2024 NBA Season and Playoffs

[keevsnick]

People are calling Celtics as frauds but what about Thunder?

The Thunder will get the "they are young" pass.

Which is fair btw. Jalen Williams just turned 23 and Chet Holmgren just turned 22.

[mr. dee]

People are calling Celtics as frauds but what about Thunder?

The Thunder will get the "they are young" pass.

Which is fair btw. Jalen Williams just turned 23 and Chet Holmgren just turned 22.

Tatum at 23 have reached the finals and multiple conference finals appearances. People do really have double standards

[keevsnick]

People are calling Celtics as frauds but what about Thunder?

The Thunder will get the "they are young" pass.

Which is fair btw. Jalen Williams just turned 23 and Chet Holmgren just turned 22.

Tatum at 23 have reached the finals and multiple conference finals appearances. People do really have double standards

A lot of that was in a pretty weak eastern conference.

I think its okay to give a young team a bit of a break for losing to a good team.

And hey, they still might win this game and regain control. So its a bit early to throw dirt on them anyway.

[Who]

OKC only have 6 bench points.

5 bench players have played a total of 43min. They are 2-11 from the floor. 2 turnovers. So 13 possessions to get 6pts.

[Who]

Jalen Williams only 2-12 FGA for 8pts. He needs to step up. He is their 2nd option. He needs to be in the high teens low 20s.

In fairness, he is doing other things while struggling with his scoring. He has 8reb and 3stl. He also has 3ast.

[Goldstar88]

Giddey sucks 

[mr. dee]

People are calling Celtics as frauds but what about Thunder?

The Thunder will get the "they are young" pass.

Which is fair btw. Jalen Williams just turned 23 and Chet Holmgren just turned 22.

Tatum at 23 have reached the finals and multiple conference finals appearances. People do really have double standards

A lot of that was in a pretty weak eastern conference.

I think its okay to give a young team a bit of a break for losing to a good team.

And hey, they still might win this game and regain control. So its a bit early to throw dirt on them anyway.

MIL = NBA champs
PHI = A guy who won MVP last season
MIA = Perenial conference contender
BKN = Guys with Kyrie, Harden and KD and one of these guys are killing the Thunder right now

In the "weak" conference, Celtics have beaten more 50-win teams than this current OKC core had.

[keevsnick]

SGA has taken 14 shots between 9 and 18 ft. Dal has shut off the rim and shut down the 3 pnt line and is daring OKC to beat them with mid rangers.

[keevsnick]

People are calling Celtics as frauds but what about Thunder?

The Thunder will get the "they are young" pass.

Which is fair btw. Jalen Williams just turned 23 and Chet Holmgren just turned 22.

Tatum at 23 have reached the finals and multiple conference finals appearances. People do really have double standards

A lot of that was in a pretty weak eastern conference.

I think its okay to give a young team a bit of a break for losing to a good team.

And hey, they still might win this game and regain control. So its a bit early to throw dirt on them anyway.

MIL = NBA champs
PHI = A guy who won MVP last season
MIA = Perenial conference contender
BKN = Guys with Kyrie, Harden and KD and one of these guys are killing the Thunder right now

In the "weak" conference, Celtics have beaten more 50-win teams than this current OKC core had.

What I'm saying is back when the C's stars were 22 and 23, the age two of OKCs guys are now, the east was much weaker.

Its okay to not take everything as a perceived bias against the c's. 

I personally am not going to call a team in their first playoff run frauds, regardless of outcome.

And maybe its okay not to complain about how people react to OKC until at least they actually lose this game. Because for all I know people WILL bash OKC, but they have to actually lose first.

[Moranis]

Dallas is the only team left in the playoffs that could legitimately have 2 guys drop 40 at any given time. That makes them really scary because even if you shut Luka down some, Kyrie could go out and score 40. And I really worry about being able to defend Irving. He is still a lot faster than Jrue and Derrick, and Luka is just a beast.

If we have the Zinger, my preferred order of western teams would be: OKC, Minny, Dallas, Denver.  If we don't have Zingerf, I'd swap Minny and Dallas.

I mean obviously Murray and Jokic can both drop 40. Murray has actually dropped 50 points 3 times and he did it twice in the playoffs.

Of course he can as Jokic scored 40 points, 3 times this year, but he isn't really an explosive scorer.  If he gets that high it seems like a fluke rather than a normal occurrence. That isn't his game. He is a facilitator that can score, rather than a scorer that can facilitate (which is more how I'd describe Luka). Denver is scary because Jokic is just so much better than everyone else, not because they have multiple guys that can go on scoring explosions.

[Who]

Giddey is the only OKC starter with a positive +/-. He has only 12min again tonight. Iced.

[mr. dee]

People are calling Celtics as frauds but what about Thunder?

The Thunder will get the "they are young" pass.

Which is fair btw. Jalen Williams just turned 23 and Chet Holmgren just turned 22.

Tatum at 23 have reached the finals and multiple conference finals appearances. People do really have double standards

A lot of that was in a pretty weak eastern conference.

I think its okay to give a young team a bit of a break for losing to a good team.

And hey, they still might win this game and regain control. So its a bit early to throw dirt on them anyway.

MIL = NBA champs
PHI = A guy who won MVP last season
MIA = Perenial conference contender
BKN = Guys with Kyrie, Harden and KD and one of these guys are killing the Thunder right now

In the "weak" conference, Celtics have beaten more 50-win teams than this current OKC core had.

What I'm saying is back when the C's stars were 22 and 23, the age two of OKCs guys are now, the east was much weaker.

Its okay to not take everything as a perceived bias against the c's. 

I personally am not going to call a team in their first playoff run frauds, regardless of outcome.

And maybe its okay not to complain about how people react to OKC until at least they actually lose this game. Because for all I know people WILL bash OKC, but they have to actually lose first.

Saying east was weak when they reached the finals is a reach and a short-memory take.

Path to 2022 finals

1st round - 44-38 Nets = People forget "experts" were deeming the Nets as the favorites despite being a 7th seed with Durant, Harden and Kyrie
2nd round - 51-31 Bucks = They were defending champs. Enough said
3rd round - 53-29 Heat = 1st seed in the "weak" east. Had previous upsets against Bucks and Celtics

Thunder's sole playoff win is a Pelicans without Zion in the first round and in danger of being down 1-3 if they blow this one up.

[keevsnick]

Giddey is the only OKC starter with a positive +/-. He has only 12min again tonight. Iced.

Its been moving this way all series. The last move OKC had was replacing Giddey with a shooter. Dallas has been helping off him all series and its closing the paint off for OKC.

[keevsnick]

People are calling Celtics as frauds but what about Thunder?

The Thunder will get the "they are young" pass.

Which is fair btw. Jalen Williams just turned 23 and Chet Holmgren just turned 22.

Tatum at 23 have reached the finals and multiple conference finals appearances. People do really have double standards

A lot of that was in a pretty weak eastern conference.

I think its okay to give a young team a bit of a break for losing to a good team.

And hey, they still might win this game and regain control. So its a bit early to throw dirt on them anyway.

MIL = NBA champs
PHI = A guy who won MVP last season
MIA = Perenial conference contender
BKN = Guys with Kyrie, Harden and KD and one of these guys are killing the Thunder right now

In the "weak" conference, Celtics have beaten more 50-win teams than this current OKC core had.

What I'm saying is back when the C's stars were 22 and 23, the age two of OKCs guys are now, the east was much weaker.

Its okay to not take everything as a perceived bias against the c's. 

I personally am not going to call a team in their first playoff run frauds, regardless of outcome.

And maybe its okay not to complain about how people react to OKC until at least they actually lose this game. Because for all I know people WILL bash OKC, but they have to actually lose first.

Saying east was weak when they reached the finals is a reach and a short-memory take.

Path to 2022 finals

1st round - 44-38 Nets = People forget "experts" were deeming the Nets as the favorites despite being a 7th seed with Durant, Harden and Kyrie
2nd round - 51-31 Bucks = They were defending champs. Enough said
3rd round - 53-29 Heat = 1st seed in the "weak" east. Had previous upsets against Bucks and Celtics

Thunder's sole playoff win is a Pelicans without Zion in the first round and in danger of being down 1-3 if they blow this one up.

Again man, that run was two years ago. Brown and Tatum were 24 and 25. Its a different situation then OKC is in now. Its more comparable to the ages the OKC core will be in 2 years.

Although tbf the comparison isn't perfect because OKC's best player is 26 right now.

[mr. dee]

People are calling Celtics as frauds but what about Thunder?

The Thunder will get the "they are young" pass.

Which is fair btw. Jalen Williams just turned 23 and Chet Holmgren just turned 22.

Tatum at 23 have reached the finals and multiple conference finals appearances. People do really have double standards

A lot of that was in a pretty weak eastern conference.

I think its okay to give a young team a bit of a break for losing to a good team.

And hey, they still might win this game and regain control. So its a bit early to throw dirt on them anyway.

MIL = NBA champs
PHI = A guy who won MVP last season
MIA = Perenial conference contender
BKN = Guys with Kyrie, Harden and KD and one of these guys are killing the Thunder right now

In the "weak" conference, Celtics have beaten more 50-win teams than this current OKC core had.

What I'm saying is back when the C's stars were 22 and 23, the age two of OKCs guys are now, the east was much weaker.

Its okay to not take everything as a perceived bias against the c's. 

I personally am not going to call a team in their first playoff run frauds, regardless of outcome.

And maybe its okay not to complain about how people react to OKC until at least they actually lose this game. Because for all I know people WILL bash OKC, but they have to actually lose first.

Saying east was weak when they reached the finals is a reach and a short-memory take.

Path to 2022 finals

1st round - 44-38 Nets = People forget "experts" were deeming the Nets as the favorites despite being a 7th seed with Durant, Harden and Kyrie
2nd round - 51-31 Bucks = They were defending champs. Enough said
3rd round - 53-29 Heat = 1st seed in the "weak" east. Had previous upsets against Bucks and Celtics

Thunder's sole playoff win is a Pelicans without Zion in the first round and in danger of being down 1-3 if they blow this one up.

Again man, that run was two years ago. Brown and Tatum were 24 and 25. Its a different situation then OKC is in now.

Ok, let's just go back way back in their rookie season and how many "weak" east team under Celtics:

2018 Sixers (51-31)
2020 Raptors (53-19)

And these were Tatum was under 23. In that time span, east have at least won 2 NBA championships. Dunno where you get the weak-east narrative. Maybe this year, but not during those time span.

Again, the Celtics were underdogs against these teams, even against 44-38 Bucks that they met in the first round in Tatum's rookie season. People were already hailing SGA as "MVP" even though his team haven't proven anything substantial other than regular season wins which aren't even the best record in the league.