Describing SGA as a foul merchant seems extremely disingenuous.

[walk with me]

I’m not liking how they try to paint SGA to be like harden (shooting layups under his opponents arms).

SGA is extremely slippery, has insanely good footwork, and has really good ball handling. The way nba rules are designed benefits the offense since the defense can’t really be physical with the offense. SGA is super crafty and his skill makes it next to impossible to stay in front of him. If you decide to continue to pursue him while out of position, you deserve the foul call.

I can’t speak on the reg season cause I didn’t watch okc much but SGA is a BEAST on offense.

[HotRocks34]

5th time of this postseason he's shot under 40% in a game tonight in G1 vs MIN.

OKC is 4-1 in those games and the only loss was in OT.

Lot of cushion there.

[Jeremy Lin 7]

11/14 Free throws game 1

If that's not a free-throw merchant I don't know what is. There's no way you can't watch this man and call it real basketball. Falls to the ground every time you touch him

[GeorgeMarcus]

5th time of this postseason he's shot under 40% in a game tonight in G1 vs MIN.

OKC is 4-1 in those games and the only loss was in OT.

Lot of cushion there.

Kinda reminds me of Iverson on the 01 Sixers though as far as offensive game plan. The lion's share of scoring/ball-handling falls on SGA and defenses respond accordingly. Mix that with playoff intensity and some of the league's best defensive teams and efficiency won't look as pretty.

Regarding the fouls, drawing them is a skill. Refs/rulebook are the problem if people don't like what they see.

[walk with me]

5th time of this postseason he's shot under 40% in a game tonight in G1 vs MIN.

OKC is 4-1 in those games and the only loss was in OT.

Lot of cushion there.

You have to give credit to presti for building a perfect
machine around him. Their defense makes it possible for him to shoot a poor % and still win.

% good or bad he’s really damn good and doesn’t intentionally look to create fouls without looking to score. He gets fouled while looking for legit scoring opportunities which is good in my book. Tatum, Embiid and harden are guys who I find looking for contact to draw fouls regardless of shot quality.

[walk with me]

11/14 Free throws game 1

If that's not a free-throw merchant I don't know what is. There's no way you can't watch this man and call it real basketball. Falls to the ground every time you touch him

You can’t make a judgment like this by looking at a box score. Watch the game. When he’s being put on the line he’s trying to create GREAT LOOKS. If he’s getting fouled in the process than it’s bad defense.

Big diff between getting fouled while looking for good shots and doing what harden and Tatum do by lifting their arms into their defenders arms while driving recklessly to the basket

[HotRocks34]

5th time of this postseason he's shot under 40% in a game tonight in G1 vs MIN.

OKC is 4-1 in those games and the only loss was in OT.

Lot of cushion there.

Kinda reminds me of Iverson on the 01 Sixers though as far as offensive game plan. The lion's share of scoring/ball-handling falls on SGA and defenses respond accordingly. Mix that with playoff intensity and some of the league's best defensive teams and efficiency won't look as pretty.

Regarding the fouls, drawing them is a skill. Refs/rulebook are the problem if people don't like what they see.

Yeah I can see the Iverson thing but AI always seemed to be in attack mode. SGA sometimes seems to wait until late in the game.

[TheProdigy]

You touch him and he falls or flails. Ugly basketball.

[Capn'O]

I'm a huge SGA fan but... watch him. He's a foul merchant.

[Capn'O]

5th time of this postseason he's shot under 40% in a game tonight in G1 vs MIN.

OKC is 4-1 in those games and the only loss was in OT.

Lot of cushion there.

Nah, he balled out in the 2nd half.

[Jeremy Lin 7]

11/14 Free throws game 1

If that's not a free-throw merchant I don't know what is. There's no way you can't watch this man and call it real basketball. Falls to the ground every time you touch him

You can’t make a judgment like this by looking at a box score. Watch the game. When he’s being put on the line he’s trying to create GREAT LOOKS. If he’s getting fouled in the process than it’s bad defense.

Big diff between getting fouled while looking for good shots and doing what harden and Tatum do by lifting their arms into their defenders arms while driving recklessly to the basket

I did watch the game and half of those calls aren't fouls let's be real. Shai initiates the contact, flops with his arm and proceeds to fall to the ground.

That's not basketball

[Wolfgang630]

FTA is a foul merchant…nobody is changing that narrative when he created it and people won’t root for someone like him to win

[HotRocks34]

5th time of this postseason he's shot under 40% in a game tonight in G1 vs MIN.

OKC is 4-1 in those games and the only loss was in OT.

Lot of cushion there.

Nah, he balled out in the 2nd half.

Nah. He has a lot of cushion, ball out of not. More than other stars.

That's ok, but I have to call it as I see it.

Like I called out him resting before the back to back against Denver and for scoring 12 points in the fourth of G7 against Denver when OKC was already up 25.

Spinning things does no one any favors.

[Capn'O]

5th time of this postseason he's shot under 40% in a game tonight in G1 vs MIN.

OKC is 4-1 in those games and the only loss was in OT.

Lot of cushion there.

Nah, he balled out in the 2nd half.

Nah. He has a lot of cushion, ball out of not. More than other stars.

That's ok, but I have to call it as I see it.

Like I called out him resting before the back to back against Denver and for scoring 12 points in the fourth of G7 against Denver when OKC was already up 25.

Spinning things does no one any favors.

Did you see the Thunder go up huge in the 3rd when he started making everything?

[Raps in 4]

11/14 Free throws game 1

If that's not a free-throw merchant I don't know what is. There's no way you can't watch this man and call it real basketball. Falls to the ground every time you touch him

LeBron and Jordan have both had playoff runs where they AVERAGED over 14 FTAs per game. SGA is at 8.7 in these playoffs.

He does get a lot of calls, but he's not the first or last player to benefit from a generous whistle.

[walk with me]

11/14 Free throws game 1

If that's not a free-throw merchant I don't know what is. There's no way you can't watch this man and call it real basketball. Falls to the ground every time you touch him

You can’t make a judgment like this by looking at a box score. Watch the game. When he’s being put on the line he’s trying to create GREAT LOOKS. If he’s getting fouled in the process than it’s bad defense.

Big diff between getting fouled while looking for good shots and doing what harden and Tatum do by lifting their arms into their defenders arms while driving recklessly to the basket

I did watch the game and half of those calls aren't fouls let's be real. Shai initiates the contact, flops with his arm and proceeds to fall to the ground.

That's not basketball

It is basketball. Nba rules are designed to protect and benefit the offense. Once the defender is shifted out of position and to the side of the offense. The defense can’t continue to try and impede the offenders profess.

SGAs ability creates the space and it’s up to the defense to play honestly or foul. They choose to foul. Harden, Embiid and Tatum are more FT merchants than SGA is. SGA to me is extremely crafty. I don’t think people understand how good SGA is because of how his box score FTs look at the end of a game.

[HotRocks34]

Nah, he balled out in the 2nd half.

Nah. He has a lot of cushion, ball out of not. More than other stars.

That's ok, but I have to call it as I see it.

Like I called out him resting before the back to back against Denver and for scoring 12 points in the fourth of G7 against Denver when OKC was already up 25.

Spinning things does no one any favors.

Did you see the Thunder go up huge in the 3rd when he started making everything?

I did and the point still stands.

SGA can shoot under 40% and OKC can still thrive. Why? Because the team can hang in the game when he's shooting 2/13 or whatever it is in the first half.

Not everyone is in that situation.

You can feel however you want. I'm going to think and write how I feel.

[og15]

5th time of this postseason he's shot under 40% in a game tonight in G1 vs MIN.

OKC is 4-1 in those games and the only loss was in OT.

Lot of cushion there.

Isn't this simply because he shot poorly while they swept a weak Memphis team?

Three of those wins were vs Memphis.

They were 0-1 when he shot under 40% vs Denver, and of course today you also have 11/14 FT with 9 assists and 2 turnovers, so I mean I'm not sure focusing on FG% is telling us much in this one.

[walk with me]

FTA is a foul merchant…nobody is changing that narrative when he created it and people won’t root for someone like him to win

Nobody needs to root for him. He’s literally unguardable without the fouls. The fouls just make it even easier for him cause defenses guard him poorly. He’s too shifty, has too good footwork/ball handling and his midrange is too effective to ever really exploit any weakness in his game.

I’ve missed this all season cause I rarely watched okc. Hes a really nasty scorer WITHOUT the FTs.

[Lo Wang]

Calling the opposing player a FT merchant is the same thing as blaming the refs: nothing more than excuse for how badly their team plays.

As a Thunder fan, this is a good thing. If they think they lost because of SGAs FTs, this is going to be a cakewalk.