys. which like 10 people have told you, but you keep responding about coaching.

EarthWarping | NBA

11 | 4 hours ago

It was 10 last night however mitchell left early

mercfan3 | Spurs

9 | 4 hours ago

I mean our best bench player became a starter to start the series, which severely hurt our depth. And then KJ and Luke have been unplayable. I think you could make the argument that Carter has been the best (when Harper is starting) and second best bench player this series..which it’s not good to be so dependent on two rookies.

freshBlueeyes6391

0 | 4 hours ago

yeah, the experience thing. No real way around it. I’m not sure they needed to move Harper to starting this series. But what do I know? He is pretty damn amazing. I may have stuck with what got them there tho.

mercfan3 | Spurs

3 | 4 hours ago

They needed to move him because Fox got hurt.

Nickespo22

0 | 2 hours ago

No, they didn’t need to. It’s a move that threw off the whole bench

Aggravating_Alps_953 | Pacers

7 | 3 hours ago

The pacers also have a very deep team and were the best conditioned team in the league.

I3ill

2 | an hour ago

They all looked fairly good till Fox got inserted into to the starting lineup. I’d start Harper and have Fox come off the bench with Johnson.

Ok_Temperature6503 | 76ers

1 | 3 hours ago

OKC is just that suffocating that you cant not use your best players all times.

InTheBinFC | Lakers

115 | 4 hours ago

OKC’s defense genuinely feels suffocating. People focus so much on the foul baiting and physicality that they ignore how insane their conditioning and rotations are. Playing with that level of pressure for basically the full 48 is not normal.

Caruso and Wallace are absolute demons defensively. They defend like a hive mind.

Last year their offense completely cratered whenever SGA sat. This year, with Mitchell and McCain, they really don’t have that concern anymore. It’s just too much of everything size, shooting, length, girth, strokes, depth, athleticism.

The most complete and versatile team.

Old-Lobster-8932

42 | 3 hours ago

Especially girth

beamsiccle

5 | an hour ago

and strokes

Olicsmems | Warriors

15 | 3 hours ago

This was honestly most apparent when a good amount of their starters were injured later in the season. Like you said if that happened last year that would have been disastrous especially with SGA out, but now it’s not really that bad. Castle especially just seems really frustrated with their defence.

Practical-Simple1621

7 | 2 hours ago

Yeah I think Cason Wallace had a few 20 point games without sga

NineJuanEight | Thunder

8 | 3 hours ago

Watching their rotations and close outs makes me so damn happy. They give so much effort on defense.

Asoriel

8 | 3 hours ago

It’s like people have forgotten that Ant gave the OKC defense a lot of credit last season (They play like they’re all on a string), and they’re very much better this season.

And it’s very likely they’re going to keep getting better, considering they’re just as young as San Antonio is.

PlasticTreeonaHill

54 | 4 hours ago

Okc running laps around them big ol San Antonio women iykyk

SunKing210 | Spurs

15 | 3 hours ago

Those laps must be very tiring haha

Yoshinobu_YamaGOATo

6 | 2 hours ago

Idk man, did you see the two sitting behind Mitch Johnson all game? Whoever was working that camera needs a raise.

PeeledGrapePie

1 | 13 minutes ago

That lady was tightening her top is the game went on lol things just kept popping more and more

GreenPurple24 | Lakers

34 | 4 hours ago

OKC has a way deeper roster so it makes sense. Still SGA is playing a ton of minutes as he should. Wemby should also be olaying 40 a game. And he shouldn’t be tired. This is the WCF not a regular season game.

streetking03 | Thunder

30 | 4 hours ago

He hasn’t played this many minutes all season. Also that double OT game put a lot of unplanned minutes into his legs and it’s showing. You could see how labored he looked running down the court in the second quarter, and how he stopped driving to the basket and was settling for outside shots or passing away.

CuriousOwl201

7 | 4 hours ago

Something to consider is also Wemby dominates both ends of the floor. Someone like Curry, SGA or Brunson don’t really get that tired on defense. They not the best at it, don’t have to fight for rebounds, don’t have to play physical with another big. Wemby does. And yet he drops 26 on good efficiency. That’s exhausting.

Longjumping_Split_53 | Thunder

3 | 4 hours ago

So your argument is he is too good to play more than 30 minutes?

I actually agree with it, but I don’t see how he can improve on it.

CuriousOwl201

8 | 4 hours ago

No he just needs help with a better bench. I think they also need to have him focus on the paint in defense and let the other stop the 3 shooting. Often be has to do both it’s not sustainable.

I think he also needs to play smarter. Pick his battles if that makes sense,, like don’t drive into Chet even if it works, be more mindful. But he is very young, that’ll come in time.

I think the Spurs coaching staff in the end need to develop a system just for him. Every player in that team plays to supplement Wemby. It’s their way to success because he is so dominant but can’t do it all at the same time. An example is Castle chucking quick 3s. That’s bad cause it forces Wemby to run back and forth. It’s gonna be tough to accept for some players

EarthWarping | NBA

1 | 3 hours ago

Agreed.

EischensBar | Thunder

15 | 4 hours ago

He’s averaged 30 minutes per game all season. You can’t just do that for 8 months and then expect to be able to play 40+ without fatigue when it matters.

GenSec | Thunder

2 | 3 hours ago

Yeah he just does not have the conditioning needed currently

HazikoSazujiii

16 | 4 hours ago

At the end of the day, Wemby being Wemby is somewhat his own kryptonite. He’s big. Getting up and down the floor is more effort for him, getting off the floor is more effort, playing the versatile defensive game that he plays requires more effort. Trying to be as mobile and versatile on offense as a guard is harder for someone 7’6.

In short, he should be tired based both upon the circus of fresh guys OKC keeps throwing at him and because he’s a 7’6 guy trying to play like a guard. It’s not a recipe for short term success or long term health.

sonic_4 | Supersonics

12 | 4 hours ago

It’s also really different to play 40 minutes in a regular season game vs a WCF game.

Longjumping_Split_53 | Thunder

9 | 4 hours ago

Spurs having to limit Wemby minutes all season just to keep him semi healthy and barely make the 65 game threshold is the issue.

If he can’t play 35+ minutes semi regularly it will continue to be an issue.

Wemby is going to hit 65 games for the awards but also needs the conditioning to be ready for the playoffs. I will be interested to see if he can pull off both at the same time in future seasons.

CuriousOwl201

0 | 4 hours ago

Wouldn’t be a problem if they had a benchZ also his game is more energy intensive than other superstars who don’t defend.

AdGreat3174

2 | an hour ago

I think it’s just simple thermodynamics when it comes to this tbh. A 7’6” vs a 6’6” player playing 40 minutes. One of them is expelling more energy and that’s just more stress on the body, the heart, muscles, etc. not to mention the increase of the possibility of injuries and what not.

Roy30 | Thunder

29 | 4 hours ago

Watching game 3 made it even more obvious that the Spurs aren’t able to keep up with OKC in non-Wemby minutes. I don’t know how Wemby can keep up with those kind of minutes but it’s clear the Spurs really haven’t had a choice.

bellmonk | Timberwolves

29 | 4 hours ago

spurs have a team, okc has an army

Skallywag06

25 | 4 hours ago

Depth, That’s why OKC is probably going to win it all again

LeagueWinningPickup | Raptors

14 | 4 hours ago

Championship depth on full display .

Plaitkul117 | Thunder

9 | 4 hours ago

This series seems to be coming down to a battle of attrition

Euphoric_Travel6762 | Thunder

9 | 3 hours ago

If it’s not Shai getting hurt or tired, attrition affects us less than maybe any team ever.

Our records without All-NBA JDub this year (39-10 including many without Shai) and our record without presumed All-NBA Chet last year (42-8) shouldn’t be possible

RFFF1996 | Thunder

3 | 3 hours ago

Which is wild cause is only 3 games in

legend023 | Thunder

12 | 4 hours ago

This is why I think the 2017 Warriors would lose to the Thunder right now.

Guys would’ve had to play Curry/Klay/KD/Draymond 40 minutes a night, and OKC would’ve guys who could contain the first 3 and the size to defeat the Warriors “death lineup”

HawaiianOrganDonor | Pelicans

28 | 4 hours ago

IDK who would win, but I’d pay a lot of money to watch that series.

Adorable-News-9364 | Spurs

18 | 4 hours ago

Ah you’re a Thunder fan now. What happened to the Pelicans?

Skank_hunt42 | Thunder

14 | 4 hours ago

Nah. Let’s pump the brakes. The 2017 Warriors lost 1 game the whole playoffs. Let’s see the Thunder do that first before even mentioning the KD Warriors.

legend023 | Thunder

-2 | 4 hours ago

The Thunder lost one game in the playoffs too, an overtime game

Also, the Warriors faced two mid Blazers/Jazz squads and the Spurs without Kawhi. That Spurs team certainly take game 1 and probably gets one home game with a healthy Kawhi

Skank_hunt42 | Thunder

12 | 4 hours ago

…….there’s still a lot of basketball to be played. Again, let’s revisit if they only lose 1 game.

Also, the Thunder’s competition prior to the Spurs hasn’t been exactly great….and the Lakers were missing the leagues leading scorer.

A 73 win team adding an MVP in his prime should be talked about as one of the greatest teams in history…. because it was on paper and on the floor lol

xXEliteEater500Xx

9 | 4 hours ago

No longer a Pelicans fan?

cplbernard | Thunder

6 | 4 hours ago

God not this please. Let’s win this series before we compare to all time great. We have all off season to do shit like that.

chiidi

5 | 4 hours ago

thunder fans are wild. win 1 chip and they think they could beat the 17 warriors lmao

xXEliteEater500Xx

12 | 4 hours ago

It’s a Pelicans fan that changed to a Thunder flair

NobodyRules | OKC

7 | 3 hours ago

It’s not a Thunder fan. Most wouldn’t agree with this. Of course we think we would have a chance, same as any other good team, but that Warriors team was historic

DarkArisen668 | Knicks

4 | 4 hours ago

I was curious about that. You know what’s interesting though? The 2017 WCF was played on May 14th, 16th, then the 20th, and 22nd. Warriors would have been able to play pretty hard with that schedule.

mercfan3 | Spurs

2 | 4 hours ago

I can’t imagine what Dray would do to a player that pulled Curry’s hair…or what he’d do to SGA just because.

It would get crazy toxic crazy fast.

Waste-Limit1644 | Warriors

3 | 3 hours ago

Draymond would make wembys elbow look like a nice greeting to an old friend I’d bet

smoovelball | Thunder

2 | 3 hours ago

what hair could i hart pull?

libertydabbing | OKC

1 | an hour ago

Might be the baldest or short haired team of all time

smoovelball | Thunder

1 | an hour ago

wait until you hear about the 05/06 heat

Empty_Occasion_963

2 | 4 hours ago

That warriors team could shoot teams out the building

MQZ01 | Warriors

1 | 3 hours ago

You think SGA is seeing physical off ball defense now? Just wait til Draymond comes at him with a steel chair

HappyHippo2024

1 | 3 hours ago

This is insane disrespect to that warriors squad. Yeah they didn’t have as much depth but SGA is the 3rd best player on the court against the 2017 warriors

Fulmizant | Cavaliers

1 | 26 minutes ago

I love SGA but you could argue he’d be the third best player on the court AND the warriors could put Klay on him. Dubs in 5 tbh

ForneauCosmique | Spurs

10 | 4 hours ago

Our bench just can’t handle OKCs defense. KJ needs to step up especially being 6MoTY. Kornet is getting played off the court. Harper is basically a starter right now due to Fox being injured. Carter Bryant is a good defender but not good enough offensively to create his offense against this defense and Barnes can’t do it consistently either. Only way we can win this series is making OKC turn the ball over and us get easy fast break points so OKC can’t set up their defense

Waste-Limit1644 | Warriors

5 | 3 hours ago

It’s pretty clear that if you let OKC set up on defense, that they will smother you and force you to take a bad shot. They don’t really have someone you can hunt on switches, and they get right up on you as soon as you’re past half court. I don’t think any bench can handle okc defense.

The unfortunate thing about trying to score off fast breaks consistently is that it takes energy and they have more depth to stay fresh.

ForneauCosmique | Spurs

3 | 3 hours ago

Ehh we have alot of depth and young legs, it’s just they’re not good enough in the half court to compete with that defense. We definitely have the advantage for fast breaks, we just gotta force those TOs but OKC is doing great on offense. They know their spots and make quick accurate passes

Waste-Limit1644 | Warriors

2 | 3 hours ago

The spurs really capitalized on turnovers knowing guys weren’t going to shoot and instead kick out to the corner in game 1.

Nickespo22

0 | 2 hours ago

Hard to force turnovers when coach Mitch is doubling and tripling sga ²⁴⁄₇ giving up wide open jumpers. We have a great poa defender in castle and wemby for Christs sake, play it straight up and put some responsibility and accountability on the players not named wemby

knightmares31 | Thunder

10 | 4 hours ago

It’s really tough to sit Wemby. He needs better backups at the 4 and 5 spot to at least hold it down while he is resting.

You can’t expect to win when your backups are bismac, Kelly olynyk, Plumlee, and Barnes. Those are just wasted roster spots in a series like this. And it doesn’t help that Kornic and Johnson are playing bad.

rickforking | NBA

8 | 4 hours ago

Keldon Johnson being bad this series has really hurt their bench. 5 fouls in 12 minutes as the teams spiritual leader ain’t gonna cut it…

Nickespo22

2 | 2 hours ago

2024 kj coming back from the dead really messed us up. 6moty Keldon where are you

IbSunPraisin | Spurs

1 | 31 minutes ago

As soon as he picked up the 6MOTY trophy he started playing much worse. Maybe it’s just because he’s getting much more attention on defense

OUEngineer17 | Nuggets

7 | 4 hours ago

I know Shai has the elite conditioning for it. Not sure about the other guys. Vassell has looked pretty good tho.

quizblorg3 | Thunder

8 | 3 hours ago

That rebound over shai that he got called for a foul on legit looked like he jumped off a trampoline

bubbasnub | Magic

5 | 3 hours ago

Thunder could go without Ajay for G4 and still be in good hands because they can trust everyone they put on the court. The Spurs need to figure out lineups that work with and without Wemby and fast to regain any footing in this series.

Gregore997 | Thunder

7 | 3 hours ago

They looked gassed last game, not surprising

XDBoy018 | SAS

4 | 3 hours ago

man competing with a near perfect 15 man rotation sucks

Willsoup | Thunder

5 | an hour ago

Caruso played 24 minutes in 8 different stretches last night. Seems like OKC is running hockey shifts with their guards to keep the pace up. With how gassed Wemby started to look it seems to be working.

Fhaksfha794 | Spurs

5 | 4 hours ago

OKCs depth is just unmatched. Spurs have better depth than 25 other teams and they are on par with the other 3 but that one that’s head and shoulders above the rest is the thunder and it’s not close. Their bench unit (Mitchell-Caruso-McCain-Joe-Asian Duke Dennis) is a playoff roster by itself

No_Diver_629

4 | 3 hours ago

Who the fuck is Duke Dennis, i think you mean Phokic

redvelvetcake42 | Slovenia

5 | 3 hours ago

The obvious fouling bullshit aside, OKC just outmaneuvered the NBA in trades for years and this is the result. They saw pieces to a puzzle and fucking nailed the puzzle together.

Pneuma_LooT | Pistons

3 | an hour ago

Victor stsrting to look gassed too. Passed the ball a bunch last night when hes usually aggressive.

Im no nba coach, but if i was id be telling him its completely unacceptable for a player of his level to only shoot 15 times.

Dude should be demanding the ball and shooting.it 25-35 times. Its the only way they win.

HawaiianOrganDonor | Pelicans

4 | an hour ago

Only 4 rebounds last night is another sign he’s gassed

TruckThunders00

2 | an hour ago

to add to this, SGA doesn’t have to carry the team on the defensive end. He spends most of his time on defense guarding the worst player, who’s usually camped in the corner, thus saving his energy to carry the team on offense.

Contrast this with Wemby, who is having to carry his team on both ends of the floor.

redditorsarentcool

1 | 3 hours ago

Yea these minutes seem to be getting to em as the series goes on. I hope wemby can stay fresh so this round can be as competitive as possible. Game 1 was crazy fun to watch even tho my team lost

Chapea12 | Nets

1 | 3 hours ago

That’s actually pretty crazy considering there was a double OT game

Yoshinobu_YamaGOATo

1 | 2 hours ago

Spurs fans said Wemby deserves the MVP because of his production despite low minutes, but Shai is proving that it’s a lot more important to have your best guy out on the court impacting the game as much as possible. Wemby isn’t used to the heavy minutes, especially with OKC making it rough on him on both sides of the court.

godfrey1 | LAL

1 | an hour ago

OKC’s 6-10 is a playoff team and they have 80 more first picks to spend lmao

Abject_Bank_9103

1 | 43 minutes ago

OKC is a dominant team built primarily on incredible depth.

They have one guy who is a ¹⁰⁄₁₀ player, 2 other guys who are like ⁸⁄₁₀ players, and then like 7 dudes who are ⁷⁄₁₀ players. No other team has depth like that….

TheGoatPurdy | Warriors

1 | 38 minutes ago

lol 7 dudes ⁷⁄₁₀?

Abject_Bank_9103

1 | 34 minutes ago

Hart, Caruso, Mitchell, Wallace, McCain, JWill, Dort.

6-7 dudes depending on how much you hate/like Dort. Do you disagree with any of the others?

Infinite-Fee5723

1 | 20 minutes ago

OKC just got 76 off its bench running a 10 man rotation.

OKC starters scored 47

nstinson | Thunder

1 | 6 minutes ago

The thunder depth coming in huge this series. The starters have been being cooked, but they have enough depth to counteract that

Nickespo22

0 | 2 hours ago

Coach Mitch is dog water

Iamkonkerz | OKC

3 | 2 hours ago

Bro getting carried by 4 lottery picks

noahhova

-8 | 4 hours ago

Minutes are over rated. These are 2 extremely young teams and it’s the playoffs. They should be playing their best guys huge minutes. OKC has just played better in two of the games. It’s not that complicated.

Spurs have 4 players at 115+ minutes this series (Wemby, Castle, Vassell, Champagnie). Thunder have just 1 (SGA). Their 2nd-highest is Chet at 96 minutes, followed by Caruso/Wallace at just 81.