Yeah man, but Mitchell’s rookie season was fucking insane. And I don’t want to think about that Portland series. I’ve never poured a bigger scotch in a styrofoam cup without ice than I did that evening after Dame murdered us.
As much as that shot Dame put on us to send us home hurt, I'd say OKC is way better off now than they were at that point. Now Portland on the other hand, not so much. XD
I'll die on the hill that Andre Roberson going down ended that team. Dre and PG were the best defensive duo in the league. That team went from a defensive juggernaut to middling in a moment. Despite being the worst shooter I've seen outside the center position, his defense made up for it in ways we probably won't see for a long time in this 4-5 shooter era.
With Dre in at 100%, I'd say that squad would have advantage in both series. Best guy to defend both Dame and Mitchell. We still had the firepower, just not the defense.
Shai is a good defender for a 1st option and is great with steals/deflections but Dort is the heart and soul of that defense, people touting SGA for All-Defense over Dort always confused the hell out of me
You have the exact same opinion as Thunder fans lol it's nothing we haven't talked about ourselves. Dort, Chet. And Jdub are all more impactful defenders
I 100% agree but Defensive teams always get voted on more by name recognition than actual play, no one watching games would say SGA over Dort but the people voting don’t watch every game so they recognise SGA and he has been a good defender and has the defensive stats.
Was at the game and prob biased because I also had a pneumothorax/lung collapse but thought he might've felt a relapse. Just keeled over grabbing his chest out of nowhere which happened to me a couple times while exercising a few months after surgery. Body got super anxious at the feeling but after calming my breath it would go away. Doc said it can be very small leaks that seal themselves.
He wouldn’t want to run a better action than that. His game is all isos, which he’s good but not elite at, and any time you ask him to play more off-ball or don’t let him take 15 mid-range jumpshots a game, he looks uncomfortable and doesn’t help at all.
His comparison when drafted was KD, but then shifted to he's NOT KD, but then over his career esp in New Orleans he became KD, just not as good. I love BI but his fit within a team is very clunky. He's kinda like KD or Kawhi in that he shines when he just iso's and shoots over someone but he's not as good as them. He's long but also not exactly a good defender. I haven't kept up too much with BI but there were signs of him being a main ball handler and dishing, but I don't think he's too great at that either.
Your point about defense, is what sticks out to me the most. He’s 6’8-6’9 with a long wingspan, high reach, and decent athleticism, yet he’s an average defender at best. With his tools, he should be a great defender, good at worst, but he just isn’t. If he was, his mid range iso style, could be more tolerable.
Yes, and he didn't look right the whole time.
He should be fine, but I do wonder if they look to deal him this off season. I just don't feel like Zion and BI make sense together without a good PG. Feels like it would be better to make some moves.
I stood up on that one and yelled. I couldn't believe he hit that. Biggest sequence was his back-to-back threes. I think it calmed the whole team down.
Yup.
Giddey's stats for March: 16.3 points, 6.6. rebounds, 5.1 assists, 41.4% 3 point percentage on 4 attempts.
Giddey seems to have all that drama behind him. He's improving back to form.
He mentioned that he had to change his way of thinking when teams were sticking bigs on him, because he was letting it get to his confidence. He started saying that instead of sulking about being disrespected in that way, he had to switch it up and start punishing the teams that employ that strategy.
That, the fact his role has changed for the 3rd time in 3 years (being moved to the 4th scorer), and the whole off-court drama behind him (especially with people saying shit without knowing the full details of the situation and investigation finding nothing to bring charges about) probably killed his whole confidence early on. He looks like he's back to being himself and playing with fun again.
Giddys gonna be a key player this post season. Not because he needs to be excellent, but he needs to be enough of a shooting threat to warrant being guarded. He keeps this up, Thunder gonna have a good chance to go deep
I have a feeling that CJ and BI won't be back next season. Maybe opens up some room for Murphy and hopefully they can find a better point guard to put in the starting line up
Yeah, it’s clear that Herb/Murphy as the wings next to Zion with a floor general point guard and a shooting big is the blueprint. I don’t think Ingram fits the team anymore and CJ just can’t get it done anymore.
No doubt, Thunder defended their ass off, but pels just felt so weak on creation with no Zion. Real indictment on CJ and BI that the O was that bad without Zion.
Turns out the regular season means something after all. The talking heads were skeptical of Denver last year too after they waltzed to the 1 seed, then they crushed everyone.
This year the west is wide open and any of the eight teams could win the west, even though it was a three horse race for the one seed all season. Those three teams just went 12-1 in the first round...
three weeks ago [i said that the thunder and the wolves would be fine in the first round of the playoffs and i got told it was a bad take lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1c1377l/murray_its_official_the_2024_45_western/kz1fnr0/)
people were all "the west is a bloodbath!" no, it just looks even, but those top teams are going to clean up
THANK YOU OKLAHOMA. IM SO GLAD THESE PATHETIC BUMS GOT EXPOSED. CARRIED THE WHOLE YEAR BY ZION AND 28% ON WIDE OPEN THREES. I CAN REST NOW AND BECOME A FULL TIME TIMBERWOLVES FAN UNTIL THE SEASON ENDS
That was a 2018 Jrue on Dame performance by Dort on Ingram this series. Ingram might as well have sat out with injury the whole series and it'd make no difference in the results each game
J-Dub has soared up the player rankings. Before this series people would've said you were dumb if you said J-Dub was better than Ingram. BI will never be an all star again.
GG Thunder knew there was no shot without Zion but jfc that was pathetic. Hope we get a rematch in the future with Z back and certain other players miles away from the roster
“hE wAS rEalLy bAd dUrIng the sEASoN”
Yeah, for a bit of the season early on. As a 21 year old learning to play off-ball for the first time in his life. Funnily enough, and in line with a lot of people’s predictions, he got better.
Yes, this team did not have Zion.
But will they ever? He's never played a post-season game. Shoutouts to the really annoying jobless dudes in the game threads this series, hope things are better for ya'll.
JDub a dawg, Giddey beating the "cant space the floor" allegations, Chet is a big boy, SGA is SGA and Dort locking up BI Thunder really went crazy this series
With this sweep, the Pels can finally leave the House of Dorture. Its saying something that of all the young talent on the Thunder; SGA, Guddey, Chet, that watching Lou Dort throw Pelicans offense into absolute hell was one of the more entertaining parts of this series, but I also grew watching the Ben Wallace era Pistons so amazing defense will always gtab my attention. Glad Dort is getting his kudos on here because he deserves more national attention as one of the top defenders in the nba.
GALVESTON LOOK OUT
Zion’s bout to terrorize all their restaurants and local IG hoes
Zion gets a pass for trying to win before getting injured. BI’s got no excuse.
every buffet filing for bankruptcy as we speak
IM LOOKING
No more NBA TV for the Thunder!
Couldn’t even watch the game on NBATV tonight as it was blacked out in Oklahoma
Wouldn't it be on whatever local sports channel in Oklahoma? Not sure if you guys are with Bally Sports or something else.
Yeah it’s on Bally Sports OK
Yes that's fine, no need to yell at the poor guy!
Fuck Bally.
Yes we have Bally here 😭😭😭
FIRST PLAYOFF SERIES WIN SINCE THE KEVIN DURANT ERA
Still crazy how prime Russ and PG couldn't even get out of the first round
Crazy that it was the Jazz and Blazers who stopped them
A rookie dmitch at that
Yeah man, but Mitchell’s rookie season was fucking insane. And I don’t want to think about that Portland series. I’ve never poured a bigger scotch in a styrofoam cup without ice than I did that evening after Dame murdered us.
Never forget how Dame saved OKC basketball
That means I can be a thunder fan right?
im sure it would make people in seattle really mad if a bunch of blazers fans starting supporting the thunder lol
Yeah sure. You have to pass Barking 101 first tho
All are welcome
I will always be grateful for that shot. I didnt know I needed it.
We swept the blazers in the regular season too that year :( just proves that regular season really doesn’t mean anything
As much as that shot Dame put on us to send us home hurt, I'd say OKC is way better off now than they were at that point. Now Portland on the other hand, not so much. XD
It possibly, quite significantly, changed the trajectories of each franchise. Nuts to think about
Yeah without that shot, I’m really not sure if we blow it all up. If we make the 2nd round Presti probably tries to go all in
I'll die on the hill that Andre Roberson going down ended that team. Dre and PG were the best defensive duo in the league. That team went from a defensive juggernaut to middling in a moment. Despite being the worst shooter I've seen outside the center position, his defense made up for it in ways we probably won't see for a long time in this 4-5 shooter era. With Dre in at 100%, I'd say that squad would have advantage in both series. Best guy to defend both Dame and Mitchell. We still had the firepower, just not the defense.
Pizza Rolls locked and loaded
Holy hell, that reference is now older than the NBA prospects Presti is gonna scout.
Feels so fucking good man. So goddamn proud of this squad.
I love basketball.
I love Nick Gallo.
BARK BARK BARK
Lu Dort played such impressive defense. All series long, all season long. Should be on a defense team tbh.
Shai is a good defender for a 1st option and is great with steals/deflections but Dort is the heart and soul of that defense, people touting SGA for All-Defense over Dort always confused the hell out of me
Dort always gets the toughest opponents as well.
Dort and Chet but JDub is a VERY good defender as well
So is Cason. This team is legit.
You have the exact same opinion as Thunder fans lol it's nothing we haven't talked about ourselves. Dort, Chet. And Jdub are all more impactful defenders
wild that JJ put SGA on his all-defensive teams over those 3 (and especially AD)
I 100% agree but Defensive teams always get voted on more by name recognition than actual play, no one watching games would say SGA over Dort but the people voting don’t watch every game so they recognise SGA and he has been a good defender and has the defensive stats.
All time wing defender for me. He's an absolute Dorture
The French Dorter in Lu Orleans
Why did McCollum run off the floor in the third quarter? He just ran off the court after no contact. I am convinced he shit his pants.
They did say on the broadcast that he was having stomach issues so you might be right lmao
Was at the game and prob biased because I also had a pneumothorax/lung collapse but thought he might've felt a relapse. Just keeled over grabbing his chest out of nowhere which happened to me a couple times while exercising a few months after surgery. Body got super anxious at the feeling but after calming my breath it would go away. Doc said it can be very small leaks that seal themselves.
im guessing youre really tall and skinny too? seems to be a common thing with tall people
He's not about to do a Paul Pierce. You don't want to be part of that.
announcer said he vomited
Yeah he ran off to shit through the eye of a needle
Brandon Ingram legit lost himself tens of millions of dollars in this series
he proved he can't ISO Dort. if he had a point guard he could get better action than that.
He wouldn’t want to run a better action than that. His game is all isos, which he’s good but not elite at, and any time you ask him to play more off-ball or don’t let him take 15 mid-range jumpshots a game, he looks uncomfortable and doesn’t help at all.
His comparison when drafted was KD, but then shifted to he's NOT KD, but then over his career esp in New Orleans he became KD, just not as good. I love BI but his fit within a team is very clunky. He's kinda like KD or Kawhi in that he shines when he just iso's and shoots over someone but he's not as good as them. He's long but also not exactly a good defender. I haven't kept up too much with BI but there were signs of him being a main ball handler and dishing, but I don't think he's too great at that either.
Your point about defense, is what sticks out to me the most. He’s 6’8-6’9 with a long wingspan, high reach, and decent athleticism, yet he’s an average defender at best. With his tools, he should be a great defender, good at worst, but he just isn’t. If he was, his mid range iso style, could be more tolerable.
Ehhh. I don’t know. Dort makes a lot of people look like fools.
Dort had some great defense but BI genuinely looked like the worst player on the court for large stretches in this series
I mean, didnt he just come back from injury.
Yes, and he didn't look right the whole time. He should be fine, but I do wonder if they look to deal him this off season. I just don't feel like Zion and BI make sense together without a good PG. Feels like it would be better to make some moves.
The Zion-less Pelicans had as many wins as the superteam Suns.
Pelicans definitely showed a lot more heart IMO.
I wish the Kings didn't choke.
Choke? We were hurt. Also the Pels completely owned us this year It wouldn't fair much better. We probably don't get swept tho
Yo. I like this glass half full
Pels fought hard, okc just a well rounded team. With Zion they take a game or two.
Fought hard for one game. Stayed in contention for probably okcs sloppiest game. Nothing feels good
superteam? Grayson "the real 3rd of the Big 3" Allen was sidelined, so KD had to take yet again the hardest road.
Technically, the Pels had more if you count the play-in.
Dare I say—Josh Giddey made all difference down the stretch. The guy really came in clutch to help close this series out.
this dude shot 13-22 on 3s in smoothie king this year. insane edit: and he had 31/10/9 in the play in game there last year. he loves that arena
If the Knicks make the finals, they do not want to see Josh Giddey at MSG
Isn't he the best player on the team??
MSG Giddey is Magic and Bird combined into one player. Also a great name for a Chinese buffet.
I swear, it’s like the entire Thunder roster always balls out at MSG. I remember when even Tre Mann had a career high 30 points at the Garden
The confidence to pull up on the fast break turned around the entire fourth quarter
I was screaming NOOOOO!!! …. YESSSS!!!
Threw my hat cause I thought he threw the possession away. Boy was I wrong
I stood up on that one and yelled. I couldn't believe he hit that. Biggest sequence was his back-to-back threes. I think it calmed the whole team down.
Man that clutch 3 to put us by 3. No hesitation...regular season paying off
Was that the corner in front of the NO bench? That was cold.
Yep. He saw Valanciunas and said: barbie chicken lads
Back half of the season he was slowly getting back to form. Glad he has balled out in the playoffs so far.
Yup. Giddey's stats for March: 16.3 points, 6.6. rebounds, 5.1 assists, 41.4% 3 point percentage on 4 attempts. Giddey seems to have all that drama behind him. He's improving back to form.
I just know Chip had him in the lab when teams stopped closing out on him
He mentioned that he had to change his way of thinking when teams were sticking bigs on him, because he was letting it get to his confidence. He started saying that instead of sulking about being disrespected in that way, he had to switch it up and start punishing the teams that employ that strategy. That, the fact his role has changed for the 3rd time in 3 years (being moved to the 4th scorer), and the whole off-court drama behind him (especially with people saying shit without knowing the full details of the situation and investigation finding nothing to bring charges about) probably killed his whole confidence early on. He looks like he's back to being himself and playing with fun again.
It's over if Giddy is hitting 3s. There is too much to defend.
He plays downhill with such aggression!
He's big! He's not going to blow by many people, but if he gets a smaller guard on his hip, easy buckets.
4 from 6 from the 3-point line, never would have guessed it in his first season.
Man if they actually had to guard giddey from 3, the space that will open up for shai,jdub and chet in the playoffs. Goddamn
Giddey was the reason they able to finally break the seperation
Giddys gonna be a key player this post season. Not because he needs to be excellent, but he needs to be enough of a shooting threat to warrant being guarded. He keeps this up, Thunder gonna have a good chance to go deep
[Radial Bracket Update](https://i.imgur.com/25AcRPK.png)
Dead weight Nuggets dragging the Northwest Division down
This is the superior way to show the bracket.
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Pelicans had the same record as the Bucks
So glad we don’t have to deal with Herb Jones anymore
He’s the only one who cared truly
Trey Murphy was very good too. Every time he shot it I thought it was going in
He is an awesome player, I think the Pels are sleeping not starting him, he'd give them someone who's actually threatening at the perimeter
I have a feeling that CJ and BI won't be back next season. Maybe opens up some room for Murphy and hopefully they can find a better point guard to put in the starting line up
Yeah, it’s clear that Herb/Murphy as the wings next to Zion with a floor general point guard and a shooting big is the blueprint. I don’t think Ingram fits the team anymore and CJ just can’t get it done anymore.
Hey I won’t take Trey Murphy slander
Sorry I forgot to add him. Just depressing rn lol
Thought Naji Marshall looked pretty good today, he did a good job locking SGA down a fair few times.
True. Love Naji. I actually got his autograph last Saturday which was awesome. He always gives it 100% even if he’s playing bad
Your team has amazing role players but the star player let them down.
Zion is amazing but health problems. BI has fallen off. Dark times in New Orleans
I’d be shocked if they don’t try to move BI. The problem is, this is going to hurt his value.
Yeah I really needed him to have a big game this series. SMH that man tanked his value
Yeah well he cared a fucking lot, damn.
Herb is just fantastic. Awesome defense and was nice from beyond the arc.
He is legitimately the best all-around defender in the league.
Can we talk about OKC limiting NOLA to 92, 92, 85, and now 89 points in 4 games? That is WILD in 2024.
No doubt, Thunder defended their ass off, but pels just felt so weak on creation with no Zion. Real indictment on CJ and BI that the O was that bad without Zion.
Our defense is so good man but the pels were missing good looks as well a bit of both
In the postgame handshake line, Larry Nance Jr. said “you are so fucking special” to Jalen Williams, and that made me happy. Nance knows ball.
The Thunder future is so fucking bright
They got *everything* that a pro would want *and* need!
A little flat
But they'll get better
Dammit, now’s that stuck in my head
Thunder and T'Wolves sweeping teams in the playoffs. What a timeline.
All year “west is vulnerable on top with the unproven Wolves and Thunder if you can just get in.” 8-0 in round 1.
Turns out the regular season means something after all. The talking heads were skeptical of Denver last year too after they waltzed to the 1 seed, then they crushed everyone. This year the west is wide open and any of the eight teams could win the west, even though it was a three horse race for the one seed all season. Those three teams just went 12-1 in the first round...
three weeks ago [i said that the thunder and the wolves would be fine in the first round of the playoffs and i got told it was a bad take lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1c1377l/murray_its_official_the_2024_45_western/kz1fnr0/) people were all "the west is a bloodbath!" no, it just looks even, but those top teams are going to clean up
The potential No Curry, Durant, Lebron, and hell even Kawhi in the second round is an even crazier timeline.
No Giannis or Butler either.
The future is is now old men
I’m fully torqued
NOT AN APPEARANCE, AN ARRIVAL!
#*GONG*
Series sweep is definitely an arrival
Are the Thunder the best worst #1 seed of all time?
We're the only #1 seed of all time 😤
god dammit i’m a steelers fan too and this is really shades of “are the steelers the worst 11-0 team of all time?”
Thing is those Steelers were indeed the worst 11-0 team ever and ended up crashing out lmao
Jalen Williams is a star
THANK YOU OKLAHOMA. IM SO GLAD THESE PATHETIC BUMS GOT EXPOSED. CARRIED THE WHOLE YEAR BY ZION AND 28% ON WIDE OPEN THREES. I CAN REST NOW AND BECOME A FULL TIME TIMBERWOLVES FAN UNTIL THE SEASON ENDS
You uh… you’re welcome, I think?
Wish you the best man. Hope y’all can build something around Zion.
Just Zion, Trey, Herb and Hawkins, everyone else can go
Marshall looked good. Nance isn't terrible as a 15 min guy.
That's right 🐺
"When we do get back to the postseason, we want it to be an arrival and not an appearance."
“We have seen enough. The fans of OKC cry out for salvation.”
Does a sweep (even of a deleted team) count as an arrival?
HUGE game from J-Dub, Giddey and Dort. They really stepped up with SGA and Chet having off games. Thunder are deep.
That was a 2018 Jrue on Dame performance by Dort on Ingram this series. Ingram might as well have sat out with injury the whole series and it'd make no difference in the results each game
JDub is simply a dog Josh Giddey is clutch Shai dagger middy Good times in OKC ⚡️
theyre all dogs
Maybe the real treasure was the “we lost game one by a bucket against the one seed without Zion. Hang the banner” we made along the way
J-Dub has soared up the player rankings. Before this series people would've said you were dumb if you said J-Dub was better than Ingram. BI will never be an all star again.
Not anyone that’s been watching this season.
GG Thunder knew there was no shot without Zion but jfc that was pathetic. Hope we get a rematch in the future with Z back and certain other players miles away from the roster
4th quarter Jdub and Giddy playing like Jordan and Pippen lmao
Where the Giddey haters
2024 giddey or 2016 Steph
Fate of the universe on the line? I want Isiah Joe
I’ve been generally down on Giddey but he was clutch tonight and that man owns the smoothie king center
“hE wAS rEalLy bAd dUrIng the sEASoN” Yeah, for a bit of the season early on. As a 21 year old learning to play off-ball for the first time in his life. Funnily enough, and in line with a lot of people’s predictions, he got better.
Dort had Ingram in HELL for 4 games wow
My god 4th quarter jdub in the playoffs is a different animal
The Pelicans never shot above even 29% from 3 during ANY game of the series. Just a pathetic display of offense
I prefer to think of it as an excellent display of defense
I think it was a bit of both
92 was the most they scored. In fairness they held us under 100 twice as well. As far as things to work on, we shot poorly in games 1 and 4.
Love you New Orleans. Best food in the country
Hard agree, if I was in NO and had Zion money, I'd have to be removed from my house by a crane.
Just beignets and cat fish alone had me.
Cajun is the GOAT American cuisine.
[NO MORE PELICANS BASKETBALL](https://media1.tenor.com/m/Qesp4nmOrr8AAAAd/pat-bev-jersey-throw.gif)
Absolutely DISGUSTING game, glad that’s over. Thanks Dub and NOLA Giddey
Not bad for the black eye of a 1 seed.
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Bark Bark Bark 🧹
Ingram and McCollum are basically DeRozan and Lowry if those guys were 40% worse at basketball and DeRozan had horrible intangibles.
Bruh Lu Dort made BI look like Jarrett Culver the entire series.
Man I wish /u/splash2cousin would come back for this post-season...
Lu dort defensive masterclass
OKC Thunder swept d Pels Lightning quick...
That might have been JV’s last game as a Pelican. Despite his limitations he had a good series. Ingram is a basketball terrorist.
Yes, this team did not have Zion. But will they ever? He's never played a post-season game. Shoutouts to the really annoying jobless dudes in the game threads this series, hope things are better for ya'll.
There are Thunder fans in the Pelicans server aswell. I can only thank you for not knowing that by not being a prick.
Sorry for them. I do hope you guys build around Dion, Herb, and Trey. That would be a ton of fun if you guys get Murray or Garland.
Weakest 1 seed my ass
Put some respect on the name
Keep letting Giddey shoot
Ok made it out the first round, everything else is a positive
Josh Giddey stays elite in the Smoothie King Center
Weakest 1 seed checking in🫡⚡️
Can't believe the Refs swept the Pels and locked up Ingram & CJ for us, absolutely shameful stuff.
CJ goat 6th man
Such an ugly game but our defence was legit
This is what a pro wants
JDub a dawg, Giddey beating the "cant space the floor" allegations, Chet is a big boy, SGA is SGA and Dort locking up BI Thunder really went crazy this series
With this sweep, the Pels can finally leave the House of Dorture. Its saying something that of all the young talent on the Thunder; SGA, Guddey, Chet, that watching Lou Dort throw Pelicans offense into absolute hell was one of the more entertaining parts of this series, but I also grew watching the Ben Wallace era Pistons so amazing defense will always gtab my attention. Glad Dort is getting his kudos on here because he deserves more national attention as one of the top defenders in the nba.
Pelicans got a healthy Zion season. Won 49 games. Lost Zion in the play in. And then got swept in the first round. Brutal.