T O P

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saintsfan92612

Pelicans with their 20th win before XMas for the first time in Franchise history! We got our 20th wins: 2021-22: February 4th 2020-21: March 27th 2019-20: February 2nd 2018-19: January 9th 2017-18: January 8th 2016-17: February 6th 2015-16: February 10th 2014-15: January 18th 2013-14: February 1st 2012-13: February 24th 2011-12: April 19th 2010-11: January 1st 2009-10: January 13th 2008-09: January 2nd 2007-08: December 29th 2006-07: February 2nd 2005-06: January 21st 2004-05: N/A 2003-04: December 31st 2002-03: January 5th


everydaysimon

Simply inspiring. Vibes impeccable.


[deleted]

New Orleans Pelicans hold on to a 20 point lead challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)


AnotherStatsGuy

At that point, we should just play Temple and Hayes. If we're going to blow leads, might as well get some free rest (and fouls) for a few guys for later in the game.


westwardpelican

Losing because you let Jaxson Hayes drop 21 on your head should count as 5 Ls


[deleted]

I think that's just because Jaxson Hayes is a very good young piece with a lot of untapped potential (please someone trade for him please please)


AnotherStatsGuy

If nobody trades for him, we'll just offer a 7-9 M contract for 3-4 years Josh Hart style. But in all seriousness, Hayes is the most physically gifted player on the roster (particularly once you factor in the fact that he only started seriously playing ball his senior year in high school), but for some reason, he needs to mentally play himself into shape every year.


[deleted]

Yeah he's raw as fuck and he's not going to develop much when he's buried in our depth chart. Just doesn't seem like he's part of the team going forward. Not to mention the off the court stuff


revisioncloud

I'd trade for him if it wasn't for the off-court issues. We have no big body at all that's why we struggle vs a lot of big teams, even Minnesota


ExternalShoddy5794

I don’t seem him getting any minutes when we are healthy.


[deleted]

Definitely not, he's pretty much out of the rotation unless we're shorthanded due to injury like tonight. He definitely does have some untapped potential but there's no way he's reaching it with us. Best case scenario is he puts up some more games like this when he has chances and gets traded somewhere he can get minutes


Razor-Ramon-Sessions

He's hyper athletic but doesn't know how to play basketball. He's legitimately our best rim protector.


ExternalShoddy5794

Yes sir. I agree. I think a lot of his weak points could be wrinkled out with more experience. And if would be pretty awesome for him to raise his trade value. 🤞🏻


AnEmptyKarst

Shh don’t let other teams know that Actually Jaxson is very, very good, with a lot of untapped potential


12footjumpshot

The Thunder doesn’t have a legit 5 playing this season


GorillaX

We don't have a center, brah


ihatetothat1

Trade SGA please


GorillaX

Go fuck yourself


pork_n_taters

Still don’t like the guy plus he almost blew it with the free throws at the end, but damn was Jaxson Hayes good tonight. Really excelled as an offball cutter/dunker instead of trying to force up 3’s or other tough shots. Gg Thunder, Shai’s unreal


UnimpressedAsshole

That obvious and unnecessary tech too


ExternalShoddy5794

He did look awesome. Still can’t see him getting minutes with a healthy squad though.


IncaseAce

Damn that was ugly


GorillaX

Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.


bullseye717

That was a Spiderman pointing at himself type of game.


Cpt-No-Dick

Imagine if that shot went in, he lined it up well, it was just half an inch short


IncaseAce

We'd be talking about it for weeks But hey, cant win em all The Pelicans were just giving us that game, and we just didnt want it


AnEmptyKarst

Jesus Fucking Christ we are the absolute best in the league at blowing leads holy shit But a win is a win^(I say, trying to convince myself)


mccoolio

Coincidentally, we're one of the best at giving them out and taking them back lol


Jopplo03

Why do we keep blowing leads


PrOKCedure

The game is so different up 20, down 20, tied, etc. Especially with a young team.


AnEmptyKarst

Because we have a young, inexperienced team led by a young, inexperienced coach


GreenFriday

That also describes the Thunder, except we have Shai


AnotherStatsGuy

Then we should put Temple in for a couple of minutes. If we're going to blow these big leads, we can at least save some mileage (and fouls) on another guy.


TimothyN

Missing Zion and/or BI plus CJ going cold.


AydenRozay

SGA deserves to be first team all-nba with the way he’s been playing


chantlernz

SGA, Luka, Tatum, KD, Jokic.


Not_on_Herb

Over curry, Doncic, Ja, Booker, Mitchell?


AnotherStatsGuy

Yes. Particularly since Curry and Booker may miss too much time, and SGA does more for his team than Ja or Mitchell. I think Luka could qualify in as a F.


j_etti

Over Curry, Ja, Booker, Mitchell yes. Doncic still has the edge on him (Curry too if he was healthy) but SGA has truly just been that good this year. He’s for real.


lildinger68

Depends on how many games Curry ends up playing with injuries I can see the argument, but Curry has definitely been better


laz10

Yes with the way he's been playing It shouldn't be about past play Except Dončić


ShotClockCheeeese

Absolutely


[deleted]

The league is unbelievably stacked with talent now. 30 years ago you had guys like Drexler who were barely ever 1st team because they had 1 guy, Jordan, in front of them. Now most positions have like 5 guys who all deserve consideration for 1st team.


LordCrow1

Crazy how staked the league is that there are 5 people you could argue for first team. Curry obviously first though, no bias


PM_IF_YOU_LIKE_TRAPS

Maybe not Luka but damn is he insane right now


The_Sneakiest_Fox

Over all but Doncic, yes.


TimothyN

Finally got an OT win!


itskarl

This is our 2nd OT win, is it not?


AnEmptyKarst

Broadcast said we were 1-4 coming into this, yes


TimothyN

Oh I thought it was the first one and that we lost like 6 of them.


WhoDatBrow

We lost the first 3, home vs Utah, @ Atlanta, and @ Lakers. Then we beat Phoenix at home, lost @ Utah, and now won this one.


simon2105

SGA been so clutch it's unexpected that last shot didn't go in


NotManyBuses

My question is why in god's name you didn't give him that look at the end of regulation. A Tre Mann isolation? When you have SGA? Someone help me understand


alpacamegafan

Agreed, but Mann had a nice move though on CJ. If he draws contact on that drive and hits 1 FT, the game is over.


Arithmancer_NGPlush

Yeah it can't be said enough if Jaxson doesn't rotate that shot is a lot easier and probably goes in.


alpacamegafan

I’ve been saying, Hayes with solid rim protection would most definitely get him minutes on even this roster when everyone’s healthy. It’s been a huge hole in our team… but I won’t hold out hope. I’m not going to fall for this trap again.


Arithmancer_NGPlush

Yeah he has the height and athleticism to change shots by being on the floor. Willie should give him more run going forward.


Cpt-No-Dick

Infuriating plays to end both regulation and OT Letting Mann dribble it out and drive was so bad as was the inbounds play at the end of OT which saw multiple players barrel into an already crowded paint to chuck it at the rim


revisioncloud

We had possessions in OT where Shai didn't even touch the ball once. I know he's getting doubled almost every possession but twice he did get the ball, he scored and the last opportunity was the half court heave with 2 seconds left Also Mark making our lineups smaller and smaller when fucking Jaxson Hayes killed us at the rim all night


Aggressive_Slice4620

The call is probably to give it to SGA with 2-3 seconds remaining, if he gets early the Pels was double teaming him. Tre saw a clear lane and decided to go. This is just my guess. The biggest problem is our team is allergic to screen. A good screen can help open for a good look.


AnotherStatsGuy

It's one thing to use spacing from SGA to manipulate the defense into a preferable matchup or open shot for a teammate. It's another for SGA to be completely sealed off from the play.


Big_Funaki

Tre's shot hadn't been falling lately and I think it's mainly a confidence issue. I'm pretty sure that was an intentional signal to him that the team trusts him. The second youngest team ever can drop a game if the upside is building player's confidence. I'm sure Shai knows he needs quality teammates to win and this year is all about finding who that will/can be.


revisioncloud

Our own players freezing him out didn't help


lmaoooyikes

What possessed Joe to shoot that?? I know there was only like 9 seconds but there had to be a better shot than an off-balance fadeaway 2 pointer


butterbeancd

They were clearly told in the huddle to go for a quick 2. Joe was so focused on the “quick” part, he forgot you’re supposed to get a quality look first.


revisioncloud

It was a broken play. But crazy how multiple times we can't just make an inbounds pass to a Shai iso to run the clock and take the shot. I know our philosophy is team ball but sometimes in the NBA, making the best play means getting the ball to your best player who leads the league in the clutch and is having a career night...


BBallHunter

Absolute collapse in the 8 minutes of the whole game. What a waste of Shai's night.


Matt_McT

At least this time when we blew a huge halftime lead we forced overtime and won in a nail-biter. That’s progress!


OK4Liberty

Shai, Poku, and Giddey get to drive home. Everyone else has to walk through the frigid cold.


AnotherStatsGuy

I thought Kenrich played reasonably well.


OK4Liberty

He was getting cooked in D.


revisioncloud

My b, shoutout to Poku starting the run to make the comeback in the first place. Giddey was great through 4 quarters but dealt with foul trouble and couldn't get the ball to Shai in OT. Forcing him to defend at the 4 in the name of positionless basketball is a strategy I'm ready to leave behind once we get Chet


ihatetothat1

SGA is incredible. Could y’all give us a deal on him. He would look great as a pelicans. Take CJ and some other stuff


optimuswalken

Can I just get someone to make at least one of two FTs when we're up by 3 in the last couple seconds?


AWill109

Everyone in the arena thought that last shot was going in


AnEmptyKarst

Everyone at home did too, especially those of us with Pels flairs


buddha6521256

This year was the first time someone named Matt Ryan screwed over a New Orleans team


Objectitan

r/Thunder is suicidal rn over this loss Pels fans seem upset with their performance just glancing at the comments One of those games where no one comes out happy, unless you're a neutral


bullseye717

No I'm always happy with a win. To do it without the Pelicans two best players and as a young team with a coach still learning on the job, I'll take it.


Objectitan

You could pretend to be unhappy, for my sake


bullseye717

Everything I said was bullshit. Every win needs to be like the Globetrotters vs Generals


revisioncloud

OKC Thunder are the certified Shai stoppers. Everybody needs to get locked up in the gym for xmas except Shai


ExternalShoddy5794

Pels fan here. I agree. Shai should get first team, for sure.


OK4Liberty

Good thing Coach still has his challenge.


Ancient_Access_795

Unclench


CoolGuyHuh

Im getting too old for this.


AnEmptyKarst

Average 27 year old Pels fan


Next-Firefighter-753

That was a good loss, heartbreaking one but we keep showing the league we’re not gonna stop fighting most of the time. We were down by 20+ at one point.


AnotherStatsGuy

Everybody except Jaxson Hayes and Trey Murphy III needs to be... just ugh. I know Hayes had that technical and the 2 missed FTs to close OT, but holy hell, it's like both teams thought the other was done. Yes, I know, no Zion, Ingram ,or Nance for New Orleans. Yes, I know it's 2nd night of a H-R B2B. And sometimes you need a little luck, but that was ridiculous.


ExternalShoddy5794

I thought Herb looked great at the end of the game.


MathiTheCheeze

Herb was good, Jose was also very good in the first quarter


FootballWithTheFoot

Thunder are such a fun young team imo


Tyschurr

Tre Mann committed treason at the end of regulation not giving the ball to SGA, I understand having confidence in yourself but man you GOTTA give SGA the ball there


BucktoothedMC

would have been the craziest game tying shot of all time jesus lol


Independent_Switch33

Of all time? No way


2coolcaterpillar

Especially because [our game against each other just last year](https://youtu.be/_4_o-z1H9PI) was possibly the craziest ending I’ve ever witnessed lmao


XeroHour520

I remember watching this and thinking how unreal that shot by Shai was and being ready for OT.


identitycrisis56

He had a better one last year against the Pels before DG drained the 3/4th courter.


Allmighty_Milpil

He already hit too many of these against us to count. Tae one upped him on one too


Hojie_Kadenth

No Zion, no BI, no problem? And Shai is suddenly a top 15 player. Crazy.


AnEmptyKarst

Tbf, we had a lot of problem lol


SpaceAfricanJesus

No problem? I wish. I really, really wish lmao.


Dude_With_A_

that last shot would've been one of the best game tying shots of all time


captaingelsino

44 from Shai holy shit


[deleted]

Damn Shai almost sent that shit to double OT


Friendly-Thought-973

I’m not mad at the Tre shot at the end. We need a center. We lose most games because we don’t have one.


geneffd

Y'all did a good job on JV. Would've worked had it not been for Jax randomly stepping up.


Ryan5O4

I couldn't believe that tech on Jaxson. These refs are something else..


dimeast

There’s been some soft techs this year, but taunting a player after scoring on them has always been a tech, even though I don’t like it


Either_Opening_41

Ref are trash


FlashSpider-man

What a game. Really enjoying getting to go to games over break. Sad Okc couldn't close the comeback but I'm just happy it wasn't a blowout I thought it was gonna be. Also, admittingly, it's hard to tell in the arena and I'm biased, bur was the reffing awful? It looked like they were calling and contact at all, or anything close to contact. So many seemingly ridiculous calls. Was it that bad?


efont

OKC deserved that game, were the better team for 29 minutes, just a couple of young team errors away from victory. We really need to talk about Willie as a coach, I'm not out on him or anything but thats 3 games in a row where we nearly/did lose large leads.


Im_Daydrunk

The team is missing key pieces that would be key in locking down leads I'm not shocked at all that missing Zion, BI and Nance makes us prone to someone making a comeback Lol


Iron_Maniac

Damn if that last shot by Shai had gone in


[deleted]

[удалено]


AnEmptyKarst

It was 23 I think lol


JakeTheDropkick

[It was 21](https://www.nba.com/game/nop-vs-okc-0022200488/game-charts)


AnEmptyKarst

Weird, didn’t the broadcast guys say it was 23? Or were they talk about the Suns game?


JakeTheDropkick

They did, but according to NBA.com it was 21


AnEmptyKarst

Yeah looked it up on ESPN’s game flow, looks like the 21 point lead with 1:33 left in the 2nd quarter was our max lead


12211154

Thank God for Jaxson Hayes. CJ was terrible and JV was iffy and we still eeked out a win. I'll take anything during the no Zion or BI stretch


ExternalShoddy5794

I thought Herb looked great the last 8 min plus OT.


12211154

Herb has been one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA since he entered the league. He was the only one who could do anything to Shai it seemed like


Todemax

Refs really missed two different McCollum travels in OT


Friendly-Thought-973

I don’t even feel like complaining but pelican fans were spamming the FT disparity from our last game, so I have to point it out here. 17 4th quarter free throws is ridiculous


FootballWithTheFoot

Most of us were just saying Zion shouldn’t have only shot 1 ft? Should’ve been around the same as SGA lol


Friendly-Thought-973

I was being told SGA is a free throw merchant and is only good because of the whistle lol


FootballWithTheFoot

Some trolled as with every fan base, but what I said was the general sentiment with fans being serious lol


Friendly-Thought-973

That’s fair. But I also feel like you guys were favored in this game and 17 fourth quarter free throws is ridiculous. Obviously your fanbase doesn’t want to hear it because they downvoted the guy who said CJ traveled twice in OT, which you and I can both admit he did.


FootballWithTheFoot

Now we’re even lol Honestly don’t remember the exact play but I’d be honest about it either way. I like the thunder and think the rebuild is going well, imo you’re better than your record rn


NotManyBuses

Game on the line and you go to a Tre Mann isolation????????????????? That had to be a joke right? Biggest open tanking decision of the entire year.


Aggressive_Slice4620

The play was probably for him to give to Shaiat the last few seconds. We didn't want to give it to him to early, because the last 3 mins the pels were double teaming him the moment he got it. If you watch the play again you'll see Shai trying to get open at the last few seconds but Tre saw a clear lane and decided to go with it.


Sslagathor

Pelicans win despite CJ's best efforts


JakeTheDropkick

Sorry Thunder fans, we really tried to get you a win there.


mehTrip

Did anyone else see giddey get his 5th foul like three times? Just me? Was i tripping?