2025 WEST FINALS: (1) Oklahoma City Thunder Vs. (6) Minnesota Timberwolves

Dude Caruso is a piece of ****

he’s crazy dirty and needs to chill sometimes

 

Snap, Freddie Thundery.

 

I always wonder how the league designates which guys can get away with 5x the physicality of everyone else

 

lol

drugs are bad bro

 

Guess you're one of those "NO MIDRANGE SHOTS" Moreyball cultists from back then lol.

 

Not really - but I’m not gonna say it’s the “key” to winning playoff series.

keep in mind we had cp3 swishing mid range on our team and anyone who was good at it was allowed to do it.

 

OKC’s offense is so bad in the playoffs…they shoot like us

 

Wtf was that Julius Randle 2k graphic?

 

They actually had a rule that ONLY CP3 could take those shots or rather that it was basically just for him to do but I don't want to revisit this.

Just that whole period people were fooled that traditional things don't matter anymore and this playoffs is turning out that yes, it does help to have a defensive center, yes size still matters, yes the mid range still matters, yes defense is vital. Teams went way too far in that 3s or nothing positionless basketball that worked for the Warriors but not many teams had Curry and Klay then later Durant.

My only thing is I wish the organization would have let Harden work on his midrange ability a lot more, he could have been an even deadlier scorer than he was. Like half of SGA's game is in the midrange and yes the other half is foul baiting...

And Jalen Green would benefit TREMENDOUSLY if he had a pull up mid range shot or a floater or something, it can't be just layups and threes, that's easier for a keyed in playoff defense to stop.

 

SGA 2-14 while foul baiting every shot lol

 

OKC shooting 38% from the field, and a measly 3-8 from deep

Wolves shooting 36% from the field, but 10-27 from deep

 

I'm excited for Malika and Perk's halftime analysis.

 

They are a very young team which means their playoff performance will likely degrade a lot from the regular season. This is why people who have made them a "significant" favorite to win the title are wrong IMO.

That said, part of the problem is the T-Wolves defense is really good, way better than the Nuggets and Grizzlies.

I expect this series to be an ugly grindfest where both offenses will struggle. Poise, limiting TOs and rebounding will be the determining factors.

T-Wolves defense must feel like shock therapy to him. I think he'll adapt and start being efficient but the rest of their team probably won't.

 

Fun to see that replay graphic of SGA using his off arm to draw contact/create separation. It's literally part of his dribbling motion.

 

35 of the Wolves 52 shot attempts have been threes…hideous basketball

 

There's no way to guard SGA if he's allowed to extend a chicken wing before the shot. Call the foul, please.

 

welcome to the new NBA…

 

Divincenzo and Alexander-Walker selling hard smh.

 

The way SGA plays bball is pathetic

 

@JayGoogle is right…and guess what the results back him up

this years rockets team is a bad example of it, I wish they’d cut down 90% of the bad midrange shots, but for a championship team you need to have a middie game