All of SGA game 1 drawn fouls

[Senchu]

Problem is that other players dont get the same whistle.
Look at Steph.

[og15]

Problem is that other players dont get the same whistle.
Look at Steph.

Steph and SGA do not even play anything close to a similar game. Off ball fouls are not giving out as frequently as on ball fouls.

People still keep wanting to think this is about liking one guy vs not liking another, as opposed to playstyles that are more likely to get FT's and ones which are less likely. Steph's teammate Butler IS given the same whistle, but he's playing a totally different game from Steph.

Now you can argue that off ball should be reffed tighter, that's fine, but that has nothing to do with them not getting the same whistle as you're comparing different plays. If Steph played like SGA, and I simply mean style, , he would get more calls and if SGA's game was a lot of off ball action like Steph and shooting a lot from outside like him, he would not be at the line anywhere as frequently as he is.

[Senchu]

Offball my ass.
When one player is getting “incidental contact” fouls and other one is not.

[NoBias]

They also tend to be fans of clean, honest and fair basketball who dislike underhanded tactics, but what would I know.

Then there’s a list of NBA players who’d be ahead of Shai in that category.

You're telling me that dirty defenders like Dray or merchants like Harden get off free and no one complains about them?

We must've been attending different NBA forums then.

Or players like Luka, Brunson, Jimmy and Jokic who foul bait consistently and flail their arms, who don’t catch any flack.

It’s what the NBA is at this point. Why is SGA the only one being called out on it?

[AbeVigodaLive]

Then there’s a list of NBA players who’d be ahead of Shai in that category.

You're telling me that dirty defenders like Dray or merchants like Harden get off free and no one complains about them?

We must've been attending different NBA forums then.

Or players like Luka, Brunson, Jimmy and Jokic who foul bait consistently and flail their arms, who don’t catch any flack.

It’s what the NBA is at this point. Why is SGA the only one being called out on it?

Jimmy, Jokic, and Luka aren't playing.

And SGA's flopping was egregious in the first game at a time when only one NBA game was on...

If the Knicks make it to the Finals to meet the Thunder, and SGA (or Brunson) perform like SGA in Game 1... the talk will be amplified A LOT more than what happened in the WCF.

[wco81]

Offball my ass.
When one player is getting “incidental contact” fouls and other one is not.

Not only that, the OKC role players are getting away with a lot more contact -- aggressively handsy -- than other teams.

That is what is creating this "elite" defense with turnovers.

They reach all the time and never get called on it while other teams don't get that benefit of the doubt.

[madmaxmedia]

People see what they want to see. And believe what they want to believe.

...including the OP.

Look hard enough, and you can find a foul on EVERY NBA possession, nearly every drive, nearly every rebound, nearly every screen. And that's what gets people, including players and coaches, frustrated about the SGA whistle.

It's not a consistent whistle. It's inconsistent from player to player. Game to game. Play to play. And there are a few NBA players who know the grift better than others. Embiid knew it. Harden knew it. And SGA knows it.

I think it's also easy to find a couple of obvious bad calls and then suggest a player gets those all the time.

I don't think most players are falling over on purpose when they know there has been essentially no contact. Like in that clip of Shai falling to the ground in Game 1, I don't think Shai decided in the moment "Hey I'm just going to randomly dive to the ground right now to try to get a call."

In one of the early Denver-LAC games there was a couple of examples of Jokic, I really didn't like the plays at all but they are not indicative of Jokic as a player. And yeah of course James Harden baits a lot of foul calls, any time he senses contact is coming he throws up a shot to draw the contact.

I think sometimes you recognize you are in an advantageous situation where the defender is out of position, so you try to take advantage anticipating contact. Sometimes you guess wrong, and yeah you look bad on the play. But it's to the refs to call those correctly, sometimes they get it wrong if they don't have the right angle to see the play.

[NoBias]

You're telling me that dirty defenders like Dray or merchants like Harden get off free and no one complains about them?

We must've been attending different NBA forums then.

Or players like Luka, Brunson, Jimmy and Jokic who foul bait consistently and flail their arms, who don’t catch any flack.

It’s what the NBA is at this point. Why is SGA the only one being called out on it?

Jimmy, Jokic, and Luka aren't playing.

And SGA's flopping was egregious in the first game at a time when only one NBA game was on...

If the Knicks make it to the Finals to meet the Thunder, and SGA (or Brunson) perform like SGA in Game 1... the talk will be amplified A LOT more than what happened in the WCF.

Did you not see all the bitching people were doing the whole regular season when SGA was being mentioned as the frontrunner for MVP? Doris burke even mentioned him being a free throw merchant during a broadcast.

Those players not playing right now has nothing to do with the narratives SGA has been facing all year. Beating Jokic in the playoffs, and for MVP really made people salty. SGA is as pure as a basketball there is when it comes to his ball handling, splitting through traffic and midrange jumpers. We're really discrediting this man because he averages 9 free throws a game.

[TheAlchemist]

Drawing a foul is part of the game. Flopping to get borderline calls isn't.

SGA has such a herky jerky style it leaves guys guessing. A lot of fans are envious because they don't have a player like that on their team. If they did, they'd be defending this too.

[wco81]

Actually most NBA players try the same tactics, like drive into the defender and grab one of his arms, lock it up with the off arm so that there's always contact.

But most players don't get calls for that kind of contact created by the offensive players. Only a few do and most of them don't get those foul-baiting moves rewarded in the playoffs. Ask James Harden.