Thunder have been ‘disappointing’ after failing to close out Nuggets in Game 6 | BREAKFAST BALL

Thunder have been ‘disappointing’ after failing to close out Nuggets in Game 6 | BREAKFAST BALL

Ah, my faith never wavered, boys. Not for one second. As the Nook Nuggets took down the Thunder last night, forced game seven on Sunday. Joker did his thing, 29 points. Murray poured in 25. And my guy Julian Strather, I’ve been talking about him forever, came out of nowhere off the bench with 15. So, are you guys surprised, disrespectful question, um, that the Thunder couldn’t finish off my Nuggets? Yes, I am a little surprised, but I’m also a little surprised that you, sir, it’s it’s embarrass. It’s embarrassing what you’re doing. Little bit. It’s a small It’s a small amount of embarrassing. Why would it? You picked the thunder on the show yesterday. Well, that was for motivational purposes. Motivational purpos. I’m sorry. I underestimated you yet again. And congratulations on all of your success. Listen, I’ve been as big of a Thunder supporter as there has been. It is a historic regular season. You cannot take that away from them. I would have given Shay the MVP. We’ll see if he wins it. We’ll see when they present that award. There still is no announcement. Could be a little awkward if they do it before game seven and then Joker ends up winning it, but the Thunder have disappointed me. They haven’t been quite what I thought they were, and I still think they’re going to win the title. Yeah, but it was a sweep of Memphis that wasn’t easy. And then now this is game seven when the Nuggets were coming off a tough sevengame series and they had all the dysfunction and this has then been a classic NBA series. Like we’ve seen this at tale as old as time. The supporting cast, so I’ve removed SGA and Joker from these stats. When the games are in Denver, the role players, players 2 through 12 for the Nuggets have been better than the Thunder. And last night your guy straw there. And then Jaylen Williams on Oklahoma City had six points on 16 shots. And then the games in Oklahoma City, and this is why I think the Thunder will ultimately win game seven. The supporting cast has been 18 points per game better for Oklahoma City. Crazy efficient, crazy good. I didn’t The thing is, I’ve seen this a hundred times in my life watching playoff basketball. Oh, the role players play better at home. They struggle on the road. That’s just a tale as old as time. I thought the Thunder were too good for that. I didn’t think that was going to bite them this early in the playoffs. So now with game seven, man, your team has the best player. They definitely can win. And last night they had a couple of signature moments. Yeah. And they have had some fourth quarter struggles and they’ve been leaning in to Michael Porter Jr. and he is only there to shoot the basketball. He’s a defensive liability and he hasn’t been shooting the ball well. And I’m telling you what, David Adelman made a big- time decision in the fourth quarter last night to say, “Hey, Michael Porter Jr., take some time off because we’re going with some of our young guys. And they did that fourth quarter last couple of games. You see Michael Porter Jr. had zero points. He had zero minutes going in or zero 23 minutes, zero points. He had zero minutes in the fourth quarter. They leaned on Payton Watson. They le leaned on Strather. And those guys showed up. Not only the energy and the defense that they brought, but Strather was money good. 10 points in the fourth quarter, not only from inside, but downtown as well, knocking down threes. I’m telling this is the difference maker. So, it was Adelman making a decision to sit down a guy who’s got a max contract in Michael Porter Jr. and saying, “We’re going with a young guy. We’re going with a couple young guys late to give us energy to give us production.” That doesn’t work in another game. That works once. No, no, no. It No, no, it works once. It work It doesn’t work twice. Campaign had that great game for the Knicks. works once, hasn’t had a great one since. It works once and you could get away with it once. The Celtics, same thing. They guys who were never on the court, you know, in big moments and oh, look at this. All of a sudden, you’re getting uh, you know, seven block shots and eight points or whatever it was. So, you got it once, but if you think you’re going to Oklahoma City and winning. Yes, I do. And you do, which is crazy to me because you also said they were going to be eliminated last night. That was for motivation. That was for motivation. They’re winning on the road in a place where Oklahoma City doesn’t lose all that much. I lost in game one. Yes. But like single digit losses all year uh in that building on the seven point 7 and 1 half point favorites and they should win the game by double digits. You better get MPJ on the court. He’s going to have to play. He’s gonna have to make outside shots if you have a chance to win because the one thing that has come very I think clear and we expected what Danny showed is is appro big minutes in playoff games. You can lock in now what you’re getting out of Joker. You can pretty much lock in, you know, low to mid 20 points out of Murray at this stage of his career this year with all the injuries he’s had. But you have no idea what you’re getting out of the other guys, right? Westbrook could score 30. He might go up for 12. You just don’t know. Uh and the same for Oklahoma City. Williams coming off his worst game as a Thunder. I couldn’t he played yesterday. So to me, you have to get career type games out of your role players in game seven on the road. But all the pressure, I don’t I never agree with house money when you’re in an elimination game because you have a lot to lose, too. You have a chance to go to the Western Conference Finals and maybe advance on to another NBA championship. So, this is not one of those things where it’s like the young upstart team that had no expectations coming into the year and now here we are in a game seven and all the pressurees on Oklahoma City. Most of it is, but you have a lot to lose to. And I do not think the Denver Nuggets are going into Oklahoma City and beating the Thunder in game seven. I just don’t. So I I don’t either. But we know that it’s but we know it’s possible, man. We have to concede it. Anything it’s possible. Anything can happen in one game. And unlike if Nick Celtics goes to seven, you know, the argument would obviously still be that the best player Jaylen Brunson is on the Knicks in this game seven. The best player is on the Nuggets. And if Denver does win this game, game one of the Western Conference Finals is in Denver and you’re the team that will be the only one alive with a championship and a finals appearance. There is a side story to this conversation I think we have to have. The NBA now is in a very interesting position because we all agree the top two guys for MVP voting are going to be SGA, Oklahoma City, and Joker for Denver. They’re going to come one two regardless of who’s one and who’s two. The NBA should not announce the winner of that award until after game seven because announcing it and giving it to either guy changes the spectre for the other guy going into game seven. The NBA should not f with that. They should wait till Monday and they should give out the award after this series is over. I mean it’d be it’d be pretty sweet theater though, man. Yes. And it’d be his there’s I I told you about the historical precedent. David Robinson against Hakee Elijahan. When Elijahan had won it, they gave it to David Robinson. That was before game one. And then Hakee Elijahan came out and destroyed. And that’s my point. So bigger guy. You give the award to Joker. If I’m SGA, screw that. I extra motivation. But it’s game seven. How much more motivation do you need? It’s just that’s human nature. Human nature is going to be for more SJA because he’s never won one. Your guys got three. So, it’s a little bit different. But man, if I’m sitting there and I’m like, son of a gun, they gave him the MVP. I got all eyes on our game. It’s a standalone game, right? Game seven. I’m going to make a point that everybody watching tonight. If that guy got the award is going to have to rethink that. Watch what I do to that guy. If you’re the Thunder, would you tell the NBA not to let it not not not to announce it until both sides? Both sides. That award should not be announced until after that game. I’m surprised it hasn’t been announced yet. As am I, cuz it’s only during the second round. But, you know, and I haven’t even really let my minds go to the idea of Denver winning, but if Denver does win this game, they should already be out of this series. They should have they should have won the last couple games. Well, if they win, it will be totally reasonable for people to say that Joker’s going to win another title. And that won’t sh I mean, whether he has three or four MVPs, if he has three or four MVPs and a second title, because he’ll be it’ll be Minnesota, Denver, probably the Knicks and the Pacers. They’ll be the only team left that’s won anything. Yeah. And by the way, but play this out just I want to go into this one more second. Play it out, though. Let’s say SGA wins the MVP. All right, great. No one’s gonna argue. Great. had a great season. He was the front runner most of the year. And then let’s say in game seven he has a tough game and Joker goes 40205. You know what the story line is the next day, right? Yeah. Wrong guy won MVP. Bingo. That’s why you got to wait until after game seven to announce the MVP. Now, historically, it is always announced in the second round. Well, at most there’s three games left. Game six and seven, Celtics Knicks. Game seven of Thunder and Nuggets. Just wait till Tuesday to announce it. Oh, announce it. Announce it today. Hey there. Thank you so much for watching Breakfast Ball. You know, you can subscribe right here to get all the latest bits and segments from our show. And hey, while you’re at it, make sure to check out all the amazing content from all the other shows also right here on FS1.

The Denver Nuggets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 119-107 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals, and will face off in a winner-take-all Game 7. Craig Carton, Danny Parkins, and Mark Schlereth discuss why the Thunder lost and if they’ve been disappointing this postseason. Plus, they determine who is more trustworthy in Game 7 between the Thunder and the Nuggets.

#BreakfastBall #NBA #Thunder

The all-new FOX Sports App, built for the modern sports fan: https://tinyurl.com/y4uouolb

► Breakfast Ball’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastBallonFS1
► First Things First’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstThingsFirst
► SPEAK’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpeakOnFS1
► The Facility’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFacilityonFS1
► All Facts No Brakes with Keyshawn Johnson YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AllFactsPod

Hosted by Craig Carton, Mark Schlereth, and Danny Parkins, Breakfast Ball is a fun and lively morning show discussing the biggest sports stories of the day.

Thunder have been ‘disappointing’ after failing to close out Nuggets in Game 6 | BREAKFAST BALL

The Breakfast Ball Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastBallonFS1