[Lowlight] Shai flops twice in back to back possessions but doesn’t get the whistle
We all know he’s getting those in OKC Saturday
It’s going to be just like the Finals last year
It’ clear the league has their hand on the scale, but I think it was just to get it to game 7 WCF. They know wemby will net a lot more than okc in a finals and silver gets to wash away the “refs” talk if OKC doesn’t make finals
It’s genuinely hilarious that this is what all basketball discussion sounds like rn btw. NBA is such a joke. Even in my office this is the prevailing discussion when anyone’s talking about the nba lmao
Literally WWE. Like this is exactly how people talk about the WWE. More about scriptwriters and what makes a better story than skill or ability
I can’t remember exactly who, maybe the fbi agent, but someone during the whole Tim Donaghy thing basically said if they hadn’t fucked up and told David Stern about the investigation while it was happening, the public would view the NBA more like the WWE with all the shit the fbi found.
More and more people are realizing. And not just the NBA.
Silver needs to fucking go
Well, there’s a history of ref manipulation in the NBA that ended up with just 1 dude taking all of the blame and leaving still now active refs get scott free.
We still have no information regarding the Kawhi cheating scandal and everything points towards the League handing no punishment there.
All this to say that from an outside view, the NBA is not a serious league when all of this is happening and no action is being taken.
Please, enlighten me on why would I think that gaming series to extend them or giving refs instructions to let a team they want to win is out of the question?
You misread his comment. He’s not saying questioning it is a joke, he’s saying that the NBA is a joke for putting the game in this position. You guys are agreeing.
They’re absolutely going to want a close game 7. If one team starts to run away with it the refs are going to start doing shit to help the other team catch up.
I feel like something even more sinister is going on tbh. The league could use a true villain again, and a hero with a burning hatred for said villain. That might be the recipe for this post season, but I think the league will try and milk it for a whole year. Let OKC get two in a row, then let Wemby start his crusade to save basketball. I hope I’m just a crazy guy on the internet but man this shit is wild sometimes
So Spurs in finals with an extended series against the Knicks to 7 as well ?
Yeah, it’s predictable. Hopefully they shock us.
Yep. Silver wanted 7 games.
That’s my theory of why Silver will never do anything about the flopping. The league wants to keep it as part of the game so they can selectively call it to influence games.
Not shocked considering theres been an nba ref sent to jail for fixing games and the person he called 200+ times during that time period (all less than 3 minutes) is still officiating games today.
Say the name please. the name of the ref.
Scott Foster
Literally this
Wemby vs Knicks ironically would draw more eyeballs than Thunder
It’s crazy if it really happens like that we all know the nba really rigged and fuck Adam silver btw
Hopefully the Spurs shoot 50% from 3 and have 12 or less TOs.
36 pts on 22 fts saturday as the thunder win 121-114
My conservative prediction is 15 FTA
He is gonna flop like we have never seen before. Would t be surprised if Dort “falls” into Wemby’s knees either, while no whistle is blown.
Such a pathetic play style
Man we’ve seen some all time great guards and I just can’t imagine putting this dude into that convo when his entire highlight reel is flops and FTs
Unironically, SGA will be forgotten less than 10 years after he retires
Yup. He is going to either be the thing we look back at as when the NBA started to really go down hill or if they course correct and change officiating he will be a weird time period in basketball history we talk about if he comes up in discussion.
wHy iS iT HiS FauLt iF thE rEFs aLLoW iT?
He sucks and is definitely at fault, but he only keeps doing it because the refs allow it
They’re both to blame
“Ethical hoops” hits so hard because any star could get more calls if they were willing to fall and cry and pretend they were fouled every play but don’t want to do that because it’s better to actually win through out competing your opponent.
If you get free throws when you know you weren’t fouled, it’s cheating, straight up.
The refs letting you get away with it doesn’t make it different.
I can win at monopoly if I steal from the bank and charge the wrong amounts - if a ref didn’t call it, taht wouldn’t make it right.
Tennis has you call fouls on yourself (and ultimate disc).
He will be discussed like harden. Great scorer. Foul baiter. But has a.ring.
Harden is the obvious comparable for sure and the ring and extra MVP do matter a lot but I will say Harden had the greatest single player performance runs in basketball I have seen in my life. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind he was one of the greatest offensive players the game had ever seen. I remember there were whole debates going on about how you could even begin to guard him and people were trying unorthodox defensive strategies like sitting on his left shoulder with help just to stop him. I think it is more likely in 20 years I remember that January Harden had over anything SGA has accomplished so far in his career. That is not really hate towards SGA though, he is obviously a very good player, I just enjoy talking these types of discussions out with people.
I’m sure it’s selective memory but I feel like Harden baited fouls whilst SGA has transcended beyond that into performing/behaving as if he were fouled.
He’s the Corey Maggette of MVPs.
Bingo
honestly for his sake i hope they change officiating soon. because when hes balling he can BALL. still time to change the legacy.
If okc dont win this year and only keep the 2025 ring shai’s 2x MVP seasons will be remembered like steve nash. Never the best player in the world during his peak. Just the best player on the best team.
nash was actually beloved tho and his game was so fascinating to watch. sga is a tough one to pin down how he will be remembered if he keeps this shit up. its a shame cause the dude is so good but he does lack a level of athleticism to me that will keep him out of all time guard rankings for me personally, which is probably why he leans on the craftiness and flopping so much. itll be interesting to see how it shakes out over the years
What are you talking about? Everyone knows the Pacers won in 2025
Honestly sometimes I forget OKC won it all. My memories of last year are really on Halliburton going crazy.
Is there a bigger asterisk on a team’s championship victory than last year? Your opponent’s best player losing a leg in the first quarter of game 7 has to be up there.
On a game 7 that never should have happened, and was straight up forced by the refs
Not even close. Nash was ahead of his time and singlehandedly increased the offensive efficiency ratings of those Suns teams in his prime which were historically amazing for that era.
He also created the Nash dribble where he drives to the basket and holds the dribble to come back and reset which a lot of guards still use today. Ultimately he couldn’t get it done and make the finals because of how stacked the western conference was during that era. Still one of the most stacked eras for the west in the past 15-20 years.
Nah Steve Nash won’t be forgotten
He’ll be the guy that people who jerk off to analytics and don’t watch basketball will worship which will then be a tell to anyone who knows better
I had people genuinely try to tell me he was already above Kobe man. And I got downvoted saying he was no where close to that.
2 times MVP. 20 points streak record. FMVP.
But just an absolute nightmare to watch …
Honestly I can’t imagine voters voting for SGA if they watched him. They’re just looking at the box score and vote accordingly
Half the voters have no business being anywhere near a vote. It’s a total clown show.
Cade got 2 first place votes. Great season for him, but that’s a prime example of how unserious some of them take it. Would love to see it shift to some sort of rotating council of 10-15 knowledgeable people whose job is to watch as much of the league — not just one team (beat writers having votes is crazy) — as they can all year.
Two times mvp without a signature moment. Am i crazy rating Harden above him?
No. If Harden had this supporting cast he would’ve taken down the fucking KD Warriors. I don’t like Harden but Shai’s just a worse version with a better team.
And then having to hear Okc fans defend this
I love hearing him compared to Jordan and Kobe for the whole season and then watch a clip where if Jordan or Kobe had the ball at the end they both without question would’ve finished with a dunk and SGA falls down backwards trying to get a call instead of dominating
Or they’ll just step back nail a jumper while staring you in the eyes the whole time landing on two feet and saunter away with a memable face. Not like this. This is lame
They love to say “you’re just a hater, every star does this”
Bro they literally say shit like its groupthink to say SGA flops lmao
They were also saying Wemby flops more than Shai, the cognitive dissonance is unreal.
If OKC fans had the internet they’d be furious
I thought nothing could be more insufferable than Sixer fans defending Embiid. I was wrong.
This clip really shows the difference between “selling calls” and flopping. You can exaggerate contact like Jimmy Butler or whatever, but at least there was contact. Jimmy is just selling his Amazon warehouse experience as “managing multi-million dollar inventory”. SGA is here lying on his resume about working at non existent companies.
I really dislike guys who are insanely skilled and a walking bucket but still resort to cheap foul baiting. Hated watching prime harden for the same reason, like you don’t need to be doing all that
Focused more on the fall than the lay
I think the worst part about SGAs game for me is that he could genuinely be so smooth to watch. Instead he’s almost less satisfying to watch than prime harden.
Prime harden was AWFUL to watch but still hit the rainbow ball on a crazy step back.
SGA just drives and pushes off midrange or flops. He used to not do this and was way more smooth to watch.
Adam Silver would disagree. According to him flopping isn’t a problem at all and we’re all just a bunch of ninnies.
Adam Silver is just a face.
The majority owners run the league, and if they hear enough complaints or see enough clownery they will respond.
Adam Silver sounds like a pirate and in honor of that, I will watch the finals on streameast.
As a huge harden hater during is peak rocket years, SGA has made me appreciate the fact that harden did have games that were fun to watch.
SGA has so much talent, could be like watching a better Carmelo Anthony. Instead he does this shit constantly. Actually unwatchable
There were times where Harden was electric though- a hundred dribbles and somehow makes this crazy ass three. Over and over. He could take over a game easily. I wasn’t a fan but I definitely respect the guy’s game.
Better distributor than he will ever get credit for. I think sometimes to his detriment because he would be hot and you’d double him and he would make the right play and throw to the open guy who’d brick the three.
Underrated aspect of Harden’s teams was that he got so many PnR spam big-men and 3&d role players paid. Capela, RoCo, House, Eric Gordon, PJ Tucker
Playing to your 1’s strengths
Insane that that concept eludes a lot of teams.
SGA had an incredibly effective step back 3 in the regular season, but it’s clear that was only because players were too scared of him blowing by and getting into his mid-range.
The Spurs guards are playing in his face and if he blows by, well there’s the second defender, and then there’s Wemby. Every 3 he’s taken has been heavily contested.
Beating a dead horse here but I think the most frustrating part of this OKC team is that they are legit talented and DONT have to play like they do to win. They don’t gotta play like that, they could be fun to watch extends to like the whole squad at this point.
I just don’t understand how someone who is built like Lu Dort goes flying around every where at the slightest touch. Like why are you that big and why do you lift weights??
His midrange jumper is silky smooth, it really is frustrating that there’s so much of this type of shit you have to sit through to see it.
I agree. This is what i have been telling my wife. He is a phenomenal basketball player with a smooth midrange jumper. He does not need to resort to this kind of play. Sadly though since I have noticed practically every player on okc flops like this that it comes from the top that this is how they want to play. Sadly no matter the numbers SGA puts up as long as he plays like this with all the flopping the stigma of it will follow him around forever. That is sad to think about for such a phenomenal talent as his.
It’s sad to think OKC is so annoying that it has people boring their wives because they are so frustrated they have to tell somebody. I’ve done the same and given my wife details about how ridiculous this team is, she just kind of nods and smiles.
Sga clippers highlights are amazing. He is such a great player without these antics.
Same as the other clip of him airballing the finger roll, too focused on looking for some body part to graze and hit the deck.
Focused more on laying down than laying up
It turns out I don’t like watching professional athletes selectively pretend to be uncoordinated and just fall over
that’s what MXC is for
Right you are, Ken!
Don’t get eliminated!
Talkin bout Shai Gilgeous-Babaganoush?
How many of you like to watch sga play basketball? Show of handsss… now!
100%. With the smoothness of SGA’s bag and his middie, he’s probably one of the most coordinated dudes in the league.
But he’s out there acting like he’s on roller skates.
Notice how he typically is the one who pushes off while purposefully falling on these layups. He is the reason his body is going sideways so he is actively altering his body positioning, which also affects his chance to make the shot, all so he can hopefully get a whistle too. Okc must have taught some whistle efficiency classes or something to stress how much they can try and do so that reffing is at their favor.
These falls have to take a toll on the body
Thunder fans actually tell me the reason he gets the jellylegs so much is for injury mitigation
lol the old Embid defense.
Embiid’s is actually real though. My King has glass joints 😔
more wet tissue than glass at this point 😭
Like shredded chicken meat 🥺🥺🥺
Big Rotisserie does have a certain ring to it… 🤔🤔
Embiid at least has the injuries to go along with the reason and steph too with his glass ankles at the start.
Shai just likes to fall.
Same with Steph. No way he would still be playing at 38 if he didnt retrain how he falls
The most Embiid.play I remember is him trying to defend against a driving Giannis by elbowing him in the stomach, and somehow he’s the one that fell to the ground.
Shai “Joel Embiid” Gilgeous-Alexander
I’m told from some people in this sub that this sub is a “disaster” and don’t actually watch the games.
Are these the refs or undercover OKC fans? I swear these guys aren’t watching the same game as me.
They claim that “everyone flops, we’re just seeing it more because OKC made it to the WCF all the time”… What?
Even if everyone flops or sells contact, that doesn’t mean there aren’t tiers to this, and Shai is probably the most prolific and egregious about it.
We were talking about this on the golf course. Like that tiger clip where he copies his playing partner and tries to pull the gimmie out of the hole immediately.
It’s hard as fuck to putt a 3 footer are immediately reach, even though this is after the putting stroke.
I have to imagine planning to fall is not the most effective shooting form available, and would see a statistical drop in makes.
There is like a way people kind of agree to play sports, but we are ok with fouls baiting. Another friend likened it to insurance fraud, like, if you create a rear end collision on purpose you don’t get paid out, but we let the fouls play out that way. Or like if a car is already in the intersection and your light is green. You’re not allowed to just ram the car.
I don’t know how to explain the phenomenon or feeling. It just doesn’t seem right.
To me it’s because there’s a certain saturation point where it is no longer about trying to score the basketball but gameifying the meta of living at the line.
And it’s just glaring to like 29 fanbases who watch lol. And he’s such a genuinely good, clutch player that (again, to me) it’s humiliating. Lol. Like it’s embarrassing on those drives and pull ups where he doesn’t draw a whistle and gets the jellylegs and just has to peel himself off the floor and get back in transition.
The guy is on the floor at a rate of 2x any other player these playoffs lol
You can say Kobe and MJ baited. But they were psychos who lived to play through contact. SGA will launch himself into your hip, “create space” with a chicken wing to hit a wide open J and get a continuation whistle lol
Agree fully.
The fundamental issue with foul baiting is that the objective is no longer to make a shot, but to have the referees award you free throws.
Shai is not playing basketball. He’s manipulating a third party, who can interfere in the game.
Soccer has the same issue, where players dive for a penalty instead of genuinely trying to shoot on goal.
It’s simply deceitful and dishonest.
100% They do he falls way too fucking much and it takes energy to get back up as well lmao.
He does very well to mitigate the effects. If you watch his falls he never puts any pressure onto any joints. His legs literally just collapse like jelly. This is 100% something he practices and has perfected. It’s just up to the league to put a stop to this now.
They will. He’s got youth on his side now so pending any freak injury, his body will hold up for awhile but they’re gonna bite him in the ass eventually.
He falls like a sheet of paper. The body control on his flops genuinely impresses me.
FLOPPING IS NOT GOING TO SAVE YOUR SHIT PERFORMANCE SHAI
seeing a thunder fan say something like this is like seeing an endangered species
Dude is a troll. It’s most definitely not a thunder fan. Hes in every thread shitting on SGA. This is one of his better ones but it’s obvious reading the rest
Nah I’m just very passionate about my team man. I just couldn’t stand to watch our MVP get only 15 points and just quit like that in Game 6 of all games.
[checks profile]
[2y old account with long and varied history without looking like a bot who’s spamming all day]
holy shit this guy is real lmao
Sorry SGA is shitting the bed for yall in the playoffs (again). At least you have that bald warlock Caruso.
Yeah Caruso is making want to kiss his bald head with how much he does for us this series lol. If we somehow win Saturday night and he doesn’t get the WCFMVP I’m gonna riot. At least his 30 point game wasn’t plagued with 17 FT attempts
Caruso is a dog. I’m legitimately more afraid when he shoots the ball than SGA. Seems like he would just hit a clutch 3 anytime we would start making a run in the games we lost.
Its breaking their brains.
That’s like half his game my dude, without flopping he’s Temu DeRozan
Bruh stop this. I don’t know how to react
An OKC fan with common sense ❤️
When are we going to give him shit for flopping on the floor and not getting back on defense the same way Luka gets shit for complaining to refs and not getting back on defense? It’s the same
i guess its that he doesn’t run to the nearest ref and yap at them nonstop every time but i agree
Luka went to the time Duncan school of make ridiculous faces at the refs after every drive. But Duncan was so quiet and smooth otherwise that no one cared lol. His faces always cracked me up though.
Him getting a tech for laughing is an all time clip.
Defense doesn’t win MVPs (apparently)
flopping might get you free throws, complaining gets you a tech 😅
Man they’re both bad. Thunder fans who respond to SGA criticism by pointing at Luka are just maddening. Just bc we are Lakers fans doesn’t mean we endorse this part of Luka’s game… while they defend SGA to the death.
Just bc we are Lakers fans doesn’t mean we endorse this part of Luka’s game…
I mean, I’m pretty sure you Laker fans were criticizing/complaining about that side of Luka’s game all season, weren’t you? I haven’t seen the same from OKC fans.
I know me and the security dude at the dispensary were
Maybe a hot take, but complaining to refs doesn’t bother me nearly as much as styling your entire game around the whistle. Luka may not get back on D as quickly as he should, but he’s still playing basketball normally looking for a whistle at times instead of playing basketball for a whistle.
Yes. It’s not comparable. One is whiney but that’s it, the other is basically deceiving people and being made way better than what he really is.
It’s particularly funny because Thunder fans spent all season squawking that defense is really important for mvp. Guess that wasn’t so sincere after all 🤔
MVP btw
Don’t worry, he’ll get all these and more in game 7
It’s more dramatic and better TV ratings if the refs rugpull us again and go back to giving Shai 20 FTs in game 7 for flops
I hope Zarba is working game 7
Scott Foster will be in, OKC in 8
can refs even get consecutive games?
its so fucking annoying that im worried about this, id be somewhat okay with foster, just please not brothers.
and on the other end you have dylan harper a 20 year old rookie, getting stripped like a man. no falling
So desperate to get to the line he can’t hit easy layups.
20 years ago offense collided with defense and no calls. It was tough and it was awesome. Elbows and in your face stuff with both sides trying to do their job AND not crying about no calls.
This game is bullshit today. This shit isn’t basketball. My sport is dead and I’m glad I saw Dirk win his in genuine fashion before it died.
I understand embellishing contact to make sure you are getting fouls called, but we are at the point where he’s more focused on selling or seeking the contact than actually trying to score.
Reminds me of how Jimmy Butler plays now.
Dude needs to just shoot the ball and stop looking for the foul. I don’t know why the fuck he does this shit when he can shoot the midrange. He has one more chance in game 7
Someone pinch me
I had to do a double take with that flair. They’re starting to wake up to it
Don’t trust it, it’s a false flag operation
Okay but promise me you won’t flop to sell the contact
That’s just part of the game. Don’t hate the pinches.
Lean into the pinch.
Why wouldn’t he when he’s been rewarded for it? Today the refs bit their whistle but they might call it next game
They will call it the next game, we all know it.
sir a third tony brothers game has hit the series
He probably forgot how to shoot normally tbh
Muscle memory. Similar to how Harden forgot how to take a midrange under DAntoni lol. He’d literally glitch if wide open for a middy
You know why he does it, he was gifted 2 MVPs and a title because of it.
It’s weird because he’s an elite midrange shooter and can make space at will for shots. Then he just falls and misses them
This is why we can all respect Curry during his chip runs
This is exactly why everyone is so frustrated with him. He’s clearly an MVP-caliber player, a great player. He can make a shot from anywhere. He just always looks for the foul when he doesn’t even need to, he can literally just play normally.
He’s not mvp caliber, and that’s why people are frustrated. He’s a 23 pppg 48% fg guy averaging 33 on 55% because of flopping.
Because when he gets the calls, OKC wins. When he doesn’t they get blown out
Thunder fans 9⁄11.
[removed]
Oh no….
this is funny as fuck
Thunder fans are still going to tell us that we just hate greatness and that were letting flopping discourse over take great basketball.
As if we dont have eyes and see this shit
They’re trying to gaslight us. We know great ball when we see it. This is not it.
They’ll say anyone complaining about flopping isn’t watching the games.
Well I did watch tonight and Shai was ASS and the flopping from the thunder was atrocious.
A fish
This guy’s entire game is predicated on which ref crew he lucks into.
Absolutely absurd and the media should be ashamed of their MVP votes.
Can’t wait for the Tony Brothers show deciding the game Saturday.
PLEASE SAN ANTONIO
DO IT FOR AMERICA
NO
THE WORLD
2 free throws and a lawsuit
Love you Zarba
Clown ass player
You can’t honestly tell me this is good for the game
Disgrace he won mvp. Disgrace
Genuinely such a pathetic player. One of the best mid range shooters ever but half of his game is just falling. Idk how OKC fans glaze it.
he does not deserve 2 mvps
If this is what he wants to do, then go ahead it’s his body lol. Just glad the refs didn’t reward it.
Are these flops?
Perhaps he has intermittent muscular dystrophy.
They sure are something
am i going crazy? these dont look like flops at all. Yes Shai falls a lot to sell calls but these arent it.
the first one he lands on one leg off his jump shot. Yall want him to land upright and put all that pressure on his knee?
The second one he’s contorting his body to block off the defender. i’ve seen Steph do this all the time on layups and fall next to the stanchion.
Man I’m a spurs fan and agree the sga flops a llloot, but these are normal falls I’ve seen a hundred times from players.
i genuinely feel like im taking crazy pills here
i do feel like this kind of thing shows how many people here dont actually play the game of basketball, because these types of moves are so hard to keep your balance on and you wouldn’t really know that unless you have done it.
i have said it millions of times now but try shooting off balance and waiting to release the ball until you are on the way down. jump as high as you can on the junpshot. its so hard to both make the shot, and not fall down, because your legs are not under you to catch you. its genuinely better to fall down and control the force than put your whole body weight + gravity on one leg, thats how you sprain ankles and fuck up your knees.
“Game 6 Shai”
I have no idea why Shai does this. He has a smooth midrange and he cooked Wemby twice in the first half while playing normally. He doesn’t need to fall every single play, if anything it affects his jumper bc he ’s looking for the foul and not for the ball to go to the hoop. He’s wasting his talents with this playstyle.
SGA without the whistle is just an above average guard. If you could guard him like curry what could he even do?
I’ve seen the videos of when he was younger, I was around then, he didn’t get better he just added flopping to his game and that was super effective
Just try to make the fking shot, JFC lol.
Kobe fadeaways, Steph off balance 3s, and SGA flops
AJ fucking Styles took less back bumps in his career than this mf
Why does he keep falling without even being touched. Is he weak?
I’m tired of hearing the “falling is better on your body” excuse. No one else does this shit to the degree he does. I’ve lost interest in watching this series because of this idiot. I for sure won’t watch the finals if they win game 7.
at least he doesn’t complain tho!
What’s there to complain about?
I mean, am I crazy but there was literally 0 reason to fall on these plays? Like even for Shai these are horrendous back to back. This should be suspendable.
Like imagine if they went over-the-top officiating these. If you flop it’s a flagrant. If it’s a clear flop you are tossed and forfeit the game check. Those dudes make 40 million a year, I want to see them deducting $$ getting pissed about getting tossed. Clean this shit up. I want to see flops ruled with a ridiculous iron fist. Game would turn into streetball quick bro
I dont understand why OKC fans are putting him side by side with MJ and Kobe.
And this guy is the league MVP. Lol what an example of how the NBA is becoming trash.
this shit is fucking wack. stop excessively flopping. seen a clip on twitter where hes literally getting ready to fall down as soon as someone makes contact while defending