2024 NBA Playoffs: West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (DAL WINS 4-2)

[Texas Chuck]

It’s more that the obviously wrong jump ball call happened at an important time and definitely could’ve swung the game.

I have zero comments on which team is getting a worse whistle. And I have zero comments on could've swung a game.

But I will say that felt like the ref saw Luka fall hard but didn't see a foul(because there wasn't one) and kinda just panicked and called a jump ball. It was the fastest held ball in NBA history lol. So yeah OKC got jobbed on that specific call imo.

But reading this thread 85% of the posters feel like one team or the other got jobbed approximately 41 times in the game so....

[ChipotleWest]

It’s more that the obviously wrong jump ball call happened at an important time and definitely could’ve swung the game.

I have zero comments on which team is getting a worse whistle. And I have zero comments on could've swung a game.

But I will say that felt like the ref saw Luka fall hard but didn't see a foul(because there wasn't one) and kinda just panicked and called a jump ball. It was the fastest held ball in NBA history lol. So yeah OKC got jobbed on that specific call imo.

But reading this thread 85% of the posters feel like one team or the other got jobbed approximately 41 times in the game so....

You know I mistakenly thought you were a Mavs fan but just took the other side against them like practically every time which I never understood I was like who does that, but you're not one you're a fan of the Vancouver Grizzlies. You just spend all of your time in the Mavs threads for some reason. My mistake.

[Bob8]

It’s more that the obviously wrong jump ball call happened at an important time and definitely could’ve swung the game.

I have zero comments on which team is getting a worse whistle. And I have zero comments on could've swung a game.

But I will say that felt like the ref saw Luka fall hard but didn't see a foul(because there wasn't one) and kinda just panicked and called a jump ball. It was the fastest held ball in NBA history lol. So yeah OKC got jobbed on that specific call imo.

But reading this thread 85% of the posters feel like one team or the other got jobbed approximately 41 times in the game so....

It must be hard to be the first non biased fan in the history of the game. Even posters that are not fans of OKC and Dallas are more biased than you. Congratulations.

[Astaluego]

Honestly don’t know why they produce these reports if there aren’t any consequences.

Read on Twitter

That really is stupid. Almost every player in the league palms the ball, they NEVER call it. They’re gonna bring it up in the last 2-minute period to help the losing team bitch about the refs?

It’s more that the obviously wrong jump ball call happened at an important time and definitely could’ve swung the game.

ok... at that point in the game Dort shouldn't even be playing, he should have 9 fouls (without trying to exaggerate).. to be honest, he really believes that the Thunder are being hurt and down in the series as a result of the referees ??

[MoneyTalks41890]

SGA doing it all averaging 31/10/8 this series on 47/50/90 with 4 stocks per game.

[MoneyTalks41890]

It’s more that the obviously wrong jump ball call happened at an important time and definitely could’ve swung the game.

I have zero comments on which team is getting a worse whistle. And I have zero comments on could've swung a game.

But I will say that felt like the ref saw Luka fall hard but didn't see a foul(because there wasn't one) and kinda just panicked and called a jump ball. It was the fastest held ball in NBA history lol. So yeah OKC got jobbed on that specific call imo.

But reading this thread 85% of the posters feel like one team or the other got jobbed approximately 41 times in the game so....

I’m going to need you to leave that level headed-ness behind when engaging ITT and fanboy out some more.

[Texas Chuck]

It must be hard to be the first non biased fan in the history of the game.

It's wild to me that you guys get offended by me trying to have objective rather than homer takes. Or to claim I'm actually a Grizzlies fan because of a private joke bit of flair.

But I'm also fully capable of going full homer. Just bring up Dirk or Barea or Ferrari Doe. I'm just never going to do it in regards to the refs. So sorry guys for letting you down.

This isn't me saying look how objective I can be. This is me giving my honest take. My honest take is that was a bad call. Nothing more nothing less.

But I also can't read this thread and pretend a bunch of posters aren't fixated on the officiating because they are.

[Texas Chuck]

SGA doing it all averaging 31/10/8 this series on 47/50/90 with 4 stocks per game.

He's a major problem.

[Bob8]

It must be hard to be the first non biased fan in the history of the game.

It's wild to me that you guys get offended by me trying to have objective rather than homer takes. Or to claim I'm actually a Grizzlies fan because of a private joke bit of flair.

But I'm also fully capable of going full homer. Just bring up Dirk or Barea or Ferrari Doe. I'm just never going to do it in regards to the refs. So sorry guys for letting you down.

This isn't me saying look how objective I can be. This is me giving my honest take. My honest take is that was a bad call. Nothing more nothing less.

But I also can't read this thread and pretend a bunch of posters aren't fixated on the officiating because they are.

It's not about refs, it's about being politically correct at all costs. I'm sure OKC posters are more than capable to defend their position, especially those who think that D on SGA and Luka is the same and they're officiated equally. Especially if they started debate.

Whoever watches half objectively what Dort is doing, not only in this series, can't say that he's playing normal D. He's basically hand checking all the time. I'm ok if that's allowed in playoffs, but strangely enough every similar action by DJJ, Kyrie or others is penalised, when that happens to Shai. And no, there can't be different rules, if one is 230 and other 190. Or you can simply compare officiating of Kyrie and Shai. They're the same weight and one is getting all calls and other 0.

What do you think would have happened, if Dort was guarding Shai? Would he have lasted more than 1 Q before fouling out? Not with criteria Mavs defenders are officiated in this series.

This's not debate about single wrong calls, which we can see in every game on both sides, referees can't see everything and made good decisions always, but a debate about how 1 player is allowed to play totally different level of aggression and contact than others.

[Texas Chuck]

So my politically incorrect prediction is that Dallas takes the next two games and advances. Dallas role players outplay the Thunder role players tonight and Kyrie has a monster game 5 in OKC to close it out.

[Bob8]

So my politically incorrect prediction is that Dallas takes the next two games and advances. Dallas role players outplay the Thunder role players tonight and Kyrie has a monster game 5 in OKC to close it out.

Yes that's how a fan should sound.

Although I'm a bit afraid now, we were pretty good with you being politically correct.

[aguiar95]

Really surprised DAL is leading this series. OKC has 6 of their 9-man rotation (67%) shooting good splits (exception to Chet, Dort and Giddey) while DAL has Doncic and Kyrie waaaay below their averages in points, while DAL has only half of their 8-man rotation shooting good (Luka, Lively, Jones and Hardaway being the bad guys).

Clearly both DAL and OKC lack a 6th man ball handler to help their main players set the offense/carry the load while they're resting.

[sunsbg]

Let's not act like Dort is just a dirty player. He has a lot of good clean defensive plays. I guess sometimes he could be called for hand checking, but then Luka pushes with off hand and intentionally searches for contact on a lot of his drives. He was not fouled on the 3PT attempt and yet he got FTs even after review. It's the playoffs and defensive players like Dort, Jrue, etc. being rewarded by the refs is not that unusual.

As I said in earlier post sounds like Luka and his fans won't like it much if it was the 90s.

[DrModesty]

If the Thunder can win this game, it goes a long way to making me feel confident about their future even if they go on to lose the series.

Down in a series, away from home. True adversity, and a game where they should play with genuine desperation. Will they rise to the occasion, or fall flat at the feet of bonafide playoff studs Luka and Kyrie.

[Bob8]

Let's not act like Dort is just a dirty player. He has a lot of good clean defensive plays. I guess sometimes he could be called for hand checking, but then Luka pushes with off hand and intentionally searches for contact on a lot of his drives. He was not fouled on the 3PT attempt and yet he got FTs even after review. It's the playoffs and defensive players like Dort, Jrue, etc. being rewarded by the refs is not that unusual.

As I said in earlier post sounds like Luka and his fans won't like it much if it was the 90s.

You have missed other half, if Dort's D on Luka is ok, why Shai is officiated differently? I'm ok with officiating, if it applies to Shai too. But evidently that's not the case. He's defended in gloves and still gets more calls. I kinda doubt that Shai would like 90s D.

Problem in referring are not random mistakes, but criteria, who should be as much as possible similar between different crews, constant the whole game and the same on both sides. If you allow aggressive D to Dort, you can't whistle everything on Shai, just because he's more skinny than Luka.

[Slimjimzv]

I love everything about this series. I love the physicality, the questionable officiating, the 15+ point runs, the elite offensive play from elite players, the injury concerns, the angry fans on both sides, the budding rivalry (which we always should have had between Dallas and OKC). I love it all. I hope the Thunder win, but am obviously concerned. Let's see how this plays out. Go Thunder!

[ChipotleWest]

It must be hard to be the first non biased fan in the history of the game.

It's wild to me that you guys get offended by me trying to have objective rather than homer takes. Or to claim I'm actually a Grizzlies fan because of a private joke bit of flair.

But I'm also fully capable of going full homer. Just bring up Dirk or Barea or Ferrari Doe. I'm just never going to do it in regards to the refs. So sorry guys for letting you down.

This isn't me saying look how objective I can be. This is me giving my honest take. My honest take is that was a bad call. Nothing more nothing less.

But I also can't read this thread and pretend a bunch of posters aren't fixated on the officiating because they are.

Well you took my post as sarcasm but I was serious, you don't have a Mavs logo, just because you're from Texas doesn't mean your a Mavs fan, and you don't take their side. So there was nothing to indicate you're a fan of the team so I thought I was just wrong. But now you're claiming you are a fan so I have no idea. Anyway I don't care that much.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Read on Twitter

[durden_tyler]

Thunder just +1 in the betting lines. So virtual toss-up game tonight. Hoping to witness a classic…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Patches Perry]

Really surprised DAL is leading this series. OKC has 6 of their 9-man rotation (67%) shooting good splits (exception to Chet, Dort and Giddey) while DAL has Doncic and Kyrie waaaay below their averages in points, while DAL has only half of their 8-man rotation shooting good (Luka, Lively, Jones and Hardaway being the bad guys).

You have to look at it game by game though, since that's how a series is scored.

Game 1: OKC wins an ugly game, neither team shot well overall but OKC shot well from 3pt and had +12 rebounding advantage leading to +5 attempts advantage.

Game 2: SGA and Luka play each other mostly even, but Dub and Chet shoot poorly (31 points combined on 11-29 FG) vs PJ Washington and THJ scoring 46 points combined on 17-28). The rest of the rosters shot low volume and roughly even as a whole.

Game 3: Thunder shot fine but simply couldn't outshoot their rebounding disparity. Thunder shot a better percentage but made less shots because Dallas had 10 more shot attempts.

All that is to say what is generally true about every playoff series, which is that every game takes on its own personality. People try to build expectations of upcoming games assuming that they will be like previous games except the one or two shortcomings will be addressed. In reality, we usually see shortcomings from prior games addressed and new shortcomings surface.