WCQF | (4) Oklahoma City Thunder vs Utah Jazz (5) | UTA 4-2

[spearsy23]

so it happened. billy donovan and the team treating melo like a star lost the thunder a playoff game. other factors too, but playoff melo contributed 17 points on 19 shots while being a liability on defense. we played brewer and grant together with him in 4Q because billy couldn't justify benching grant and would not bench melo. with brewer and grant in the corners and melo doing nothing, the offense went nowhere. jazz just collapsed on the pnr every time.

welp!

I feel like someone predicted this...

This season still might've been a success, or at least much more tolerable, if Presti had hired a competent coach instead of his buddy three years ago.

If he'd hired a competent coach we'd probably have Russ/Cupcake/George all on one team.

[ThunderBolt]

Sixty six percent on free throws. It’s almost as if bad habits carry over...I’m shocked.

[slick_watts]

melo, russ, and george were 0-15 in the fourth quarter

[NaturalThunder]

And I'm glad I didn't watch, but a few things after looking at the boxscore...

- Rubio shot 5/8 from three? What the ****? That's a huge outlier.

- Mitchell shot 0/7 and that's also a pretty big outlier so you can't fall back on the comfort of knowing Rubio won't shoot 5/8 from three again.

- Russ, PG, and Melo shot a combined 19/58 (32.8%) for a combined 54 points. I'd say they won't all three shoot that poorly in a game again, but who knows with this team.

- None of Russ, PG, or Melo scored 20+ points. Hard to imagine that happening again.

- Favors scored 22 on 8/14 shooting and 2/3 from three. Can't see him being that good in a game again, but again, who knows.

- Ingles and Donovan shot a combined 1/11 from three so Rubio and Favors shooting a combined 7/11 from three being a huge outlier is balanced out by Ingles and Donovan's 1/11 from three.

[M2J]

Stupid shots. Stupid switches on defense.

There isn't a consistent 3pt threat on this team. People that can shoot them, yes, but Melo and PG can't shoot everyone that get. They had some good looks, and some terrible looks, but they need to work harder to get shots that are better looks for them in the paint as opposed to following the analytics theories (that works when you have an elite 3pt shooting team) and shooting 3s rather than 2s . They draw bodies if they post at the 3pt line, so that opens up things...doesn't mean they have to take them.

Still. I think the last 2 games Utah played as well as they could. OKC just needs to make shots and stop settling for bad shots. They also have to make smart defensive adjustments. Donovan Mitchell should've had the ball taken out of his hands at the end of the game. He was getting whatever he wanted in the paint vs everybody.

The Adams fouls were also a big issue. Allowed Favors to go off, and they got killed in the paint tonight

[ThunderBolt]

And I'm glad I didn't watch, but a few things after looking at the boxscore...

- Rubio shot 5/8 from three? What the ****? That's a huge outlier.

- Mitchell shot 0/7 and that's also a pretty big outlier so you can't fall back on the comfort of knowing Rubio won't shoot 5/8 from three again.

- Russ, PG, and Melo shot a combined 19/58 (32.8%) for a combined 54 points. I'd say they won't all three shoot that poorly in a game again, but who knows with this team.

- None of Russ, PG, or Melo scored 20+ points. Hard to imagine that happening again.

- Favors scored 22 on 8/14 shooting and 2/3 from three. Can't see him being that good in a game again, but again, who knows.

- Ingles and Donovan shot a combined 1/11 from three so Rubio and Favors shooting a combined 7/11 from three being a huge outlier is balanced out by Ingles and Donovan's 1/11 from three.

Rubio isn’t a bad three point shooter and we dared him to shoot like he was Roberson. If you had watched the game you would know that favors got easy shots. No anomalies in their performances.

[Antinomy]

Steven Adams having about 4 questionable fouls, especially the last one, completely killed OKC. They couldn’t grab a rebound or stop them in the paint.

[slick_watts]

rubio shoots 38% from three on spot ups this year.

[dakomish23]

They took their foot off the pedal after the 19-0 run. Sloppy turnovers and bad FGAs, then poof, lead evaporated.

Can’t take it for granted.

[Old Man Game]

Glad to see our dudes play that like they did most of the season. A totally disjointed, hellishly frustrating mish mash of parts with no clear direction and no discipline. At least I know not to get my hopes up.

[dakomish23]

They actually won the turnover battle. Might not happen again all playoffs

[Pillendreher]

Stupid switches on defense.

The switching actually worked because it took them out of their PnR.

[Dadouv47]

Looked like Russ from first 20 games of the season. Too passive, only making passes and not attacking the rim (even if Utah has Gobert)

[slick_watts]

They took their foot off the pedal after the 19-0 run. Sloppy turnovers and bad FGAs, then poof, lead evaporated.

Can’t take it for granted.

the hubris of the ok3. the dumb suggestion by george and others that there's a switch they can just flip and be elite in the playoffs, like this is shaq and kobe or jordan's bulls. thunder got up four and george came down the court and fired a contested pull-up three from 29 feet, trying to 'end' the jazz in the third quarter. it's dumb plays like that which people chalk up to 'momentum' plays that great teams don't get too mucked up with. it seems like that's all this team has sometimes. the chest thumping hubris that there's some higher level of play they just haven't bothered to attain yet.

i'm sure it's coming, though.

[ThunderBolt]

They took their foot off the pedal after the 19-0 run. Sloppy turnovers and bad FGAs, then poof, lead evaporated.

Can’t take it for granted.

Did they? I think Utah put their foot back on the pedal after the 19-0 run. The thunder never had control of this game. It was Utah’s to lose and they executed well down the stretch.

[Pillendreher]

They took their foot off the pedal after the 19-0 run. Sloppy turnovers and bad FGAs, then poof, lead evaporated.

Can’t take it for granted.

the hubris of the ok3. the dumb suggestion by george and others that there's a switch they can just flip and be elite in the playoffs, like this is shaq and kobe or jordan's bulls. thunder got up four and george came down the court and fired a contested pull-up three from 29 feet, trying to 'end' the jazz in the third quarter. it's dumb plays like that which people chalk up to 'momentum' plays that great teams don't get too mucked up with. it seems like that's all this team has sometimes. the chest thumping hubris that there's some higher level of play they just haven't bothered to attain yet.

We have been doing that dagger **** for years. Your boy Durant loved to do it as well.

[Thundershock88]

Not having a true backup center finally bit them in the ass. Some questionable calls, but it's not why we lost. You can't give up that many 2nd chance opportunities. The chuck fest in the 4th was some of the worst offense I have ever seen. Didn't matter who it was, they chucked. Down 4 and we rely on a Grant 3 point attempt? That's about as low a percentage shot you're gonna get. Then Melo keeps pulling up from 30. Just garbage. Coaching bit us in the ass tonight.

[slick_watts]

They took their foot off the pedal after the 19-0 run. Sloppy turnovers and bad FGAs, then poof, lead evaporated.

Can’t take it for granted.

the hubris of the ok3. the dumb suggestion by george and others that there's a switch they can just flip and be elite in the playoffs, like this is shaq and kobe or jordan's bulls. thunder got up four and george came down the court and fired a contested pull-up three from 29 feet, trying to 'end' the jazz in the third quarter. it's dumb plays like that which people chalk up to 'momentum' plays that great teams don't get too mucked up with. it seems like that's all this team has sometimes. the chest thumping hubris that there's some higher level of play they just haven't bothered to attain yet.

We have been doing that dagger **** for years. Your boy Durant loved to do it as well.

kd was actually making them though.

[Pillendreher]

the hubris of the ok3. the dumb suggestion by george and others that there's a switch they can just flip and be elite in the playoffs, like this is shaq and kobe or jordan's bulls. thunder got up four and george came down the court and fired a contested pull-up three from 29 feet, trying to 'end' the jazz in the third quarter. it's dumb plays like that which people chalk up to 'momentum' plays that great teams don't get too mucked up with. it seems like that's all this team has sometimes. the chest thumping hubris that there's some higher level of play they just haven't bothered to attain yet.

We have been doing that dagger **** for years. Your boy Durant loved to do it as well.

kd was actually making them though.

[M2J]

Looked like Russ from first 20 games of the season. Too passive, only making passes and not attacking the rim (even if Utah has Gobert)

I like how he played for the most part offensively. There were some issues for sure in terms of shot selection and defense (in part because of him switching as a default.

When I say I have a problem with switching, it's primarily when they readily and easily switch into a bad matchup with their guards in the paint creating easy baskets in the paint and putbacks/off boards. There were some key situations where there were high pick and rolls that the ball handler (Mitchell/Rubio) had no intent of attacking, they just readily handed off the switch. Especially the 1/5 pnr. All Russ needed to do was get back to his man. PG as well. Utah got back consistently. If it's late in the clock or the guards are proving they're willing to attack it, then fine. Switchability is a must in today's NBA, but not when not required.