[Lowlights] How Chet Holmgren lost his confidence and only took 2 shot attempts in the 2026 WCF Game 7
At the start of the series I was thinking, man spurs might have to go double bigs coz OKC can go Chet and iHart.. then the spurs just started using Julian and Keldon on Chet, wild.
Vassell had him in jail
mental and physical jail is a serious place to be
mental, physical, possibly even gay baby jail.
Pretty much traumatized him with that dunk and subsequent berating.
Well Vassell is a HUGE human who is incredibly LARGE and MUSCULAR. Chet isn’t any of those…
wasn’t even getting past Dylan Harper…a 6’6 rookie guard…as a 7’1 championship big. not to mention the air from three and just zero confidence when getting down low.
the guy looked totally broken. Obviously Presti knows more than any of us combined about what’s going on behind the scenes, but you can’t anchor the ship to this guy on a 5-yr supermax starting next year. Even if you consider Jalen Williams to be your #2, Chet can’t play like against what will be your biggest rival/roadblock for the foreseeable future in Wemby and the Spurs.
Presti might have to ship him out to some desperate team and strap a couple picks to unload the contract and use those resources elsewhere. That guy who played in the WCF cannot be under a supermax if you expect to make multiple title runs during SGA’s prime. Chet’s gotta go.
Thinking OKC has to add picks to get off Chet, who’s 24, 4th year NBA champ, after one bad playoffs, is one of the funniest r/nba overreactions of all time.
Take a bow!
We’ll see who is right in a few years. Only time can tell.
But as a spurs fan, couldn’t even finish watching OP’s clip, i made it halfway. It’s not pretty. Feel bad for the guy.
it will very much depend on how he bounces back, but there will be a lot of doubt until hes able to prove it in the playoffs again. OKC is not in a position of power with him right now, if they want to shake things up (they probably dont) with him now they might have to add picks to his contract.
They absolutely wouldn’t and this is a really, really dumb take.
Chet is an insanely valuable weapon and one of the best defenders in the league. 28 other teams would be jumping on the chance to snag him and would throw a shit ton of assets at him.
With 2 of the top 3 thunder offensive weapons out, the spurs were able to play a completely different way. If harper and fox were actually injured and missing the time Ajay and Jdub missed, this game probably ends in 5 for the thunder. It’s a huge upset that the thunder took this to 7 relying on Jared McCain and Caruso to run the offense.
it’s okc man.
/r/nba is having a meltdown and still gloating after okc took the spurs to 7 without 2⁄3 of their best offensive weapons. It’s absolutely wild.
The spurs psyop somehow worked but now this sub is still completely deranged. I wonder once the whole world sees how the spurs actually play basketball if they’ll realize they’ve been duped. Probably not.
The guy is getting supermax and took two 2 shots in elimination game. Played scared when his team needed him most. As a defending champ it was a pathetic display for him. Can’t blame people for wanting to get rid of him.
God people are reactionary. Chet sucks but hes on year 1 of his contract. Hes not easily replaceable and hes a winning player during the regular season. Y’all act like he a total bum. Give him a chance to recover from his toughest loss yet, you never know.
i donno, supermax is crazy for a #3 option not being able to rise up and be number #2 when the guy ahead of you is injured.
how he bounces back will say a lot about him
that’s the whole argument here, is this dude worth supermax money as the #3? And after a series like that I think you SERIOUSLY have to reflect on that.
I know OKC fans wanna defend their guy but you’d think they’d be in favor of doing what’s best to keep their window open as long as possible. I don’t know how you could watch those last 7 games—against the team you’re now battling indefinitely for a Finals appearance—and not explore some other options.
The problem is, the things he does well make him extremely valuable to a championship level team. Being a good floor spacer as a big and an elite, switchable rim protector is very valuable in today’s league especially for a contender, and if he’s doing that against every team in the league not named the Spurs… I think it’s worth it to keep him
But that’s the thing. I understand Wemby/the Spurs are a uniquely difficult matchup, but in that series he was not a good floor spacer.
His release is so slow it got to the point where our players had no problem doubling off him because they could recover by the time he was loading up his shot. Which would still be OK for him since hes 7’1, but once that recovery happened he bailed on the shot and passed.
I generally agree that the idea of him is too valuable to give up on. But it’s not just the 1⁄2 field goals in game 7, it’s the lack of everything else hes supposed to provide
Floor spacing? Not in this series.
Rebounding? Was getting outrebounded and stripped by guards
Rim protection? Even fuckin Julian champaigne took it right at him multiple times this series and finished every time.
yeah youre not paid that money as #3 to be great in the regular season, youre paid that money to be great all the way through the playoffs and as insurance if #1 or #2 go down.
It would be one thing if wemby put him in jail and was completely focused on that, thats understandable, but it was the entire team, it was guards, it was not double teams
and now the script is out on how to go at him, the rest of the league will replicate to the best of their ability, some will fail, but this will be in his mind for a long time and nobody will let him forget it.
Being a winning player in the regular season doesnt really mean anything if you turn into Tony Snell against the most important team during the most important time of the season.
Any permutation of OKC’s squad is a winning team during the regular season except for SGA missing.
As Mark said, “Every min Chet has played for us, we’ve been the #1 seed in the West”.
If you listen to anyone talk about Chet even after the game, you’ll realize that he’s not going anywhere. I’m confident he has a redemption arc in him
Mark isnt going to throw Chet under the bus when he already has confidence issues, easy to lose confidence, of course mark would say that to try and boost him up a bit mentally and emotionally.
Would you guys not want Giannis?
No, it’s not happening. And Mark is saying that because he legitimately understands how valuable and important Chet is to us
Bro is built like a twiig harper manhandled hiim in the paint for a layup
Yeah it’s wild how that changed up like that!
this all happened because the thunder shot creators were injured btw.
Please no I can’t do this again
You will watch it again and you will like it.
I will. Thanks.
☕️🫡
the videos will continue until morale improves
If you can’t tolerate ya boi at his lowest, then you don’t deserve him at his highest.
I don’t think I want OKC to have chet at his highest….in fact I don’t even want to see Chet at his highest
Ask KD.
What is the OKC fanbase’s consensus on what happened with Chet?
He’s been diagnosed with Ben Simmons syndrome
I think the intimidation factor is a real thing. He also just has a tendency to forget he’s as tall as he is in any given matchup. You’ll see flashes of “oh yeah, I can just dunk on/shoot over most defenders” and it’s infuriating. Just do that all time, my man. So when that’s not happening at all, there’s not much opportunity to get his confidence going.
His slowness on the release killed him a few times in the series, so his 3 wasn’t doing anything.
And I’ve also heard some folks hypothesizing that without JDub and Ajay, it became more difficult for him to find space, backdoor cuts, etc. Just the different geometry of the offense without those initiators made it difficult for him to adapt.
Some fans are ready to trade him, which feels reactionary to me. Still it’s contentious at the moment.
After game 7, 4 out of top 5 post in their sub is about Chet
His shoulders are too narrow is the main problem
Shoulders like a trout.
He needs to get stronger in general. His hip injury really set him back and he’s just not strong enough to be able to control his body, especially when he needs to get a shot off quickly.
He’s overpaid, I felt that way since the start. You can’t be on a max if you can’t consistently create for yourself, personally I wouldn’t mind seeing him gone but at the same time I don’t know what he can get us that’s worth it. I’m not a fan of the Giannis trade ideas. I don’t think he fits in OKC.
Do people really think Chet is a better fit for OKC than Giannis?
He got punked, but despite the series narrative he’s a tough kid. He’s obsessed with this shit. Even if he isn’t the most expressive person, I promise you he’ll be more motivated than ever next year
RemindMe! 365 days
Chet just had a bad series, he was still instrumental for OKC getting the top seed and sweeping their previous series. typical for people to overreact but i believe Chet’s gonna be better next season
tough to have this as the last game and it’s all that everyone is talking about. People forget they’re talking about a 24 year old kid. I was cheering for Spurs but I hope this doesn’t get to him too much and he comes back strong next year.
Make Chet watch this on repeat. I want a pissed off chet
Mike Brown style I like it
The arrogance of your team and fellow fans created this situation to balance the universe
Yes you can buddy😉
You’s a dead horse.
That’s fucked up. They really took turns bullying him as a team.
Teams follow their star’s lead.
imagine having to play against the insane Wemby everyday in practice, then you are gifted the chance to punk on discount Wemby in the real matches.
I’ll be going apeshit crazy too.
Yea this is part of why the Spurs matches up well against OKC. Practicing against Wemby is like taking the training weights off when going against Chet.
They be feeling like Goku when he drops the Gi.
It’s on Chet to keep that from happening.
Fact is that you can’t just keep reacting blank-faced or quietly to a team growing over you like that. At some point you need to push back or else they obviously start feeling themselves. Also, while obviously the other players remained composed publically, I’d bet my right arm that at some point during these games you look at your teammate acting like this and you go ‘wait, wtf is going on with them’ and that has got to have some effect into how everyone else is playing as well. It’s harder to light a fire in a team when there’s a person completely drenched.
I don’t even expect the playmaking, I don’t think Chet is even supposed to be outgunning Wemby or something like that if he wants to beat the Spurs eventually, but he can’t have people stunting on him like that
Excellent point. Whatever you think about Wemby’s elbow or him (allegedly) telling Plumlee “hard fouls”, he was letting the other team and his teammates know that he wasn’t going to take this stuff forever. Whereas Chet just took it.
The whole defense for Chet was he came up against an absolute unicorn in Wemby and that’s why he lost out. He’s fine against most other teams. This shows how bullshit that really is. His offense is very predictable.
And guys learn from champions (or the guys who beat you in a series). From next season anyone and everyone will be going straight at Chet.
He looked like Angel Reese on some of those layup attempts
That and he might’ve been on reddit too much and saw all the memes of his
Spurs ate his lunch
And slapped ts out of him with his empty lunch box.
yeah, both carrot sticks and a small glass of water. all gone
He still has the Lembas stash he stole when he was kicked out of Lothlorien for being ugly.
Most pathetic thing ive seen from an NBA player since Ben Simmons game 7 vs hawks which essentially killed his career
And Simmons still played way better. Simmons only managed 5 points on 4 shots, but he had 8 rebounds and 13 assists. Chet was completely out of it.
Chet wasn’t even very good on defense. The Spurs’ big guards figured out they can just move him with a shoulder in the chest before laying it up. I do wonder if that’s the copycat approach towards attacking Chet for EVERYONE going forward.
I’ll never forget those Thunder fans saying how they’d beat the Prime Heatles or Prime Bulls… LeBron going full speed for a dunk might KILL Holmgren.
Imagine Wade putting his knee in his chest on the dunk like he did with varejao. He would not stand back up
Ben Simmons doubled chet’s game 7 rebounds even though chet is 7 feet. Not to mention 13 assists. Chet’s game 7 is worse by a mile
Spurs are a terrible matchup for Chet. I don’t expect him to fold like Simmons, even if wemby got into his head in this series. Most of the blocks wemby had on Chet don’t even look possible in slow mo. But he can look at footage and work on his spacing and timing vis a vis wemby.
If I’m Chet being constantly asked about this series, I’d be saying “Look, wemby is better than me, and he beat me, but I know how he beat me and I’m going to work to get even better in the offseason, just like he is. Look forward to seeing him next year”
I think wemby really made their talent (and length) gap apparent, but I don’t think Chet should be ashamed either. This version of Wemby presents an unprecedented challenge, but now there’s a precedent.
That said, I’m so glad the spurs beat the thunder. I think it’s not only that the more enjoyable style of bball won out, but it’ll hopefully force OKC to change the way they play, now that it’s clear that flopping alone won’t win it for you
But should they change how they play? I think the injuries are the bigger reason for their loss than their style of play. Their style of play might actually be the reason they even managed to get the series to 7 despite missing JDub and Mitchell
Simmons back being fucked is what killed his career.
“And who has a better story than Ben the Broken?”
He walked into Game 1 intimidated by Wemby and walked out of the series flat out scared. He wasnt just not taking on the challenege of guarding or attacking him he was actively going out of his way to avoid him.
You know how in video games one of the final bosses you face is often a shadow reflection of yourself. Wemby is not just a reflection of Chet, he’s also an upgrade in every way. When Chet sees Wemby he’s actually seeing the visual manifestation of his own obsolescence.
Hes a liability to the thunder since he’ll get steamrolled against the spurs They better trade him or you’re looking at the same playoff pic every year. Wemby is only getting better
Wemby probably such a disorienting experience for Chet. Cause think about it. Dude was a unique player. An elite rim protector who can shoot threes and play next to a center. Been a winner his entire life. Then boom a much better much taller version of him shows up AND HE FUCKING HATES CHET.
Chet really has to develop hate and animosity in his heart
Only way he’ll have a chance is to stop being so passive aggressive and just start going at people I hate the way he’s so easily pushed around and doesn’t stand for himself it’s annoying to watch as a person who grew up fighting bullies
Dude needs to put on weight. He couldn’t get to any of his spots. He was getting bodied by literally everyone.
This
The one with 9 minutes left in the 4th of game 7 is crazy. He’s wide wide open and passes to fucking J Will (no shot towards him but come on)
Yup, saw that happen and knew he was cooked.
Might be crazy but I’d prefer a Klay(0/10) over some pussy ass bitch with a 1⁄2 fg
Klay will shoot out of his slump
Lanky dudes just get abused in the playoffs, too much physicality allowed.
the favorite for FMVP being the clear exception.
He’s built different.
Hes built like a stick, watch Knicks make him cry.
He gave the Knicks 40-20 to win when JB11 had 61points…Wemby IS NOT Chet he will fight back
He can’t even beat us lmao.
He’s in the finals we’re not let’s not Compare rn
You couldn’t even beat the suns lmao
Guy is getting paid a ton. Why not spend some of those tens of millions to get stronger and better in the offseason. Because whatever he was doing before wasn’t working
Turns out regular season rim DFG% don’t tell the whole story. My biggest worry for chet is I don’t know if he can gain significant weight/stronger base to mitigate some of his deficiencies
Yeah, there’s nowhere for any weight to go when he has the shoulders and hips of a middle schooler.
He saw how pissed was Wemby after losing the U19 final. Chet thought that beating Wemby once more could cost him his life.
Nastiest alien abduction since “Fire in the Sky.”
Bro got eaten alive
Wow did not realize how kmay times he got blocked
Good video, a lot of people were saying the wemby dunk on game 7 was the reason Chet shutdown but that was the cherry on top.
I did not realize just how many of the Spurs managed to get inside position under the rim and just move Chet out of the way for an easy lay-up. Also, that Harper defense on Chet was perfect. Stayed on his feet, kept his hand up, didn’t get pushed away by the shoulder.
Damn the whole team had wemby’s back, everyone took a swing
Chet looked like the guy at the orgy who wasnt totally ok with getting cucked.
The whole Spurs team was really physical on him, and Wemby kind of ‘out giraffes’ him. I love watching these plays though, just for the inspired defense, the young Spurs have no fear, I love the aggressiveness.
How did this guy get swatted by vassell champaignie and them
Chets big advantage is being longer faster and lighter than other bigs. Victor not only matches but exceeds what he has so it renders him ineffective
Awful Coaching had a great one on him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJmotEIgZvo
Stopped cold by a 6’5” rookie point guard.
Guess I’m soft. I sided the Spurs in that series like many of us here in this sub, but I really feel for Chet, this is hard to watch. The one where Vassell bumped him after the block looked particularly sad.
he’s getting paid $41.5 MILLION for this my guy
good on him, but it’s irrelevant.
I don’t know bro. I think a lot of us would feel ok with being humiliated globally if we were getting paid millions.
I just think people lose a bit of humanity when they’re talking about a public figure. I get he’s going to be fine financially, but you can’t tell me it’s easy for a 24 year old to absorb this kind of public shaming from both sides.
True, he had that awkward look on his face of a bullied kid wanting to stay tough and not show that he’s bothered.
There’s plenty of nice guys in the league, but you’ve got to find the competitive edge when you play. He can’t be getting paid $40 mil to be scared of his opponent
Mike Conley is the nicest dude in the world & has always managed to play against physical defenses. Gotta compartmentalize
Listen man… I cheered hard against OKC and I feel the same.
[deleted]
Yes
Chet needs a point guard stimulus package to fix him.
Dat skinny things is not funny anymore. The man need to workout in the summer, like Wemby did.
I can’t believe they had Caruso on Wemby (INTENTIONALLY!) with Chet on the floor. That’s absolutely insane.
This video was the first time I’ve enjoyed watching this Thunder team.
He had a strong game 5 though
Really shocked nobody brings out the Chris bosh comparisons more. We’ve all lived thru this very recently.
man It’s wild to see a player with so much potential freeze up like Chet did.
it feels like the Spurs got in his head and he couldn’t find his rhythm. Sometimes the mental game is tougher than the physical one. The pressure takes its toll!
Honestly worried about mental health in off season
He’s already dead
Don’t be the next Ben Simmons, Chet
Video got taken down. Can we get a repost?
It’s still up.
The 3pt/jumper airballs and get-blocked(s) are completely baffling. If I’m playing a particular game where matchups dictate I’m getting outmatched inside, I’m gonna do everything in my power to hunt wide open 3s. Like I’d be salivating before the catch even reaches my hand because that’s how badly I’d want that shot if I can’t get it done inside.
Will he be the next Ben Simmons?
spurs had him in jail all sereis, chet still needs a reset.
Chet was holding spurs pockets heading into game 7.
They were both air balls!? 😂😂
It’s true but in hindsight a lot of other people failed to help him out….coach not running plays (no shots means no plays run for him), team mates not looking to get him going.
He’ll join the same competitive fishing league as Ben Simmons soon.
I legit feel sorry for him. He should talk to a specialist.
Wemby is Chet’s daddy.
I feel bad for him. Dude is a hooper. I watched his previous performances against Wemby (back when the spurs were a losing team). Wemby is better all along but chet wasn’t afraid back then. He was aggressive and can definitely create his own shots. I ain’t gonna lie though wemby has become much stronger, better, and taller since then whereas chet stayed the same. Same thing for the spurs role players. Dev, Champ and KJ used to be slim and weak mfers 2 years ago. The result? Chet cannot get his shots off anymore and he cannot defend them like he used to.
He needs a lot of work and improving to do. Work on that muscle. Strengthen your feet. Practice quick release on your jumpshot. And honestly, he gotta make sure dub’s healthy next time they play the spurs because without dub, the rest of the attention after shai goes to him.
I swear he was high off his ass lol
Look I’m unbiased af when it comes to these games and I must say I wouldn’t be surprised if wembanyama has some dirt on Chet because HOLY SHIT BALLZ he played like his life depended on him playing like 💩
Aaaw look at them fathers taking turns to be a good dad to Chet 🥰
Stop the bullying bro. It’s just basketball the dude now needs a therapist.
dude - move on. The finals are starting in 12 hours
Ok, my bad.