2025 WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #6 Minnesota Timberwolves (OKC leads 1-0)

[PushDaRock]

Most GMs suck. Hartenstein should have been coveted more last summer too.

The most impressive thing Presti has done has been his cap management. You guys have most of your role players locked into reasonable deals and SGA is criminally underpaid compared to other all-nba'ers. It will make JDub's and Chet's max contracts easier to deal with for a few years.

well I think we still paid A LOT of money to Hartenstein...not a single contender could financially afford giving that much money to him. The Caruso situation was different.

If I was running the Magic, I would have overpaid Hartenstein. He was who I wanted the magic to target (and they had the money) but if I'm being honest, Orlando probably had little shot at landing him since OKC was an actual contender even without Hartenstein.

I mean yeah, OKC gave him the most money and offered him the best situation. Not sure what any other team could have done.

Realistically he put up 8 and 8 last year, was some team supposed to give him a max contract to block him from going to OKC?

[stuporman]

Thanks for proving my point that it's fans of teams who couldn't beat him would hate him, now when will you prove your point?

I don't know where you grew up.. but you can go anywhere in America and half of the people loved Kobe and the other half despised him. Non NBA fans even. He transcended the sport and was polarizing in a lot of ways. As time went by and he started to decline and also garnered some more championships along the way (without Shaq), people stopped wasting their energy hating on him and LeBron then took that mantle via going to the Heat (with fans.. Media ride or die for Bron)

So it was only half and half? Doesn't sound like villain of the league to me, only half hated...I appreciate you keep making my point for me.

[XTC]

OKC being gifted Caruso, and signing Hartenstein was criminal. Those two are difference makers.

[ImmortalD24]

Thanks for proving my point that it's fans of teams who couldn't beat him would hate him, now when will you prove your point?

I don't know where you grew up.. but you can go anywhere in America and half of the people loved Kobe and the other half despised him. Non NBA fans even. He transcended the sport and was polarizing in a lot of ways. As time went by and he started to decline and also garnered some more championships along the way (without Shaq), people stopped wasting their energy hating on him and LeBron then took that mantle via going to the Heat (with fans.. Media ride or die for Bron)

So it was only half and half? Doesn't sound like villain of the league to me, only half hated...I appreciate you keep making my point for me.

Yes half.. at extremes.

Remember this was your question:

Has any team been the darling and villain of the league at the same time?

Half and half its the right amount brudda.

[jigga_man]

[Jedi32]

Some rivals should have given more than Giddey for Caruso. I just don't know how we got one of the best defenders in the NBA for such a low price.

I'll never forgive pelinka for shipping out the carushow, he has heart and grit you just can't teach. Hope he gets another ring

[ImmortalD24]

Some rivals should have given more than Giddey for Caruso. I just don't know how we got one of the best defenders in the NBA for such a low price.

I'll never forgive pelinka for shipping out the carushow, he has heart and grit you just can't teach. Hope he gets another ring

The Lakers let him (and Dwight) go and didn't even offer him anything despite winning a championship. LOL at Lakers FO.

[CIN-C-STAR]

Thoughts?
https://youtube.com/shorts/eulB5MtYTXI?si=PHD5aYTHTOgb7RVR

My thoughts would be that competitors complaining about the calls their opponent are getting are as old as the sport itself, but proof of nothing.
I just watched a game with my own two eyes with multiple instances of foul baiting from FTA. We all saw it.
Show me some video of MJ doing the same and I’ll watch it, not video of the guy he beat in the Finals complaining
And Magic isn’t even accusing him of flopping. Just saying he gets soft calls. It’s not even the same thing, which was your initial implication.

So your defense is that MJ didn’t need to flop to get soft/phantom calls? And that’s somehow better?

I'm not defending anything, certainly not MJ.
YOU are the one that brought him up to deflect the criticism of Shai's flopping and foul baiting, remember?
All I said is that your unrelated comment is unrelated

[Infinite Llamas]

It just makes Jokic’s showing in that OKC series even crazier when you think about how stacked that team was.

I hope OKC sweeps them and then maybe people will finally put a little respect on Denver’s name.

[ForeverTFC]

My thoughts would be that competitors complaining about the calls their opponent are getting are as old as the sport itself, but proof of nothing.
I just watched a game with my own two eyes with multiple instances of foul baiting from FTA. We all saw it.
Show me some video of MJ doing the same and I’ll watch it, not video of the guy he beat in the Finals complaining
And Magic isn’t even accusing him of flopping. Just saying he gets soft calls. It’s not even the same thing, which was your initial implication.

So your defense is that MJ didn’t need to flop to get soft/phantom calls? And that’s somehow better?

I'm not defending anything, certainly not MJ.
YOU are the one that brought him up to deflect the criticism of Shai's flopping and foul baiting, remember?
All I said is that your unrelated comment is unrelated

I said MJ attempted 10 FTs a game in the playoffs. You replied to me.

[CIN-C-STAR]

So your defense is that MJ didn’t need to flop to get soft/phantom calls? And that’s somehow better?

I'm not defending anything, certainly not MJ.
YOU are the one that brought him up to deflect the criticism of Shai's flopping and foul baiting, remember?
All I said is that your unrelated comment is unrelated

I said MJ attempted 10 Days a game in the playoffs. You replied to me.

Yes, I replied to you to say that MJ's FTs don't seem comparable at all to the type of free throws that Shai sometimes get, where his intent seems to be to initiate contact just for the sake of getting FTs, as opposed to trying to create space to make a shot.
So your comment seemed to be an attempt at a false equivalence, given that Shai's FT merchanting was the entire topic of conversation, and not a comparison of his FT attempts against other historical players.
Hope that catches you up.

[ShootersShoot]

I know mvp is a regular season award but shai has shown that he deserves it with his play in the playoffs.

I think Randle has been the best in playoffs after Giannis 1st - jokic second - Randle 3rd sga 4

I guess I was talking more about his performance against the nuggets. Shai averaged more points, higher TS%, and more apg than jokic. His performance was certainly at least on par with the reigning mvp. That shows to me he is deserving of the award.

[KP Duty]

People over 23 do not like this team

Hated like one of those overpaid superteams. Jelly...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

OKC won the second half, 70-40.

Minnesota doesn't have an answer for the tandem of Holmgren and Hartenstein. Anthony Edwards has Caruso and others defending him. SGA and Williams weren't even efficient, but the Thunder still blew the game open.

I'll be shocked if this series goes past 6 games.

[syrus3]

FTA scoring points when his team was up 20 certainly does not make him deserving of a thing.

[Wolfgang630]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=XO0PgrZjS-uU8MmGKL8grQ

New face of the league

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Most GMs suck. Hartenstein should have been coveted more last summer too.

The most impressive thing Presti has done has been his cap management. You guys have most of your role players locked into reasonable deals and SGA is criminally underpaid compared to other all-nba'ers. It will make JDub's and Chet's max contracts easier to deal with for a few years.

well I think we still paid A LOT of money to Hartenstein...not a single contender could financially afford giving that much money to him. The Caruso situation was different.

The Knicks were going to be pay him 4 years/72. If the Thunder didn't pony up, he'd still be in NYC.

I'm hoping to see OKC vs. NYK in the Finals.

[Sedale Threatt]

Heavy, heavy favorites at this point. People seem to forget just how dominant they were this season after going seven with Denver. Reminds me a little bit of the Spurs back in 2014; their toughest series came in the first round and then they pretty much trucked everybody. I will be stunned if anybody takes more than two games off them from here on out.

Nuggets were playing really well until Gordon got hurt. Great test for OKC.

They literally just came off a 7 game series...yea, what the truck is that guy talking about.

Reminds me a little bit of the Spurs back in 2014; their toughest series came in the first round and then they pretty much trucked everybody.

[Wolfgang630]

well I think we still paid A LOT of money to Hartenstein...not a single contender could financially afford giving that much money to him. The Caruso situation was different.

The Knicks were going to be pay him 4 years/72. If the Thunder didn't pony up, he'd still be in NYC.

I'm hoping to see OKC vs. NYK in the Finals.

Please no OKC vs Pacers at least. It’ll be one of the least watched nba finals in a veryyyyy long time.

[DonaldSanders]

Are we really crying about fouls after a 26pt win? C'mon.

We all knew MIN had the easy bracket with that trash Laker team and the Curry-less Warrior team, this result is expected. OKC is the best team in the league, Denver's heroic effort will probably be the toughest series this year for them before winning the chip.