2024-2025 OKC Thunder Games Thread

[cjmcallist]

I think we've seen enough to conclude that Chet/JDub/Mark are not ready to win at the highest level.

I'd still guess that they get there - but it definitely brings up the question of timing, again. I'd hoped we had passed that.

Also, there was some horrific refereeing yesterday. That jump ball after the Jokic lane violation was ghastly.

[bbms]

call me crazy but I would still start Dort next game. Cason and Wiggins finally playing with confidence. I didn't like how he played when he started when we benched Giddey. I love Caruso coming of the bench and closing the game. Just need to cut Dort's minutes by half.

i agree with you. dort should have an opportunity to bounce back w his shooting but on a reduced role.

if we pass, ant's matchup is a lot more favorable to dort than murray

[bbms]

I think we've seen enough to conclude that Chet/JDub/Mark are not ready to win at the highest level.

I'd still guess that they get there - but it definitely brings up the question of timing, again. I'd hoped we had passed that. at this level, championship level competition, these two should be put on the point of attack of their best skills, not being all around offensive focal points at all.

Also, there was some horrific refereeing yesterday. That jump ball after the Jokic lane violation was ghastly.

it's hard for me to pass judgement since those three have put together some phenomenal defense. we've been as good as advertised specially on non dort minutes.

what happens is a lack of a secondary shot creator/maker that put these two guys on a bigger offensive role than they've been able to handle so far in their careers.

i share some of kizz criticism of the lack of a move attacking this issue and i also share his expectations on nikola topic. that boy is a smooth operator in the pocket.

[Mr Thunder Nick]

call me crazy but I would still start Dort next game. Cason and Wiggins finally playing with confidence. I didn't like how he played when he started when we benched Giddey. I love Caruso coming of the bench and closing the game. Just need to cut Dort's minutes by half.

i agree with you. dort should have an opportunity to bounce back w his shooting but on a reduced role.

if we pass, ant's matchup is a lot more favorable to dort than murray

100% agree

[Mr Thunder Nick]

They won their first must win game of this year's playoffs. They have another coming up Tuesday. As for Mark making adjustments I recall game 4 in the Dallas series being when he tried to start making adjustments last year. He seems to pretty much keep too much to his regular season plan when the playoffs come around not wanting to acknowledge that they are different. I recall Scott Brooks not making adjustments until 4-5 games into a series as well. I wonder if this isn't more of an organization thing with Presti telling his coaches how to run rotations and who to play more than the coaches. I only suspect that because all three of the coaches OKC has had under Presti didn't adjust well in the playoffs and stuck with struggling players or bad matchups despite the obvious issues early in the series or even some of them being foreseeable and playing out as expected.

I think it was a good idea to bench SHAI in a different way as he did before. In the middle of the first and second quarter.

[Dadouv47]

I think we've seen enough to conclude that Chet/JDub/Mark are not ready to win at the highest level.

I'd still guess that they get there - but it definitely brings up the question of timing, again. I'd hoped we had passed that. at this level, championship level competition, these two should be put on the point of attack of their best skills, not being all around offensive focal points at all.

Also, there was some horrific refereeing yesterday. That jump ball after the Jokic lane violation was ghastly.

it's hard for me to pass judgement since those three have put together some phenomenal defense. we've been as good as advertised specially on non dort minutes.

what happens is a lack of a secondary shot creator/maker that put these two guys on a bigger offensive role than they've been able to handle so far in their careers.

i share some of kizz criticism of the lack of a move attacking this issue and i also share his expectations on nikola topic. that boy is a smooth operator in the pocket.

that's the problem you can't bench them because they are too good on defense. If you trade Chet tomorrow you can't replace what he brings on defense because of his unique skillset.

[cjmcallist]

I think we've seen enough to conclude that Chet/JDub/Mark are not ready to win at the highest level.

I'd still guess that they get there - but it definitely brings up the question of timing, again. I'd hoped we had passed that. at this level, championship level competition, these two should be put on the point of attack of their best skills, not being all around offensive focal points at all.

Also, there was some horrific refereeing yesterday. That jump ball after the Jokic lane violation was ghastly.

it's hard for me to pass judgement since those three have put together some phenomenal defense. we've been as good as advertised specially on non dort minutes.

what happens is a lack of a secondary shot creator/maker that put these two guys on a bigger offensive role than they've been able to handle so far in their careers.

i share some of kizz criticism of the lack of a move attacking this issue and i also share his expectations on nikola topic. that boy is a smooth operator in the pocket.

that's the problem you can't bench them because they are too good on defense. If you trade Chet tomorrow you can't replace what he brings on defense because of his unique skillset.

Unless you're trading him for Giannis.

To be clear, I still think they'll both be great. I just wonder if it will take longer than I thought.

[Dadouv47]

I want the Philly pick and win the Championship. Is it asking too much? If yes just give me the larry o'brien trophy

[Dadouv47]

I was certain they would tell us that Shai would get his MVP trophy tomorrow but no info about it yet

[Big nick]

Sure glad the mvp is based on the regular season because shai would not even be in consideration for his play in the playoffs. He just doesn’t look right. If we didn’t have Caruso we would be in real trouble. And talk about Dort wow wishing to not see him again this series for sure, why when your three shot is so bad do you keep jacking that crap up. Why do we struggle so much with the zone we have all year we should work on breaking the zone every practice that’s our weak spot.

[Dadouv47]

two times "unlucky" already with that stupid lottery

[bbms]

lmaoooooooooo

[Dadouv47]

and our 2028 mavs swap just got a lot worse

[bbms]

lmao

i won't defend this

[Dadouv47]

I didn't think the lottery was rigged but Dallas, Philly and Spurs with the top 3 picks is wild.

help embiid, PG13 and Maxey

help a big franchise like the Mavs franchise in huge trouble

help Wemby to build a contender

[Dadouv47]

I don't think this lottery could have been any worse for OKC: we don't get the Philly pick and they are going to draft a very talented prospect (or trade the pick); Dallas get a stud; San Antonio gonna surround Wemby with a great young player and Utah might not improve enough for our pick to convey next season.

[bbms]

i gotta give the conspiracy theorists a pass here. in a matter of months lebron **** james tells us it's rigged

and of course one of the worst result possible for the thunder

this seriously damages the jazz pick too

[Dadouv47]

i gotta give the conspiracy theorists a pass here. in a matter of months lebron **** james tells us it's rigged

and of course one of the worst result possible for the thunder

this seriously damages the jazz pick too

Lebron knows something we don't.

I hate those conspiracies for real but can't exclude how much money is at stake.

[bbms]

my goodness the fans begged the nba to nerf the thunder all season

now sas has the best bid for giannis

lmao that **** is so ass.

get durant's ass over to okc once again

[Dadouv47]

conspiracy or not, never tell me that a team should win a playoff spot because of the play in tournament (rare exception about great teams that are in a tough spot because of injuries earlier in the season)