Why Are the OKC Thunder Turning to Thuggery Against the Depleted Dallas Mavericks?

[nbafan38]

I'm impressed with the job Matthews and Anderson have done guarding Durant, they have him flustered. Felton has a lot more heart then ever given credit, I'd take his bulldog attitude any day. It's becoming apparent that Dallas with a healthy Parsons and Deron would probably take this series. Okc seems to have the attitude of just wanting the Mavs to roll over so they can dance, they're about to get knocked out next round.

The average win for OKC is like 30+ points/game... No way healthy Parsons/Deron would shift the series that much

also the concept of a healthy Dwill is almost an oxymoron at this point, he hasn't been truly healthy in like 4-5 years.

[MrBigShot]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard/status/724091015003435008[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ErikHorneOK/status/724082434422120448[/tweet]

Some coincidence imo, but whatever. Somehow this is the most dramatic series lol

I believe him 100%. No way he expected Anderson to turn in the air like that, and KD's not a dirty player.

[Bergmaniac]

Given his current form, if KD had been aiming for Anderson's head, he would have missed it by a lot.

[Laimbeer]

Mavs whined and bitched about officiating against a Houston team that had them overmatched last year as well. Cuban and Carlisle have it down to an art form.

[afox]

LMA made the right choice!

[DieYoung]

LMA made the right choice!

from lma's perspective, sure. he failed as a first option in portland and now he's posting his most efficient regular season and post-season numbers as a sidekick on the spurs.

from the spurs perspective, i dont believe a kawhi/lma-centric offense is going to cut it in the playoffs. kawhi will do his part(proven champion) but I dont believe lamarcus will do his. he looked like a quitter to me in portland and when it comes down to him having to step up when kawhi has an off night, i have my doubts. this is a make or break season for aldridge to prove he really isn't a choke artist.

[jpengland]

Mavs got into their heads and turned this as ugly as possible. Problem is that even with that equaliser, we don't have the talent to keep up.

[TheHartBreakKid]

neutral third party here who watched the game......the Durant thing was definitely an accident. His reactions afterwards made that pretty clear in my opinion. Regarding Ibaka and the other stuff....it's just playoff basketball, and it goes both ways.

[reapaman]

In a week, when we have another thread about how the NBA today is not physical and every one is all soft and friendly ... someone pull this thread up please.

[Le-Lyonnais]

BS thread. Mavs are everything but innocent in these series.

Let me guess OP, you're probably one of those guys who complain about NBA being too soft nowadays but can't handle a bit of over-aggressivness.

At least, It's making this an entertaining one-sided series.

[Kupchak9]

Yeah Anderson and Durant are chill as heck. Some peeps are making a big deal out of nothing here. If Anderson came out and said that he believes KD and they patched things up then this would be settled.

On the other hand, I can't say the same thing for what's happening in that HOU vs. GSW series. There's alot of bad blood right there and the physicality seems to be a bit lopsided. There is no way you can convince me that Bogut and Green's actions are unintentional.

[Dirk]

The Thunder are a very immature team and have fake tough guys. Mavs beat them 5(!) years ago in the WCF... and amazingly they look the same as they did then. It's embarrassing how they haven't evolved, all the while, you see the Heat come and go, the Warriors explode and the Spurs always being there. OKC? OK - they have the injury excuse I guess.

With that said, I will still root for OKC against the Spurs/Warriors, but they went way down on my list with all the unnecessary stuff they did in these series - but that's what you get with an insecure group of players. They like to bully the weak, since they can't get it done when it matters. It will take a miracle for them not to shrink against the better teams.

[heatwillbeback]

Westbrook plays and acts out of control a lot. It's kind of what he is and part of what makes him special, but it's also a liability against teams in control, like the Spurs next round.

As for Durant, flagrant two was the right call. Not suspension worthy.

[Soupman]

they mad they struggling against a bad team

Struggling? It was one game.

You only beat a 43 win team by 11 points.

Almost half our team is injured and they still competed.

You should have dropped 20-40 point blowouts easy with this hospital basketball rotation.

They didn't and that's why its humiliating.

[Soupman]

I'm impressed with the job Matthews and Anderson have done guarding Durant, they have him flustered. Felton has a lot more heart then ever given credit, I'd take his bulldog attitude any day. It's becoming apparent that Dallas with a healthy Parsons and Deron would probably take this series. Okc seems to have the attitude of just wanting the Mavs to roll over so they can dance, they're about to get knocked out next round.

The average win for OKC is like 30+ points/game... No way healthy Parsons/Deron would shift the series that much

Only one game was won by 30 points.

I like the physicality. It's entertaining.

Has the NBA gone totally soft? A few love taps and we want to suspend people?

Any hit that is not a punch or a hit to the head,knees,ankles,spine or neck should be a hard personal foul.

[Thabo Sefolosha]

they mad they struggling against a bad team

Struggling? It was one game.

You only beat a 43 win team by 11 points.

Almost half our team is injured and they still competed.

You should have dropped 20-40 point blowouts easy with this hospital basketball rotation.

They didn't and that's why its humiliating.

A win is still a win and it isn't humiliating only winning by 11 points. You should worry about your own team rather than focusing on our "humiliating" 11 point win.

[Soupman]

Struggling? It was one game.

You only beat a 43 win team by 11 points.

Almost half our team is injured and they still competed.

You should have dropped 20-40 point blowouts easy with this hospital basketball rotation.

They didn't and that's why its humiliating.

A win is still a win and it isn't humiliating only winning by 11 points. You should worry about your own team rather than focusing on our "humiliating" 11 point win.

No winning by 11 points against a team with half the roster injured is humiliating. You have multiple all-star players and virtually no injuries of your more important players.

You should have blown us out by 20-30+ per game. Yet you didn't. We're a 43 win team and your a 50+ win team with multiple all-stars.

I can care less. We lost before the season started.(Whiffing on key FAs, losing chandler,overpaying for Wesley matthews,no 1st rnd picks to tank with, capped out,no real tradeable assets). We already overachieved by making the playoffs.

[durden_tyler]

Intentionally or not (i am leaning towards former), i think what the OKC Thunder are doing is admirable in a sense that they are setting up this brand of basketball before they meet the bigwigs called the Spurs and Warriors-- two teams who play beautiful basketball but could be slowed down if you play them physically.

i am one of the non-believers of the Thunder's chances at a ring but they are moving at the right direction with this newfound style of roughing up opponents and showing (off) they have the "tough" side.

Should be a fun series the next rounds. i believe the Thunder are a confident bunch and has a legit shot of taking down either Spurs and/or Warriors (though i expect them to fall and not make the NBA Finals). But with this brand of play i think they might just have unlocked the secret formula in beating team ball... (and that is beating up the team and hope team ball won't work because of it)

Props to OKC. (Poor depleted Dallas, but this would have happened as well, methinks, even if it was against Rockets/Blazers/Grizzlies).

[Soupman]

I think they might get exposed by the Warriors or Spurs.

But if they play the Spurs I would be rooting hard for the Thunder.

[baldur]

reasons are:
They carry the youth fever, spirit. They play with their amateur souls.
they are jealous of champions of west, like dallas, lakers. So they always intentionally aim to destroy these teams. Because they havent gain anything in their westbrook-durant reign.

P.s. Dallas is not depleted.