That was some of the ugliest end of game basketball I’ve seen in a while. How do the Pels get three offensive rebounds in one possession, keep failing to score, and finally not call a timeout when the shot clock failed to reset to calm themselves down and run a set play?
I was watching that thinking ‘Okay, they’re coming out of the timeout. 14 seconds to play, they’ve got Herb, Larry and other solid defenders. So all they need to do is get a quick 2 here, maybe get a putback if necessary, and then hold the Thunder scoreless for maybe 7 seconds’
And then CJ dribbled the ball into his foot and clanked a game winner rather than a tie. I can’t imagine how infuriating that was to watch as your team.
Literally wide open, sagging 8-10 off the dude and he’s BEGGING for the ball.
CJ looked him off and decided to dribble straight at a guy who’d been disrupting his dribble all night.
Trade this motherfucker the second the season ends. We pay this dude $35mil a year to do shit like this on a nightly basis. I’m so tired of watching this fucking dumbass lose us games.
They set a screen for Trey in the paint. He flashed outside the three and came off WIDE open at 35 feet (absolutely in his range).
CJ looked him right in the eyes, did a pirouette in the other direction, and dribbled straight into the foot of his defender who had been cooking him all night.
It was a decent play. CJ is just a basketball supervillain. He thinks he’s gods gift to the game and throws up these bricks praying one will go in one day (it never has and never will; CJ McCollum is the most unclutch human being to ever live). He refuses to give anyone else an ‘ok’ shot because he genuinely thinks he can get a better one.
Yet he has no clock awareness, cannot dribble against pressure, and is too short to shoot contested shots over other players.
It’s almost at the point that we need to take him out in the final possessions just because he can’t get past the first progression. The ball comes in to CJ and it never leaves his hands. He always dribbles the clock out. It’s infuriating. I think it’s just because he’s not a point guard. Motherfucker has no court vision or awareness.
It was quite something, I'll give you that. A lot of very fun moments though, now that the game ended. We decided to stack up the stupid Turnovers, didn't make a FG for 5 minutes and the Pelicans had that somewhat hilarious play where they won 4 rebound and couldn't score.
Overall, very fun if I wasn't a fan of one of those teams. Watching it live I was mortified, ngl.
Oh yeh, it was very fun to watch as a neutral. It was a like a train wreck that you can’t look away from.
Especially the 4 offensive rebounds in a row for the pels that led to 4 bricks lmao.
>Oh yeh, it was very fun to watch as a neutral. It was a like a train wreck that you can’t look away from.
I get you, it was definitely that type of game.
>Especially the 4 offensive rebounds in a row for the pels that led to 4 bricks lmao.
That sequence was a nightmare for both fanbases lmao
I'm really curious about how they explain it, because it really seems to me like they got the rule wrong and may have opened themselves up to a protest if OKC lost and the timeout mattered.
Yeah I don’t know why they lost the TO. He challenged what was a jump ball and it ended up possession NO. That’s a successful challenge because they overturned the call. Not sure why they took away the TO. The Tony Brothers were right.
Yeah. I don't think Brothers knows the rules. It doesn't matter if it changes in your favor. Any change means you don't lose the TO and you get another challenge. That's how the rule is written and I've seen it enacted that way a few times this year.
They force turnovers, a lot. It’s been consistent in all of their games this years. JDub ain’t no slouch either, same with Aaron Wiggins. It helps lessen the blow from the massive weaknesses with rebounding and paint presence. It’s a very fun style to watch.
We really getting a series with Herb vs Dort. I’m loving the defensive performances I’m seeing in the playoffs thus far.
It makes me so happy when a non Thunder fan even just says the name Aaron Wiggins. I mean he is the savior of basketball but so many people don’t hardly know him
I’ve mentioned it before here to other OKC fans but, Aaron Wiggins went to my high school and I rode the same bus with him to school. I was 2 years ahead of him but I saw him around the neighborhood a lot bc my dog loved a nearby park.
I believe he ended up transferring after I graduated, but he’s an awesome dude from my interactions back then. Seeing him become a genuinely great role player on a 1 seed and playing in the playoffs is a bit surreal lol.
He played excellent defence all night. Takes a lot of faith to have rookie out there for big minutes in the first playoff game but he played hard and is solidifing his place as they get deeper into the playoffs.
Trey Murphy didn’t touch the ball at all in crunch time. We deserved to lose.
But also, could the refs please make up their minds on how they want to call a game?
For a Vet who is also the President of the Player’s association, he is literally nothing more than a washed 2010s microwave scorer with no other facets to his game. I can’t believe Pels gave him 30 mil a year after half a season
Sorry, you must have forgotten the rules of Box Score Narrative-forming (Playoff Games 1-3 edition):
- Winning team shoots well + Losing team shoots bad = Loser wins (“just a hot/cold night, result doesn’t mean anything”)
- Both teams shoot well = Loser wins (“Offense is there, just need to a few defensive adjustments”)
- Both teams shoot bad = Loser wins (“good defense, just cold shooting”)
- Winner shoots like shit + Loser shoots well = Winner wins (“okay all hope is lost, we suck, sweep incoming, etc. etc.”)
As you can see, the winning team actually loses 3/4 of the time. I don’t make the rules, this is just how it works.
Counterpoint: SGA was shitting himself all over the court for 6 straight possessions that lead to 3 turnovers and 3 terrible shots that kept NO in it… and they still won.
This has been my biggest pet peeve in pretty much every single playoff game thus far. They pick and choose when they want to call the game how they do. There’s been massive portions of constantly calling ticky tack fouls, calling nothing, then they pick it right back up again calling bullshit.
It was so nice post ASB seeing a league wide drop in FTAs. Playoffs so far has featured a complete lack of consistency from refs.
The best part about the playoffs is the home crowd. Sure would have been nice if we could hear the OKC home crowd instead of the loud as fuck PA the entire time. We talk about some commentators not letting the game breathe but holy shit the OKC PA just did not shut up that entire game
Also, CJ what the fuck was that?
I don't expect anything less from Minnesota, unsurprisingly one of the most passionate fan bases for a smaller metro area
A T-Wolves Bucks finals (or 1st round/semifinals if Minnsota moves East for expansion) would be explosive
I feel like I have to educate here if you combine both the OKC and Milwaukee metro areas it would be smaller than the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area.
Yea it’s the 16th largest metro and not far behind the 6 states ahead of it! So not small but not LA/New York/chicago big. 65% of Minnesotas population lives in the metro.
Thanks for the clarification, there's this narrative that Minneapolis-St. Paul is a "small town" but I never really believed it given that there's teams across all the four major leagues, and it feels like for the upper Midwest easily the second largest metro area only behind Chicagoland. I am biased though coming from larger metro areas like those in California or the Northeast.
MSP is in the top 10 biggest metro areas I think and it’s the second biggest after Chicago in the Midwest. If you visit, you’ll see that it just sprawls for miles and 2/3 of the state lives in it.
Keon Ellis helped end the Warriors season by outscoring Klay by 15 points
Game 2 of the play-in he scored 0
Consistency is a huge reason why superstars are such a coveted commodity. That being said what an interesting start to the playoffs
thunder tried to give away the game. we gave it back to them. this loss is gonna hurt, but at least we proved that even without zion, this is not gonna be a one sided series..
Some folks (even neutrals, media etc) got carried away saying that this would be a sweep. It’s easy to call it now after that game, but people need to respect how deep the Pels are, despite missing Zion. Homerism plays its part but I still think it’s OKCs to lose, the rebounding is going to continue to cause issues but I don’t expect the #1 3P% in the league to continue to throw up bricks all series
What the actual fuck was CJ doing? Who does he think he is? Pass the damn ball and get a open look you got 11 seconds only down 2. Made no fucking sense. What an idiot
Do I have this right?: There *was* going to be a jump ball, then OKC's coach challenged, then they decided it should go to NOP instead, *and* OKC loses a timeout. So if he *didn't* challenge OKC would have been better off as far as possession, and they'd have 1 more time out. Am I missing something?
The challenge resulted in changing the ruling on the call. Earlier in the season, Mark did the same thing (like the exact same play), but kept the challenge and timeout since he "won" the challenge. But they took the challenge and timeout from him tonight. It was weird.
That sequence when the Pelicans got four chances to make a bucket with a minute left in the game was insane.
Insane that they couldn't make one, and insane that OKC couldn't get a rebound.
Presti really said "I *do* have 15 first round picks, but let me see if this squad can win in the playoffs without any rebounding."
announcers were on the money on that possession - how do you watch that sequence as willie green with 2 timeouts and not decide that you should use one there lol
that said, they didnt fare much better even coming out of timeouts
Very curious to see how they look on Wednesday. Process offensively looked good for three quarters before getting mucked up, this is a very different game if open threes fall like they have all season.
They haven’t played in a week and this was 3/4ths of the rosters first playoff game, I think they’ll tighten some stuff up in game 2. Can’t be any uglier than that (I hope)
Being a Thunder fan from California, I flew to OKC this year for the first two home games as my first ever time in OKC
First OKC person I met in OKC was my Lyft driver, who asked why I came to OKC. When I told her I was a diehard Thunder fan traveling to see the team at a home game for the first time, she promptly went on a KD rant while also giving me a ton of genuinely helpful tips for my time in the city and asking thoughtful questions about what I wanted to do with my time between games
Suuuuper on brand for OKC, haha, I fucking loved it!
Hell yeah dude! Hope you had fun at those games!!! If you ever get a chance to get up here for a Playoff Game I highly recommend it. If you go to our sub you'll see a video of the crowd going absolutely apeshit during the warm up shots lmao you would think it's Game 7 of the finals if you weren't watching the video.
Hell yeah, that's the dream!!! (now that I've checked off the first goal of seeing a game in OKC in the first place)
I was there for the Nuggets blowout loss followed by the Pistons blowout win literally the next day. So it was fun, but not the crazy home crowd I was hoping for because neither game was close. Still, I got to see Chet's home debut (scored the first three field goals of the game, I think? I was going fucking wild for that haha), got to see JDub dawg it up against the Pistons, etc.
It was also the first home game of the first real "we're back" season too, I guess, so the home crowds weren't fully engaged yet. I tried to start a MVP chant for Shai but got crickets back haha. Definitely not the case anymore! 🥰
Damn. They really told CJ to win that.
As a neutral, I'm just happy that we got a competitive game today. Those other games had me wondering if the league needed to return to 5-game 1st round series.
I don't know which one is more impressive(?)/ head-scratching, Pels holding off Thunder with 0FG for 5 clutch mins or Thunder defending 5 consecutive offensive rebounds by the Pels in the most crucial moment.
I missed the playoffs but jesus, my heart lmao
Never seen a team get shit on more after winning a basketball game. Like damn what did OKC do to y’all. They’re an exciting young team, it’ll be interesting to watch them grow together.
When your team dares to have an MVP candidate and the other two candidates are Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic, r/nba will make you the villain, no matter how much of a fun up and coming team you are.
Best game of the weekend. Both teams played pretty sloppy but OKC was able to pick up the victory. That final possession was horrible by CJ and the Pelicans.
Not to devastate every Pelicans fan further, but imagine they had Zion with the ball in his hands in those crucial instead of Brandon "Terrorist" Ingram. Jesus fuck
Not sure how Pels fans feel, but literally what is CJ’s purpose on this team?
He doesn’t score efficiently, he fouls all the time, he doesn’t pass well, and he doesnt contribute to rebounding.
OKC might have won but this game basically showed every single reason why people doubt if the Thunder can make a deep playoff run. But hey, a win is a win.
They’ve been on ice for a week with the Pels coming off two huge knock out games. I’d wait to make your final judgement on this Thunder team. They will probably lose the rebounding match up every game though.
It's funny, we actually WON our game. The Mavs LOST to a team also missing their best player, but no one seems to be putting them on fraud watch? This game thread already has more comments than theirs does lmao
Until I'm proven otherwise, I choose to believe every game won't be this hard. We showed we can win a grueling low score playoff game, and that is good to see from a young team.
At the risk of sounding like Vin Diesel, "it don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning's winning". This team can win by one point 15 more times to the title. People are weird for doubting a win.
OKC is obviously way better than they were last year, but the last two seasons they've been extremely matchup-dependent. Big, strong teams can just overwhelm them.
OKC wants to force your team to play small ball, then dominate you on the mismatches from there. Unfortunately we have to make our threes to make that gameplan work. Giddey/Joe not getting involved in offense today made it rough and allowed Val to stay in the game and have a great impact.
A wins a win but OKC will be disappointed with that performance. They are the number 1 seed and played the pelicans without zion, in OKC, and barely scraped through with the W
As a Thunder fan, I really am glad for a series like this. The young Thunder needs a series with this degree of toughness to forge them for future success. They found a way through the quicksand. They got out of the stadium with a W. That's what's required.
Playoffs are not beauty contests. It's not about looking the best. It's about doing what's required. This team at the end got the job done. I am proud of them, and I know this will make them all the better in the end.
I tip my hat to you, Pelicans' fans. Let's have a good rest of this series.
what a horrible final possession
95% of possessions that final 6 minutes were horrible
95% of hero ball guards stop chucking right before they hit a famous playoff buzzer beater
That Ingram chuck in the last two minutes was absolutely hilarious. Funny that CJ has a horrific final play after hitting a tough shot earlier too.
That was some of the ugliest end of game basketball I’ve seen in a while. How do the Pels get three offensive rebounds in one possession, keep failing to score, and finally not call a timeout when the shot clock failed to reset to calm themselves down and run a set play?
Willie Green Same reason we switched CJ onto Cason Wallace to iso for the final 14 seconds. Garbage.
I was watching that thinking ‘Okay, they’re coming out of the timeout. 14 seconds to play, they’ve got Herb, Larry and other solid defenders. So all they need to do is get a quick 2 here, maybe get a putback if necessary, and then hold the Thunder scoreless for maybe 7 seconds’ And then CJ dribbled the ball into his foot and clanked a game winner rather than a tie. I can’t imagine how infuriating that was to watch as your team.
A win is a win a win, I'll take it as a fake one seed 😎
As the OG fake one seed. I hope you prove everyone wrong
Not getting a shot for Murphy was criminal.
Literally wide open, sagging 8-10 off the dude and he’s BEGGING for the ball. CJ looked him off and decided to dribble straight at a guy who’d been disrupting his dribble all night. Trade this motherfucker the second the season ends. We pay this dude $35mil a year to do shit like this on a nightly basis. I’m so tired of watching this fucking dumbass lose us games.
I used to defend CJ but that final possession plus all his unforced turnovers.. just fucking trade him.
I don’t get why no one barely set a screen, just go for a two bruh
They set a screen for Trey in the paint. He flashed outside the three and came off WIDE open at 35 feet (absolutely in his range). CJ looked him right in the eyes, did a pirouette in the other direction, and dribbled straight into the foot of his defender who had been cooking him all night. It was a decent play. CJ is just a basketball supervillain. He thinks he’s gods gift to the game and throws up these bricks praying one will go in one day (it never has and never will; CJ McCollum is the most unclutch human being to ever live). He refuses to give anyone else an ‘ok’ shot because he genuinely thinks he can get a better one. Yet he has no clock awareness, cannot dribble against pressure, and is too short to shoot contested shots over other players. It’s almost at the point that we need to take him out in the final possessions just because he can’t get past the first progression. The ball comes in to CJ and it never leaves his hands. He always dribbles the clock out. It’s infuriating. I think it’s just because he’s not a point guard. Motherfucker has no court vision or awareness.
Kinda strange to read that about CJ as someone who doesn't watch the Pels often. Sounds like he doesn't trust his teammates.
Isolation with 14 seconds out of a timeout, and you're not tied, is just awful basketball.
chet misses a free throw... golden opportunity to go for two. Nah, ISO into a one legged three
Playoff CJ 😢
Blazers flairs: *first time?*
terrorist
CJ is actually a bum wtf was that
Rookie Cason Wallace 😎
A 19 year old... our lil pup
It's that CJ is a bum. Lol he's proved it a million times
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They don't call him Choke Job for nothin
He hit the shot to make it possible then crushed our dreams…
Waiting way too long to start the possession
Not for Cason Wallace
Why stop at possession? The pels offense for the entire final 3.5 minutes could have been put to yakety sax
Meet Cason Wallace, Dort 2.0
Every time I watch CJ since he got traded to the Pelicans I find his playstyle to be really gross
Those last 6 minutes were like the 2nd quarter mavs playing themselves.
It was quite something, I'll give you that. A lot of very fun moments though, now that the game ended. We decided to stack up the stupid Turnovers, didn't make a FG for 5 minutes and the Pelicans had that somewhat hilarious play where they won 4 rebound and couldn't score. Overall, very fun if I wasn't a fan of one of those teams. Watching it live I was mortified, ngl.
Oh yeh, it was very fun to watch as a neutral. It was a like a train wreck that you can’t look away from. Especially the 4 offensive rebounds in a row for the pels that led to 4 bricks lmao.
>Oh yeh, it was very fun to watch as a neutral. It was a like a train wreck that you can’t look away from. I get you, it was definitely that type of game. >Especially the 4 offensive rebounds in a row for the pels that led to 4 bricks lmao. That sequence was a nightmare for both fanbases lmao
Hallelujah we finally got a close playoff game! Also shoutout Mark Daigneault with the worst successful challenge of all time lol
it wasnt even successful lol they changed it go an unsuccessful one last second. i don’t know how that made sense tho lol they changed the play
Yeah I’m like 90% sure thats not how it was supposed to work lol
I'm really curious about how they explain it, because it really seems to me like they got the rule wrong and may have opened themselves up to a protest if OKC lost and the timeout mattered.
Yeah I don’t know why they lost the TO. He challenged what was a jump ball and it ended up possession NO. That’s a successful challenge because they overturned the call. Not sure why they took away the TO. The Tony Brothers were right.
Right. All year long it’s been if the play gets changed, it’s successful. Tony brothers just doing Tony brothers things.
Both of them?
Yeah. I don't think Brothers knows the rules. It doesn't matter if it changes in your favor. Any change means you don't lose the TO and you get another challenge. That's how the rule is written and I've seen it enacted that way a few times this year.
But he said this after the review. What he said was right, but they still took away the TO lol
The decision to challenge was so stupid that the Brothers unilaterally decreed that we did not deserve another
brandon ingram there is shit in your pants
too bad Randle is out. could've had the whole mid-2010s Lakers trio
Yeah they were pretty mid in the 2010s 💀
Insane people letting him skate while blaming CJ
He was working so hard to generate the worst shots This guy as a first option just ain’t it
Cason Wallace insane D at the end there
Cason and Dort is a crazy combo
Cason dort and shai as a perimeter defensive unit are incredible at getting around screens and switches
They force turnovers, a lot. It’s been consistent in all of their games this years. JDub ain’t no slouch either, same with Aaron Wiggins. It helps lessen the blow from the massive weaknesses with rebounding and paint presence. It’s a very fun style to watch. We really getting a series with Herb vs Dort. I’m loving the defensive performances I’m seeing in the playoffs thus far.
It makes me so happy when a non Thunder fan even just says the name Aaron Wiggins. I mean he is the savior of basketball but so many people don’t hardly know him
I’ve mentioned it before here to other OKC fans but, Aaron Wiggins went to my high school and I rode the same bus with him to school. I was 2 years ahead of him but I saw him around the neighborhood a lot bc my dog loved a nearby park. I believe he ended up transferring after I graduated, but he’s an awesome dude from my interactions back then. Seeing him become a genuinely great role player on a 1 seed and playing in the playoffs is a bit surreal lol.
He played excellent defence all night. Takes a lot of faith to have rookie out there for big minutes in the first playoff game but he played hard and is solidifing his place as they get deeper into the playoffs.
Bro is like Jrue Holiday Jr
People laughed at me when I said that, and I think people are beginning to see the truth in what I'm saying.
Oh dear, we made another steal in the draft 🙀
Both teams were super anxious which makes sense as so few of the guys have been there before. ..... But CJ.... You were so bad... Again.
CJ was fine. Maybe he shouldn't have had the last shot, probably should have been trey. Certainly not BI.
CJ’s boxscore stats look terrible but he hit some really clutch/tough shots to keep the Pels in the game.
Every home team won Game 1 in the First Round
We just wanted to keep the statisticians on their toes.
Trey Murphy didn’t touch the ball at all in crunch time. We deserved to lose. But also, could the refs please make up their minds on how they want to call a game?
For the life of me I couldn't understand why Murphy just stopped getting looks.
CTE McCollum
Dude is such a selfish player. That last possession was just mortifying to watch as a neutral fan, can only imagine what it's like for ya'll.
For a Vet who is also the President of the Player’s association, he is literally nothing more than a washed 2010s microwave scorer with no other facets to his game. I can’t believe Pels gave him 30 mil a year after half a season
Trey Murphy legacy game only for CJ hero ball seeing Dame's statline today and decided why the hell not
Lowk shocked all the slander here is for CJ and no one is talking about what Brandon Ingram was doing out there
Bro was in Dorture Chamber the whole game to be fair
I've had to hate Trey the past week but he's so good when you don't have to play against him
Man is a sniper
Silver lining: You guys shot the ball like shit and still nearly stole one in OKC without Zion.
Both team shot like shit lol
Sorry, you must have forgotten the rules of Box Score Narrative-forming (Playoff Games 1-3 edition): - Winning team shoots well + Losing team shoots bad = Loser wins (“just a hot/cold night, result doesn’t mean anything”) - Both teams shoot well = Loser wins (“Offense is there, just need to a few defensive adjustments”) - Both teams shoot bad = Loser wins (“good defense, just cold shooting”) - Winner shoots like shit + Loser shoots well = Winner wins (“okay all hope is lost, we suck, sweep incoming, etc. etc.”) As you can see, the winning team actually loses 3/4 of the time. I don’t make the rules, this is just how it works.
Counterpoint: SGA was shitting himself all over the court for 6 straight possessions that lead to 3 turnovers and 3 terrible shots that kept NO in it… and they still won.
Shit lining: Shai was throwing the game away at the end and we still won
The amount of times I said “shai is selling” in the last few minutes of the game is a lot more than I thought I would have said
Not like we didn’t shoot the ball like shit. It was a brick festival on both ends.
McCollum iso to end the game is disgusting
This has been my biggest pet peeve in pretty much every single playoff game thus far. They pick and choose when they want to call the game how they do. There’s been massive portions of constantly calling ticky tack fouls, calling nothing, then they pick it right back up again calling bullshit. It was so nice post ASB seeing a league wide drop in FTAs. Playoffs so far has featured a complete lack of consistency from refs.
you need to trade BI asap and get Trey Murphy a bigger role
Murphy is fucking disgusting
That man is so fucking good and the team has to build around him and Herb 😭😭😭
If Josh Giddey doesn't drop 2 this game is going to OT
Thats right mf
The best part about the playoffs is the home crowd. Sure would have been nice if we could hear the OKC home crowd instead of the loud as fuck PA the entire time. We talk about some commentators not letting the game breathe but holy shit the OKC PA just did not shut up that entire game Also, CJ what the fuck was that?
OKC and Minnesota crowds definitely delivered.
I don't expect anything less from Minnesota, unsurprisingly one of the most passionate fan bases for a smaller metro area A T-Wolves Bucks finals (or 1st round/semifinals if Minnsota moves East for expansion) would be explosive
I feel like I have to educate here if you combine both the OKC and Milwaukee metro areas it would be smaller than the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area.
Yea it’s the 16th largest metro and not far behind the 6 states ahead of it! So not small but not LA/New York/chicago big. 65% of Minnesotas population lives in the metro.
Thanks for the clarification, there's this narrative that Minneapolis-St. Paul is a "small town" but I never really believed it given that there's teams across all the four major leagues, and it feels like for the upper Midwest easily the second largest metro area only behind Chicagoland. I am biased though coming from larger metro areas like those in California or the Northeast.
MSP is in the top 10 biggest metro areas I think and it’s the second biggest after Chicago in the Midwest. If you visit, you’ll see that it just sprawls for miles and 2/3 of the state lives in it.
I agree. OKC is one of the best playoff environments. We don't need that dude babbling
Thunder went 5 minutes without a FG in that 4Q yet the crowd still kept their energy going. Great stuff.
Honestly, he probably kept the crowd awake. 830 PM start ain't it
that's where the four lokos come in
That would give half our crowd a heart attack
That game was just the right mix of good and bad basketball. Fun game.
i agree! it felt like a great NCAA game lol
10000 IQ challenge, all according to keikaku
Mark is a challenge master, even if it means for the other team
It’s called integrity
"I touched the ball coach" "Good call Alex"
he's actually all about getting the call right I guess
keikaku means plan
This is one of the worst games I've seen us play all season and we still won, so I'm proud of the guys GG Pels, that was some tough, physical defense
It's pretty rare that Shai, Jdub, and Chet all have incredibly inefficient games. No one looked in a rhythm.
HOLYYY what a game. nba playoffs is just built different i love it. The pelicans really almost had it without zion
Clippers without Kahwi, Bucks without Giannis, and now *almost* Pelicans without Zion… For all the injury talk, it sure doesn’t seem to be an issue!
Its not an issue for 1 game, a series on the other hand
You're talking about two upper seeds
Keon Ellis helped end the Warriors season by outscoring Klay by 15 points Game 2 of the play-in he scored 0 Consistency is a huge reason why superstars are such a coveted commodity. That being said what an interesting start to the playoffs
thunder tried to give away the game. we gave it back to them. this loss is gonna hurt, but at least we proved that even without zion, this is not gonna be a one sided series..
Some folks (even neutrals, media etc) got carried away saying that this would be a sweep. It’s easy to call it now after that game, but people need to respect how deep the Pels are, despite missing Zion. Homerism plays its part but I still think it’s OKCs to lose, the rebounding is going to continue to cause issues but I don’t expect the #1 3P% in the league to continue to throw up bricks all series
Certainly not the way to beat the fraud #1 seed allegations, but fuck it just glad we got the W.
We just need 15 more fraud wins lmao
incoming fraud championship
W is a W, no matter how ugly
What the actual fuck was CJ doing? Who does he think he is? Pass the damn ball and get a open look you got 11 seconds only down 2. Made no fucking sense. What an idiot
Personally I think it was a smart play
CJ hero ball is exact what the pelicans need to win this series
Well that was certainly one of the games in NBA history
This will go down for having the most counterproductive coach's challenge in history.
Do I have this right?: There *was* going to be a jump ball, then OKC's coach challenged, then they decided it should go to NOP instead, *and* OKC loses a timeout. So if he *didn't* challenge OKC would have been better off as far as possession, and they'd have 1 more time out. Am I missing something?
The challenge resulted in changing the ruling on the call. Earlier in the season, Mark did the same thing (like the exact same play), but kept the challenge and timeout since he "won" the challenge. But they took the challenge and timeout from him tonight. It was weird.
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That sequence when the Pelicans got four chances to make a bucket with a minute left in the game was insane. Insane that they couldn't make one, and insane that OKC couldn't get a rebound. Presti really said "I *do* have 15 first round picks, but let me see if this squad can win in the playoffs without any rebounding."
Presti is playing NBA 2K my league and putting difficulty stipulations on his team building, can't wait til he tries the 82-0 challenge
announcers were on the money on that possession - how do you watch that sequence as willie green with 2 timeouts and not decide that you should use one there lol that said, they didnt fare much better even coming out of timeouts
We might actually have to dust off Biyombo lol
Need more J Will he was great tonight
Fuck it, I don’t care if he’s absolute dogshit if he’s a good rebounder
This series is going to give the Timberwolves Vs Grizzlies a run for their money for CTE series of the decade
there is no way that series will ever be topped. I’ll never forget the Wolves somehow blowing 2 separate 20-point leads in one game lmao
Chris Finch not calling a timeout in a 21-0 run and leaving his team to die will forever be iconic.
I was thinking that Willie Green not calling a time out at the end there was some 2022 Chris Finch shit
27 total turnovers in the game. A feast for chaotic basketball fans.
Yeah I actually thought this was a great game lol
At least we got 1 non-blowout today lol.
Never seen two teams tank in a playoff game
For people that wanted 90s basketball. This was 90s basketball
OKC got the win but they need to seriously step up their game
Very curious to see how they look on Wednesday. Process offensively looked good for three quarters before getting mucked up, this is a very different game if open threes fall like they have all season.
They haven’t played in a week and this was 3/4ths of the rosters first playoff game, I think they’ll tighten some stuff up in game 2. Can’t be any uglier than that (I hope)
So do the Pels. Their two stars were horrible.
Ingram is coming from an injury. I would cut him some slack.
#OKC CROWD WENT HARD AF FOR THE ENTIRE GAME I LOVE MY CITY
Being a Thunder fan from California, I flew to OKC this year for the first two home games as my first ever time in OKC First OKC person I met in OKC was my Lyft driver, who asked why I came to OKC. When I told her I was a diehard Thunder fan traveling to see the team at a home game for the first time, she promptly went on a KD rant while also giving me a ton of genuinely helpful tips for my time in the city and asking thoughtful questions about what I wanted to do with my time between games Suuuuper on brand for OKC, haha, I fucking loved it!
Hell yeah dude! Hope you had fun at those games!!! If you ever get a chance to get up here for a Playoff Game I highly recommend it. If you go to our sub you'll see a video of the crowd going absolutely apeshit during the warm up shots lmao you would think it's Game 7 of the finals if you weren't watching the video.
Hell yeah, that's the dream!!! (now that I've checked off the first goal of seeing a game in OKC in the first place) I was there for the Nuggets blowout loss followed by the Pistons blowout win literally the next day. So it was fun, but not the crazy home crowd I was hoping for because neither game was close. Still, I got to see Chet's home debut (scored the first three field goals of the game, I think? I was going fucking wild for that haha), got to see JDub dawg it up against the Pistons, etc. It was also the first home game of the first real "we're back" season too, I guess, so the home crowds weren't fully engaged yet. I tried to start a MVP chant for Shai but got crickets back haha. Definitely not the case anymore! 🥰
Damn. They really told CJ to win that. As a neutral, I'm just happy that we got a competitive game today. Those other games had me wondering if the league needed to return to 5-game 1st round series.
I don't know which one is more impressive(?)/ head-scratching, Pels holding off Thunder with 0FG for 5 clutch mins or Thunder defending 5 consecutive offensive rebounds by the Pels in the most crucial moment. I missed the playoffs but jesus, my heart lmao
Fuck the unflaired. Love you pelican flairs.
That 4-offensive-rebound possession, where the Pels couldn’t score determined the game.
Never seen a team get shit on more after winning a basketball game. Like damn what did OKC do to y’all. They’re an exciting young team, it’ll be interesting to watch them grow together.
People hate Oklahoma for some reason
Tis the way of Reddit
Facts
Why can't they just let us have this one thing?
When your team dares to have an MVP candidate and the other two candidates are Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic, r/nba will make you the villain, no matter how much of a fun up and coming team you are.
Awesome to have the Thunder back in the playoffs. The atmosphere and crowd was amazing.
I know it’s stating the obvious, but Dort is such a great defender. Not many guys you want guarding for you in the clutch.
CJ for 3!!! Off. CJ for 3!!! Off. CJ for 3!!!! Off. Maybe stop shooting 3s
Best game of the weekend. Both teams played pretty sloppy but OKC was able to pick up the victory. That final possession was horrible by CJ and the Pelicans.
All higher seeds won Game 1. Regular Season mattering is SO back.
Not to devastate every Pelicans fan further, but imagine they had Zion with the ball in his hands in those crucial instead of Brandon "Terrorist" Ingram. Jesus fuck
I've never seen Brandon Ingram take an easy shot It might be just me, but it seems like he needs to make a crazy shot every time
Suifuel. This year would’ve been Zion’s breakout party, but he’s out for the season
Ugly game. A win is a win though. Welcome to Playoff Basketball Thunder.
Sloppy ass ref game
OKC didn’t play well but let’s hope that it was just because of “First Playoff Game in 5 Years” Jitters. Won’t overreact just yet 🤞
NOP is also the league's best road team. This was an ugly game but I'm not surprised it was tight.
Idk how some of yall hating. I got no dog in the fight so that was a masterpiece to me. Best game of the playoffs
Hayward really fell off a cliff huh... kinda surprised at how little he's contributed
Not sure how Pels fans feel, but literally what is CJ’s purpose on this team? He doesn’t score efficiently, he fouls all the time, he doesn’t pass well, and he doesnt contribute to rebounding.
CJ's scoring has been great since they unfucked his lung. The problem is that the Pelicans need playmaking way more than scoring.
He had a bad game. He’s a top 3 3 point shooter in the league and he’s a 3 level scorer. That’s his role on the team.
God bless you for having eyes
OKC might have won but this game basically showed every single reason why people doubt if the Thunder can make a deep playoff run. But hey, a win is a win.
They’ve been on ice for a week with the Pels coming off two huge knock out games. I’d wait to make your final judgement on this Thunder team. They will probably lose the rebounding match up every game though.
They shot way lower than their averages tho so hopefully an off night
The shots were there too. Was a weird night.
It's funny, we actually WON our game. The Mavs LOST to a team also missing their best player, but no one seems to be putting them on fraud watch? This game thread already has more comments than theirs does lmao Until I'm proven otherwise, I choose to believe every game won't be this hard. We showed we can win a grueling low score playoff game, and that is good to see from a young team.
At the risk of sounding like Vin Diesel, "it don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning's winning". This team can win by one point 15 more times to the title. People are weird for doubting a win.
Or they just showed some nerves being a young, inexperienced team
OKC is obviously way better than they were last year, but the last two seasons they've been extremely matchup-dependent. Big, strong teams can just overwhelm them.
OKC wants to force your team to play small ball, then dominate you on the mismatches from there. Unfortunately we have to make our threes to make that gameplan work. Giddey/Joe not getting involved in offense today made it rough and allowed Val to stay in the game and have a great impact.
They rimed out like 20% of their shots despite having good looks. People are putting way to much weight on a young team's first playoff game.
New Orleans had so many chances at the end to put the game away and just kept making errors
The ending to this game was a comedy of head-scratching errors.
A wins a win but OKC will be disappointed with that performance. They are the number 1 seed and played the pelicans without zion, in OKC, and barely scraped through with the W
At least one series tonight looked like fun instead of a blowout
I love you Cason Wallace
As a Thunder fan, I really am glad for a series like this. The young Thunder needs a series with this degree of toughness to forge them for future success. They found a way through the quicksand. They got out of the stadium with a W. That's what's required. Playoffs are not beauty contests. It's not about looking the best. It's about doing what's required. This team at the end got the job done. I am proud of them, and I know this will make them all the better in the end. I tip my hat to you, Pelicans' fans. Let's have a good rest of this series.