You are missing the forest for a blade of grass. OKC had a single, obvious, glaring shortcoming that reared its head game-after-game-after-game all season: Clearing the defensive glass. They needed another swing player like a hole in the head. When Chet comes off the floor, their "big man" is usually J-Dub or J-Will. For a team close to contention, that is crazy! Their 9-man rotation consists of Chet, Isaiah Joe + 7 swing players who mostly overlap with Gordon Hayward. Who gives a care if Hayward would have scored more? Their offense wasn't the problem. It was already the 3rd best in the NBA. This is from tonight but has been a running joke all season: He could have said "missed shot" instead, which would have been more accurate. Sam Presti is great at accumulating talent and assets, but he blundered at the trade deadline this year. The team was ahead of his schedule and he should have acted accordingly. No way around that.
The difference between me thinking and others is that you can achieve rebounding with beafier, bigger wings with length as well. You do not necessarily have 4 Centers like the Rockets. People oversee that the Mavericks played a different game in 4 out of 6 games and outclassed, outwitted and outhustled the Thunder and the Thunder were too complacent in their home games. The Mavericks treated OKC like it was their home turf and won 2 out of 3 in OKC. Boxing out is a technique, how is Yao not the best rebounder, I think we had that discussion many times, Yao had short arms for his record size. How is Dennis Worm Rodman the best rebounder of All Time at size 6'7 ?
Come out of the box and forget your hypothetical. OKC was killed all year by giving up offensive rebounds. Whatever theory you have didn't work for them. Your comment on the Rockets is pointless. I said OKC needed to add ONE rotational big who could reliably clear the defensive glass. They have zero right now.
And yet they are still good enough to take it to the Mavs.... The rebounding issues does not mean they cannot beat the Mavs.......they just did not hit their shots in 2 or 3 games......just watch the 3 point shooting numbers. They have bigs but I do not think they were up your alley. Keyontae Johnson, Kenrich Williams....... Biyombo was a gimmick.
Dennis Rodman? Seriously? I got news for you: He wasn't on OKC's roster and there hasn't ever been a player like him since. Ya know, they could have used him. Why even bother to bring him up? Yao was not the best rebounder because had very little lateral movement and covered such a small area of the floor. When the ball came almost straight to him, he had enough vertical to snag the rebound.. The main problem wasn't his boxing out technique or relatively short arms.
Dude, why you are harping on me, I was saying the same things lmao....just added more layers. Rebounding is a tool, you have to put the ball in the basketball and that is still called shooting. I brought up the Rockets because the Rockets this season were not the tallest team but they were among the best rebounding teams by sheer effort.
Kenrich Williams is a worse rebounder than Chet and Keyontae Johnson never played. They don't even count. You actually prove my point: If OKC was stronger in the middle, they win this series in 5 or 6. But they could not overcome (for lack of a better term) the broken foot of being rail thin in the middle. It's amazing they went as far as they did. A blown opportunity.
Watch how well the Mavs shot during most times of the Series and you will see a pattern. Yeah rebounding increase your possessions but you still have to stroke it and OKC could not shoot most of the series...... Especially their sharp shooters Isaiah Joe, Dort, Wiggins...... Jaylin Williams should have been the rebounder off the pine and he is 6'10 but he cannot rebound. And to boot Jay Dub and Chet were neutralized 3 out of 6 games.
Mavs shot better by a lot and played better Perimeter D on their shooters. They could have closed out at 4-1 but let go of their home game and lost by a few Free throws. 3 pt % 1st Game OKC 46% Mavs 34% 2nd Game OKC 33% Mavs 49% 3rd Game OKC 33% Mavs 33% 4th Game OKC 26% Mavs 34% 5th Game OKC 25% Mavs 40% 6th Game OKC 37% Mavs 47%
Rodman was a great rebounder because he was strong and just had great instincts for it. He used his strength for 'swim' moves like a lineman in American Football might pull off and you add that with just his instincts and quick jumping ability and you have Dennis Rodman. I mean heres a few pics of Rodman...you can see just on his arms alone dude maxed out all the strength he could have for his form. Spoiler Strength is a BIG deal when it comes to it since half of the battle is getting in the right spot and its harder to get to that spot if your opponent is just holding you off. For example, think of other rebounders like Ben Wallace, also was undersized but you just look at him and...yeah. Or even the round mound of rebound, Sir Charles, and Charles was 6'6 playing in a time with giant centers, but sometimes have a low base is a plus for strength, hard to move those guys out of the paint once they are in position. In the end, you can't rely on a wings to be good rebounders if they don't have experience doing it. Not over guys used to battling in the paint. Guys like Rodman (who is truly a super unique player) and Charles might be the size of wings but their playing career was them being used as bigs. So yeah, OKC definitely needs another big and help on the boards, especially since Chet isn't really amazing at it. They really can't rely on their wings there, it sounds good in theory but unless that wing is Lebron or Pippen or something (both strong guys again) it's not something you want to rely on.
They need a rebounder for sure but it is a horse now beaten to death numerous times. The Mavs just outshot the best 3 point shooting team and all the people are nitpicking are those rebounds in clutch time, well, OKC should have blown them out in at least 2-3 games if they were on their shooting A-Game. The MAVS also shut down Dub and Chet Holmgren successfully in most games. The MAVS not only outrebounded them, they also outplayed them and outshot them. Their bench outplayed OKC's bench. The Win over that ZIon less Pelican team had us overrate the Thunder, they are still not ready in the Playoffs but they are the youngest of the contenders and they have tons of time and picks.
Luka/Kyrie/PJ >> SGA/J-Dub/Chet Luka and Kyrie more experienced too. OKC was 100% not winning a series this year against Dallas.
This is why Mavs fans were saying this is 2011 all over again. that year they beat a thunder team who was just a little too early. similar this year although this Mavs team is not as vet heavy as that one. I think the Mavs might win it all. I hope they don't. But DFW people are seeing something very rare with all their teams outside the Cowboys going deep in the playoffs
Hope for a new Champ.....and there is only one team left that has never won in history. (Sorry Pacers) I hope the Stars do not win it too.......have my bet on Panthers or Oilers. Rangers might do as well.
Weird yet entertaining game, refs wanted a game 7 hence Luka stayed in the game, despite begging to get his 2nd technical. Refs knew they were trying to help OKC so understood Luka’s frustration. Didn’t matter in the end though when a lot of OKCs role players did not show up, Chet being the least effective. He was almost a non-factor on defense, which surprised me. On offense I was surprised too at the lack of lobs, but that’s also to the credit to their bigs. I wanted OKC to win, if only for not seeing Luka anymore. Harden can be whiny, but this guy takes the cake! What a pathetic player, really not fun to watch. Hope the Wolves advance and crush them!
