2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West Semifinals: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Denver Nuggets (DEN leads 1-0)

[pepe1991]

Maybe this is the excuse OKC needs to go get Steven Adams back

OOOOR

use army of picks and get Giannis

His next chapter in nba is at C anyway. I have no clue why Bucks didn't even bother playing him as full time C already, and it took them elimination game to figure Brook is fried.

[Revived]

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[MoneyTalks41890]

Maybe this is the excuse OKC needs to go get Steven Adams back

Might as well trade for KD and sign Russ back too (team option for next season I think).

Actually on board with the Russ part too.

[Patches Perry]

Potentially a Hakeem vs. David Robinson situation? Lot of parallels.

David Robinson won MVP after leading his team to 62 wins and #1 seed. Hakeem was still widely thought to be the best player in the league and Rockets had already won 1 championship, and Hakeem led the 47 win 6th seed to a 4-2 series win, and eventually the championship.

Denver has championship DNA and I'd be shocked if they lost this series in less than 6 games. OKC is still very young and hasn't been in these moments. This is likely a 7 game series and Nuggets have the experience to steal game 7 on the road.

I posed this before game 1 and got some pushback. Anybody warming up to it?

[ballzboyee]

Chet needs to put on like 50lbs

That’s just it. He can’t. Unless you mean beer, milkshakes and cheeseburgers and a pot belly, which isn’t gonna help him.

I will continue to be lower on Chet than most because he is a permanent twig, with good functional strength for a twig, but a twig nonetheless. His body type is similar to Tayshaun Prince, except stretched out even further because he’s four-ish inches taller. By the time Tay reached his 30’s, he may have been 15 pounds heavier than he was at Kentucky. That’s literally all he could do.

Somehow Prince stayed mostly healthy for a long time, so you can hope Chet does the same… but he plays a more physical position, and he’s a much more aggressive player, so I doubt it. Injuries and getting big-boy’d are just part of what you’re gonna get. Super skilled, hard-working, no off-court issues, great young player, but… I won’t be shocked if Presti sells on him. Sam has to know.

[JM00n69]

I watched the highlights, Jokic was eating that front court alive like BBQ chicken. Hell Aaron Gordon was out muscling the crap out of Chet.

Chet played such a bad game defensively. SUCH a bad game. If by any chance OKC loose, i'm calling Bucks right away and saying the hell with Chet. Chet + all the picks and getting Gianis.

Chet will be eaten alive all series, he is skin and bones. He'll have his moments as a help defender and shooter but this is a proper playoff team with a AG/JOK playing bully ball. This was not a one off

[JM00n69]

OKC fans, if you find it hard to fall asleep tonight there's a movie called Sleepless in Seattle. It'll help trust me

[tmorgan]

Chet needs to put on like 50lbs

That’s just it. He can’t. Unless you mean beer, milkshakes and cheeseburgers and a pot belly, which isn’t gonna help him.

I will continue to be lower on Chet than most because he is a permanent twig, with good functional strength for a twig, but a twig nonetheless. His body type is similar to Tayshaun Prince, except stretched out even further because he’s four-ish inches taller. By the time Tay reached his 30’s, he may have been 15 pounds heavier than he was at Kentucky. That’s literally all he could do.

Somehow Prince stayed mostly healthy for a long time, so you can hope Chet does the same… but he plays a more physical position, and he’s a much more aggressive player, so I doubt it. Injuries and getting big-boy’d are just part of what you’re gonna get. Super skilled, hard-working, no off-court issues, great young player, but… I won’t be shocked if Presti sells on him. Sam has to know.

I don't get Chet slander.
Like, guy is literally tasked to guard on of best Cs to ever walk this Earth, who has like 100 pounds on him.
On top of that Chet is way better as roaming big, help defender.

You think Mobley/ Jaren Jackson / Zingis / Wemby whoever would do any better?

Who is best "Jokić defender" in nba? Zubac. Why? Because he is 7'0-270 and can body him up. How many bigs like that exist in nba? 3-4 at most, mostly because others are either too slow, too untalented or too uncoordinated for serious basketball. That's whole Jokić thing, guy is nightmare of match up because guy is huge and skilled and you can't send smaller defender on him, and vast majority of teams don't have heavy bigs to challenge him in that fashion.
I Hart also gets cooked.

Chet is excellent at what he does and his impact is huge on defense. But Jokić in his prime is one of 5-8 best to ever do it already. OKC has to defend as a team way more to contain him, not leave big ( or even worst, guard) on island and act shocked once Jokić makes his moves for and -ones, layups, etc.

I mean, re-read what I wrote. There is no “Chet slander”. None at all. I said he’s skinny (he is), injury prone (he is), and prone to getting beat on by heavy players (he is). I also complimented him, he’s a great young player.

The post I replied to was about his weight. It can’t be fixed. It’s a body type.

[CobraCommander]

Jokic still best player by a mile - Sga is coming on but he got a ways to go

[Wolfgang630]

Denver had 18 turnovers and OKC only had 9. Caruso had the best game of his career

[tmorgan]

Chet needs to put on like 50lbs

That’s just it. He can’t. Unless you mean beer, milkshakes and cheeseburgers and a pot belly, which isn’t gonna help him.

I will continue to be lower on Chet than most because he is a permanent twig, with good functional strength for a twig, but a twig nonetheless. His body type is similar to Tayshaun Prince, except stretched out even further because he’s four-ish inches taller. By the time Tay reached his 30’s, he may have been 15 pounds heavier than he was at Kentucky. That’s literally all he could do.

Somehow Prince stayed mostly healthy for a long time, so you can hope Chet does the same… but he plays a more physical position, and he’s a much more aggressive player, so I doubt it. Injuries and getting big-boy’d are just part of what you’re gonna get. Super skilled, hard-working, no off-court issues, great young player, but… I won’t be shocked if Presti sells on him. Sam has to know.

If you can’t see the obvious physical differences between young Chet and young Giannis, you are blind. The shoulders alone tell the whole story.

[Patches Perry]

OKC fans, if you find it hard to fall asleep tonight there's a movie called Sleepless in Seattle. It'll help trust me

LOL Sonics fans catching strays. That's just cruel.

[Revived]

Maybe this is the excuse OKC needs to go get Steven Adams back

Might as well trade for KD and sign Russ back too (team option for next season I think).

Actually on board with the Russ part too.

Cmon it’s been so many years, time to hatch the beef with KD too. He’d be yall best player in playoffs even at age 38.

[pepe1991]

That’s just it. He can’t. Unless you mean beer, milkshakes and cheeseburgers and a pot belly, which isn’t gonna help him.

I will continue to be lower on Chet than most because he is a permanent twig, with good functional strength for a twig, but a twig nonetheless. His body type is similar to Tayshaun Prince, except stretched out even further because he’s four-ish inches taller. By the time Tay reached his 30’s, he may have been 15 pounds heavier than he was at Kentucky. That’s literally all he could do.

Somehow Prince stayed mostly healthy for a long time, so you can hope Chet does the same… but he plays a more physical position, and he’s a much more aggressive player, so I doubt it. Injuries and getting big-boy’d are just part of what you’re gonna get. Super skilled, hard-working, no off-court issues, great young player, but… I won’t be shocked if Presti sells on him. Sam has to know.

I don't get Chet slander.
Like, guy is literally tasked to guard on of best Cs to ever walk this Earth, who has like 100 pounds on him.
On top of that Chet is way better as roaming big, help defender.

You think Mobley/ Jaren Jackson / Zingis / Wemby whoever would do any better?

Who is best "Jokić defender" in nba? Zubac. Why? Because he is 7'0-270 and can body him up. How many bigs like that exist in nba? 3-4 at most, mostly because others are either too slow, too untalented or too uncoordinated for serious basketball. That's whole Jokić thing, guy is nightmare of match up because guy is huge and skilled and you can't send smaller defender on him, and vast majority of teams don't have heavy bigs to challenge him in that fashion.
I Hart also gets cooked.

Chet is excellent at what he does and his impact is huge on defense. But Jokić in his prime is one of 5-8 best to ever do it already. OKC has to defend as a team way more to contain him, not leave big ( or even worst, guard) on island and act shocked once Jokić makes his moves for and -ones, layups, etc.

I mean, re-read what I wrote. There is no “Chet slander”. None at all. I said he’s skinny (he is), injury prone (he is), and prone to getting beat on by heavy players (he is). I also complimented him, he’s a great young player.

The post I replied to was about his weight. It can’t be fixed. It’s a body type.

I mean, there is cure for that, not legal one but i assume at least portion ( half , if not more lol) players use it

Spoiler:

[J the Drafter]

Maybe this is the excuse OKC needs to go get Steven Adams back

OOOOR

use army of picks and get Giannis

His next chapter in nba is at C anyway. I have no clue why Bucks didn't even bother playing him as full time C already, and it took them elimination game to figure Brook is fried.

Does Giannis have fundamental big man skills—can he screen, catch dump off and pocket passes, protect the paint? Can he rebound when fighting for position with NBA big men? Those are all things to consider, regardless of his perimeter strengths.

[Revived]

I watched the highlights, Jokic was eating that front court alive like BBQ chicken. Hell Aaron Gordon was out muscling the crap out of Chet.

Chet played such a bad game defensively. SUCH a bad game. If by any chance OKC loose, i'm calling Bucks right away and saying the hell with Chet. Chet + all the picks and getting Gianis.

Chet will be eaten alive all series, he is skin and bones. He'll have his moments as a help defender and shooter but this is a proper playoff team with a AG/JOK playing bully ball. This was not a one off

I’m pretty sure Jamal Murray could post up Chet and score on him efficiently. Sure he’s a decent shot blocker but strength always wins if the offensive player just goes right at the body of the shot blocker negating the length and wingspan.

From a purely physical perspective, Chet looks like a white version of Thon Maker.



Actually even Maker’s arms look more defined than Chet’s so idk.

[LeBronSpaghetti]

Some of the comments in here after the crazy ending are… well, even crazier than the ending. For context I’m a Nuggets fan but people writing off OKC are nuts.

People calling this “franchise altering” for OKC, calling them frauds, saying they got exposed, “sweep incoming”, “Denver in 5”.

I get it’s emotional but cmon. The Thunder are not frauds at all. 99/100 times the last 5 minutes of this game ends with an OKC win. I wouldn’t be surprised if OKC wins in a blowout in game 2.

Also, I do think this type of game and this type of series could be the best thing to happen to OKC. If you want to be a champ you need to get punched in the face and bounce back. They have never done that yet. Beating the Pels last year or the Grizz this year is not impressive. Beating this Nuggets team would be. So you got punched in the mouth, now what? Nobody wins a ring without it happening once or twice. This could be a major moment of growth for this team.

[durden_tyler]

Classic overreactionary RealGM takes/threads. Despite the G1 upsets, the Celtics, Cavs and Thunder remain favorites in their respective series and also the favorites to win an NBA title.

[LeBronSpaghetti]

And some of you thought Denver had a chance lol

Hey just curious, why did you stop posting after the Nuggets came back? Your posts were so entertaining a insightful throughout the game!

[tmorgan]

I don't get Chet slander.
Like, guy is literally tasked to guard on of best Cs to ever walk this Earth, who has like 100 pounds on him.
On top of that Chet is way better as roaming big, help defender.

You think Mobley/ Jaren Jackson / Zingis / Wemby whoever would do any better?

Who is best "Jokić defender" in nba? Zubac. Why? Because he is 7'0-270 and can body him up. How many bigs like that exist in nba? 3-4 at most, mostly because others are either too slow, too untalented or too uncoordinated for serious basketball. That's whole Jokić thing, guy is nightmare of match up because guy is huge and skilled and you can't send smaller defender on him, and vast majority of teams don't have heavy bigs to challenge him in that fashion.
I Hart also gets cooked.

Chet is excellent at what he does and his impact is huge on defense. But Jokić in his prime is one of 5-8 best to ever do it already. OKC has to defend as a team way more to contain him, not leave big ( or even worst, guard) on island and act shocked once Jokić makes his moves for and -ones, layups, etc.

I mean, re-read what I wrote. There is no “Chet slander”. None at all. I said he’s skinny (he is), injury prone (he is), and prone to getting beat on by heavy players (he is). I also complimented him, he’s a great young player.

The post I replied to was about his weight. It can’t be fixed. It’s a body type.

I mean, there is cure for that, not legal one but i assume at least portion ( half , if not more lol) players use it

Spoiler:

Yeah, I guess. But an ectomorph is an ectomorph, and he’s a pretty extreme ectomorph. Tayshaun, Poku, those kind of guys. I’m sure some juice could help a little, but he’s not gonna have Giannis shoulders under any circumstances.