Dawg I was about to scream if their offense turned into 100% success rate pull up 3s

Best player in the world as soon as the game is out of reach

Yeah those 3s were insane

OKC has so many injuries that any time they get back an NBA-quality player it has an outsized impact on the floor because of whose minutes they’re replacing.

The system is there, too. The defensive schemes are great when players like Stirtz and Ajay are clogging and jumping passing lanes to get transition points (yes, I know Ajay is a good defender). There’s a lot of fight in the squad.

Caruso back and peavy being decent also changes our depth and eliminates the negative 3rd stringer minutes

So is both addition [caruso is the hearth of this team] and addition by substraction [we no longer playing 3rd string real minutes]

I honestly thinks this is why he falls so much as well. The increased impact time versus trying to make a tough landing potentially on someone’s ankle for half the contested shots. People play him so close but that’s just a theory.

I have been having the same exact thoughts

He refused to take a layup in the first half it was crazy. Then when he started taking them, surprise surprise they were falling

He was playing more of an off ball game before all his teammates went down. It was probably because he got limited by the Spurs and Lakers last playoffs so he’s finding different ways to score.

He worked on it this summer.

Two sides of the same coin, good people who are considered elite at their position, well paid, but will almost certainly never win anything serious as the centerpiece

That fake comeback at the end would have me going insane as a cavs fan. He did NOTHING all game until that

Atkinson’s gotta go, Harden looks pretty bad, and  Mitchell’s gotta stop hijacking the rhythm of the offense. Yeah the shots were falling today but it wasn’t in the flow of the offense

The offense outside of Shai has been improving though, so he likely won’t need to maintain this production. Stirtz is playing more aggressive, playmaking through iHart has been working, Ajay will have his nights occasionally, and surely McCain will get out of this slump at some point.

Just need to get Chet back as soon as possible

I want the Thunder to make a super cut that they drop on Valentines Day that’s just three minutes of dudes hugging Shai and holding his waist.

On a more serious note, the Thunder have had a TOUGH schedule. Two games against an ECF team, Texas triangle, Denver all through eight games is tough. He’ll get a break against Sacramento

He’s going to have to do it though. He can’t be waisting his prime years and there is a chance that they get a lot healthier by March

Just hoping that our other guys can take a bigger role when we go against weaker teams. “Save” shai for the tougher opponents

We will need a lot more bodies for sure. Sucks to not have Sorber or Topic on the floor to mitigate this. I feel Presti is plotting his next move to get a bit of help as well. Obviously finding Peavy is good. We’ll see with Dalen Terry. However, I feel there will be another move on the horizon.

Yeah, I think the Thunder are going to have to be strategic about finding him rest. I think he’ll sit on some back-to-backs and maybe against teams like the Kings where they think they can get a win without him.

It’s also good that hes hitting some 3s now not too much body weight getting put on him every drive.

They did because it was close to working with how automatic Donovan Mitchell’s 3 were at the end. If SGA was a little more off his game or resting then it could have went the other way. Great win by OKC to close it out and stay strong every contested minute.

He was really inefficient, but made a few shots in a row in the last 4 minutes to seal the game. Which is something Kobe always used to do to.

He has a new career high every game. By the end of the season he’ll be scoring 80+.

2nd half* he was buns in the first lmao 🤣

Micheal cage calls it as he sees it.

He is always a homer but give him a couple more games, he’s also settling into the new reality of thunder basketball (which is fun)

i love michael cage chill bro sga was getting held all night so the complaints were deserving

God forbid its not Rivers posing as a tough “let them play” guy while questioning every call that goes our way

It was easier to listen to when Fisher was the play by play commentator. The new guy doesn’t have the same energy

The Nuggets announcers are even worse. Just grouchy old guys. At least Cage talks about his church league and sounds like a genuinely nice dude.

But yeah, I agree that the hometown announcers should try hard to be unbiased and complement what the other team does well. It helps the fans be less grouchy in a loss when they realize that the other team was also doing very good things, and your team just didn’t get robbed.

Nah don’t let the refs get away with their bullshit

The biggest difference is Stirtz can handle and playmake off the dribble which is huge

They used to be. This iteration is starter heavy. Best player off the bench is Sam Merrill, that’s not a contender…

Our players would be great pieces individually on other teams. Collectively, it just doesn’t mesh. And on top of it, Kenny Atkinson spends more time bitching at the refs than he does coaching his own players.

I feel like they aren’t even that good on paper though. A bunch of role players who disappoint, a score first small guard which rarely works out for teams, a washed “I don’t give a shit” harden, a bad coach etc. we are just not a good team. There’s some okay pieces and moments but overall it just don’t work.

Harden and Mitchell thrive playing at two very different paces.

It’s a double big with neither of the two bigs being good from 3, and then two guards that are not good defenders, although they’re good offensive players. Also, week at the wing position. It can work great in the regular season overall but it’s rough against good teams and in the playoffs.

They match up very poorly against OKC, and its even worse if Watson is not playing.

For a team with Mitchell, Harden, Mobley and decent role players their offense is so… meh. Cavs fans is it a Atkinson thing, just a slow start or do I think them better than they actually are ?

Their roster has talent but their positions have a lot of overlap in them. Mitchell & Harden both really wanna be ball dominant PnR spammers for the most part, Allen & Watson together kinda take up all the spaces where Mobley likes to play so often one of those guys looks a little out of place.

They’re not great at grabbing offensive rebounds and they don’t force many turnovers either so they’re at a deficit in the possession game a lot of time, which means they need to be really efficient defensively & offensively, whenever a team goes on a run against them it feels extra bad

it’s all about the analytical wins bro

Could be worse you could be a clippers fan

I’m a Cowboys fan

A wounded bear is still a bear. Please don’t put us in a place where people are embarrassed to lose to us.

I didn’t even know that was an option!

Ty jerome was the diff

Mitchell and Mobley got paid, they dont give a fuck

That’s not true, they shot like 90% in garbage time

Who did they trick

Yeah my 😊 was slowly turning into 😟

Cavs missing their entire wing rotation is a lil important too. OKC was always deeper.

Trust me, we are

Was wire to wire no almost to it