Official NBA General Discussion 2025-26 V1.0

[GoRapstheoriginal]

Love these stats HumbleRen! May the best team win! (I am rooting for both teams!!)

[WuTang_CMB]

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[NinjaBro]

LFG!!!!!

[WuTang_CMB]

ESPN should be embarrased with this garbage panel for nba finals.

[mdenny]

OKC was a 68 win team. If they can't win without SGA playing at his regular season level, why wouldn't that be a systemic team failure as well? Just not sure why SGA would be getting more blame than Jokic in this scenario.

Because OKC isn't struggling in the same manner as Indiana. It's certainly not as broad an issue on their roster as it was for Denver.

To be clear, I think it's a bit ridiculous to blame either of them. It's also not realistic to expect regular season efficiency to carry over into the NBA finals. Regular season includes beating up a bunch of bad teams to inflate numbers vs playing against an elite team in a best of 7 series that's playing hard every possession and scouted everything you're doing offensively.

Also, I do not generally expect RS efficiency, especially if it was in the mid-60s, in the playoffs.

You asked about who I thought was more of an issue than Chet. And to me, Shai's play is more problematic than an efficient 15 ppg player scoring an inefficient 11 ppg. I don't consider Chet to be tanking their offense. I don't think Shai is playing poorly, Game 6 notwithstanding, but because he commands such a large proportion of the offense and has been a major source of turnovers, it's a heavier impact on the O than Chet's scoring, that's all.

Chet has had three games of single-digit scoring and it's not like he has been lighting it up in the other games. Whichever way you slice it, he is averaging 25% less PPG in the Finals than he did during the season – and ~33% less than he did in the first three rounds of the playoffs – while sporting the worst TS% among rotation players by far as well as a 0.4 AST/TO ratio. He has been practically unplayable and invisible on the offensive end for the majority of the series.

When it comes to SGA, he is still producing at a very high level (31/5/5 on 59 TS%) and he has really only had one bad night in G6. While he is averaging 3.8 TOV, he was averaging 3.0 TOV (which is pretty close to being in line with his regular season average when accounting for the extra 5 MPG) prior to G6 when he coughed the ball up 8 times.

It's pretty wild to think SGA is damaging OKC more than Chet lol. One is still more than likely to win the FMVP while the other has arguably been the 2nd least effective starter on either team (Turner has been bad as well).

This is a prime example of how efficiency stats are so misleading. The players who are responsible for winning are punished and the players who make barely any impact are rewarded.

Chet has had a pretty bad finals. Shai has been more problematic than Chet?!? Not a single basketball person would say this. Only someone overly obsessed with efficiency stats.

[tsherkin]

Because OKC isn't struggling in the same manner as Indiana. It's certainly not as broad an issue on their roster as it was for Denver.



Also, I do not generally expect RS efficiency, especially if it was in the mid-60s, in the playoffs.

You asked about who I thought was more of an issue than Chet. And to me, Shai's play is more problematic than an efficient 15 ppg player scoring an inefficient 11 ppg. I don't consider Chet to be tanking their offense. I don't think Shai is playing poorly, Game 6 notwithstanding, but because he commands such a large proportion of the offense and has been a major source of turnovers, it's a heavier impact on the O than Chet's scoring, that's all.

Chet has had three games of single-digit scoring and it's not like he has been lighting it up in the other games. Whichever way you slice it, he is averaging 25% less PPG in the Finals than he did during the season – and ~33% less than he did in the first three rounds of the playoffs – while sporting the worst TS% among rotation players by far as well as a 0.4 AST/TO ratio. He has been practically unplayable and invisible on the offensive end for the majority of the series.

When it comes to SGA, he is still producing at a very high level (31/5/5 on 59 TS%) and he has really only had one bad night in G6. While he is averaging 3.8 TOV, he was averaging 3.0 TOV (which is pretty close to being in line with his regular season average when accounting for the extra 5 MPG) prior to G6 when he coughed the ball up 8 times.

It's pretty wild to think SGA is damaging OKC more than Chet lol. One is still more than likely to win the FMVP while the other has arguably been the 2nd least effective starter on either team (Turner has been bad as well).

This is a prime example of how efficiency stats are so misleading. The players who are responsible for winning are punished and the players who make barely any impact are rewarded.

Chet has had a pretty bad finals. Shai has been more problematic than Chet?!? Not a single basketball person would say this. Only someone overly obsessed with efficiency stats.

That is certainly one perspective.

[NinjaBro]

What are you guys eating for game 7? I just bought some chicken thighs marinated in Mumbai marinade from Safeway. Popped it in the air fryer on a bed of rice. It's so good I'm crying.

[Brinbe]

game time, let's get it

[Brinbe]

ESPN should be embarrased with this garbage panel for nba finals.

they're paying billions for the rights to these games and this is the presentation they put out

[Zeno]

That national anthem was like OKC game 1. Very good performance until a hinged crescendo.

[NinjaBro]

Siakam!!!

[NinjaBro]

Pacers are locked in

[Brinbe]

game over, obviously.

[djsunyc]

if indy doesnt turn it over, they will win

[tms]

So pumped for this game. Got SGA one side, who talks like us, acts like us, and plays like us (I wish lol). And Pascal on the other, who'll always be one of us/one of ours. Love these Game 7's in late June too. Bron/GSW was historic. Kobe/Boston too. Ready for another classic

[NinjaBro]

Oh baby!!

[Tripod]

Indy getting so much better looks than OKC

[NinjaBro]

Hali on fire!!

[ItsDanger]

Mathurin with a man's rebound.

[Boogie!]

Pacersssss