‘OKC ANSWERED THE CALL’ – Stephen A. says Thunder are the favorites after Game 4 win | NBA Countdown

‘OKC ANSWERED THE CALL’ – Stephen A. says Thunder are the favorites after Game 4 win | NBA Countdown

Well, it wasn’t pretty, but Oklahoma City got it done behind 256 and six from Sheay Gildis Alexander answering the call. You heard him in his interview with George Sedano right there. He said that every game is do or die. Every game is must win. And that’s certainly the case. They wanted to avoid going down 3-1. And now this series feels a whole lot different, tied at 22. And it really once again came down to the play of these two teams down the stretch. In game three, it was a totally different story for SGA. In the final six minutes, he didn’t score in game four today. He has eight points. Stephen A, you challenged him to step up. He did just that. I thought he did. I thought he did when it counted. He made sure his presence was felt and and that’s why I think that he is the imminent MVP. But let’s also give credit to the bench for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Caruso, Wiggins, Wallace. Um they ultimately contribute to you outscoring uh Denver like 35 to8 in the bench. And so I think that you have to look at that level of contribution. It was not a good shooting game by either squad. One both of them shot 24.4% from three-point range, but ultimately as SGA highlighted, we hang our hats on defense. We knew what we could do against them defensively. That’s what they did and they got help from their bench and that’s how they got it done. Well, I mean, not just giving them some credit. The bench won them the game today, right? Alice Caruso championship experience getting it done on both ends of the floor. That damn Kase Wallace, I love him to death. Timely threes, right? When they was making that run to get back in the game, defended Jamal Murray at a high pick on a uh at a high level, especially in the twoman action and then all of a sudden you see SGA take him home cuz I was getting pissed off at SGA. Uh it was three straight possessions I was yelling at the TV. It was horrible. We heard you down the hall. Yeah, it was horrible possessions by by him. But again, sometimes you got to go get wins and they got to be ugly wins. They got to be in the trenches. That’s what OKC did tonight cuz they hang their heads on the defensive side. OKC hit 10 three-pointers for the game. The bench, the three guys that I mentioned, hit eight of them. Eight of them. When you look at the the shooting percentages, when I say that, uh 76.9% on free throws, 24% on threes, 35% from the field. That’s what the winning team shot in this game. So, this was as perk, you would say, as as down in the mud as it gets. But I posed this question on Countdown. Is it possible that Nicola Joic, a three-time MVP, could have a third sort of clunker by his standards in a row? And it looked that way. Is fatigue catching up with him here, Perk? It is. And look, this is But this is credit to the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is a team that gets physical with you, right? Multiple bodies. Starting with Isel Hardenstein. Then you go to Jay Will, Jaylen Williams off the bench who comes in and he has six fouls. And I guarantee you they telling them all six fouls need to be used because you’re playing physical with Jokic, right? And then you have Alex Caruso with the activity and the active hands. The one thing about this Thunder team that I love is one of the deflections, but it was a contest that SGA had early in the game on Joic. Joic had like a little floater in the lane and SGA came out of nowhere and altered the shot and I’m just like you can’t teach that, right? And so I don’t know if Jokic is going to be able to find his way in this series to be honest with you. I don’t never want to, you know, they never bet against but yeah, I don’t view it as fatigue. I differ from from Big Perk in that regard. I don’t view it as fatigue on the part of Jokic. If you remember weeks ago leading into the playoffs, I pointed out like nine different categories that Oklahoma City’s defense was number one in. Loose ball, steals, everything. I mean, my god, they were like a bunch of piranhas. Okay, watch them guardic. One minute is Hardstein, another minute is Williams. It’s somebody else while he’s holding the ball. The second he puts the ball on the floor, there’s six hands in the vicinity. They’re constantly looking at him. And so, as a result, when you kick it out to the other cats, whether it’s Jamal Murray, whether it’s Aaron Gordon, whether it’s Michael Porter Jr., or to a lesser degree a Russell Westbrook or somebody you’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to make a play. If you don’t make a play, you’re going to lean on Jokic Moore to come to the rescue. And in a series like this where you got a bunch of young thoroughbreds throwing their bodies at him, then it’s a lot even to ask of him because their hands are everywhere and they’re cat quick and as a result they can push the ball back to the floor. So, not only are they threatening to take the ball from you, they’re forcing you to run back on defense because they’re getting steals and they’re getting stops. Yeah, we saw that adjustment that Mark Dagonal made making it so that we’re seeing a lot more of a Isaiah Hartenstein on Joic and less of a Chad Homegrren gets to play a little bit more free safety. Perk, if I remember correctly, when you won a championship in 2008, didn’t two of those series on the way go the distance, seven games? Yeah, the first two series. And so at at what point this is going to go to at least six and this has all the makings of just down scratch claw long type of series. At what point does that start to wear on you? Denver Nuggets, they just went the seven game distance in the first round. Well, it does, but that’s when your mental toughness kick in. And then all of a sudden, like we’re getting to the point now of this series where it’s it’s I know this may sound crazy, but it’s no more game planning that you can do. There’s no more schemes that you could come up with. Every guy know what every guy is going to do that you’re defending. The Oklahoma City Thunder knows that uh Denver is going to come with the zone. They know that they need to empty out a corner and have this like everything. Now it’s about who wanted the most, right? And when it comes down to Joic, that’s what I’m talking about with fatigue. Think about what he’s had to do the entire season, right? Carrying this team, right? putting his team on his back, being the offense, being the system. Even last series, Big Zubac, think about that seven game series of of bumping and grinding down low with Big Zubac. Now all of a sudden, you got three more horses that you got to deal with. That’s why it’s vital for guys like Murray and Porter to step up offensively. And then key part tonight, Aaron Gordon, when he scores over 20 points, the Denver Nuggets, they win games. Tonight he was held under 20 points and they lost. Look at Zubaka. Look how big that brother was. I mean, he weighs almost as much as the three dudes he mentioned on Oklahoma City for crying out loud. That’s how big Zubac is. So, I get where you’re coming from in that regard. But I think that when what Denver has shown when they’re hitting shots, it elevates their level of confidence because they’re confident they could get a stop here or there against that Oklahoma City offense, which doesn’t seem to have the level of continuity and seamlessness that we would like. We know what SGA could do, but we also know how they’ve neutralized them to some degree offensively, but they hang their hat on defense. So, if OKC has a difficult time stopping Denver, then it elevates Denver’s confidence and puts them in a position where they really emboldened and they feel they could get it done. That’s why I think this series has a a game seven written all over it. I don’t think you’ll see either team shooting this badly the rest of the series, which means if Denver gets their offense clicking, they’re good to get another game. You know, the same for OKC. The question is who’s gonna get you two, right, to advance to the conference. And road teams have been getting it done this postseason. The road teams, they have won 28 games. The home teams, they have won 28 games. So, we’re at 500 across the board in what has been just a wild postseason. But I asked you at the top of NBA countdown, Stephen A, and you said, Malikica, be patient. I need to watch the game first. I asked you, OKC, even after the last two games when they were down 2-1, they’re still the favorites at ESPN Sports Book to come out of the Western Conference and go the distance. I said, should they be? You said I needed to watch this game. What do you think now? Well, I think they should be the favorites now because they reclaimed homec court advantage and that’s what I needed to see. I needed them to come after a devastating loss like they had in game three. Are you going to answer the call and respond to that challenge and be on the road in that high altitude in the mile high city and steal a game to reclaim homec court advantage? Are you dealing are you ready to deal with that kind of adversity? They answered the call. So, they basically validated what ESPN bet said about them. They’re the favorites. They should be able to win this series from here on out. I think it’ll take seven, but they should be able to do it. I think it’s going six. Um, when I look at OK one, that that crowd is going to be fired up in OKC. We know they have one of the best fan bases in the NBA, one of the loudest arenas, but I’m I’m just looking at OKC and that finding themselves too many weapons. We’re talking about their bench tonight, right? Like, we’re going to be talking about SGA. Like, he still haven’t had his viral moment. like he had a solid performance but not to the level that we hold him at and I just don’t see Jokic coming out of this slump. I think fatigue is really kicking in and them young Bulls is not going to stop. I ain’t b against show. Game five is Tuesday.

Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins join Malika Andrews on NBA Countdown to react to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 92-87 Game 4 win against the Denver Nuggets.

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