The OKC Thunder Just Stole Game 4…

The OKC Thunder Just Stole Game 4…

it’s rare that I watch a basketball game and it leaves me speechless i have no idea what just happened in that game the Indiana Pacers had the momentum had the crowd had the performances had everything for three quarters and they lost i’m I’m just like at a loss mostly because I don’t know what’s going to happen for the rest of the series for all we know the Patriots could still win but for 31 to be that much in reach and not to be able to grab it against this OKC team man man oh man okc by the numbers had no business winning this game okc just hit three three-pointers in an NBA Finals game at one right before I loaded up found out that the last team to do that was the was the was the Boston Celtics in ’08 almost almost 20 years ago yeah I’m rounding up a little bit almost 20 years ago they had 11 assists as a team they had eight assists going into the fourth and they won the fourth quarter 31-7 so they had three they they finished with three assists in the fourth quarter where they pull off a huge comeback the Pacers all postseason long has been the comeback kids is what they’ve done and they’ve been amazing at it and for once it was the other way around this game was so much in the Pacers favor going into the fourth quarter that about halftime I tweeted out is SGA sick not only did he have like 11 points on 11 shots with zero um zero free throws zero he finished the goddamn game with zero assists by the way with zero re uh free throws zero assists i wasn’t even looking at the box i was looking at the mannerisms i was I was looking looking at the way he was playing the game of basketball he was pretty passive there was a few times he got off the ball to dub and waved his hand to say like “No this your time to shine.” That’s just not normal a few turnovers by OKC that led to some breakaways and Shay was the last dude down court so in my mind this is his flu game little did we know they I mean they mentioned on the broadcast a gazillion times talking about them trying to trying to you know change up his pattern so he’s not as tired down the stretch damn did that work but I genuinely was watching Shay and again as somebody who’s watched a ton of Shay over the last however many years this was an uncharacter another uncharacteristic performance three quarters into this game and again I can’t give enough credit to like Nim Harden’s defense on him all series long has been has been incredible but then we get to the fourth quarter and I praise the or the Indiana Pacers for one thing that they have done differently than so many other teams across basketball when it comes down to clutch games you know they were so far in this postseason they have been the clutch team i think they were nine and one going into today’s game they have been the clutch team and one of the reasons for that is a they got some pretty good closes and they generate good looks usually i thought in this game they look like all the other 29 teams when it comes to close games okc did something different in the last couple minutes this game was so peculiar to me and I didn’t know what to do did I rewind i’m like I got to rewatch these last five minutes in real like I got to go back i gotta go back and OKC decided to pretty much switch everything and that just changed the brain chemistry of what the Pacers normally do a team that’s normally swing swing pass dribble penetration pass one more to open shots resulted to ISO ball hallebert gets to switch on Shay Alexander we going to cook him step back three nope shay gets a block hallebertton gets to switch on to Chad Homegrren and Chad Homegrren I got to give you your respect after these two possessions but like calls um Tyres Hallebertton to like pretty much airball two threes now there was a time where where Hi got the switch on to Shane and it led to a open layup but for the most part it seemed like OKC saw these switches and was like we got to take advantage here but it hasn’t been the way they’ve played basketball all series long so it was just different to see them look like every other team but that just hasn’t been their identity i was so all of my notes I’m preparing to talk about this great defensive performance from the Indiana Pacers in my notes last year I was I was ready last year the Indiana Paige according to clean and the glass were the 24th ranked defense this team didn’t go out there and go get a Rudy Goar or go out there and go get nobody elite to back this is the same rot from last year they just turned it off even early into the season they weren’t a great defensive team and then me Smith and Nimhard came back in their injuries and then they were a good defensive team so I was completely compar prepared to come in here and talk about how they locked up Shay again then the fourth quarter comes around and the OKC Thunder offense i I pretty much hated 44 minutes of the offense that they gave us today it just I mean if you end a game with 11 assists I can’t call it a beautiful basketball game i don’t care i don’t care the results i I I can’t call it a beautiful basketball game but in the last couple minutes they decide to do something a little bit different all series long and I guess the entirety of this Pacers run opposing teams have tried their very best to attack Hallebert he’s the worst defensive player on the court for the Indiana Pacers nimh hard n Smith have been phenomenal defensively pascal Syakob gave you a master class at least for the first couple quarters and then touched the ball down the stretch miles Turner good defender as well so like we’re going to attack Hallebert he’s the weakest link but in the last three minutes when we saw Shay turn into what he scored 14 points in the last three to four minutes of this game which is again a like I know people are going to talk about some other stuff revolving around this game but like for what it was worth ridiculous shotmaking some of the best shotmaking you’ll ever see but I know the conversation is going to be different in his last couple minutes of this game instead of trying to go get Hallebert they went out for N Smith and because N Smith and Nimh hard are such good defenders in their own right different ways right you know N Smith is a bigger defender willing to get a little bit more contact uh Nim Hard to wind you down by guard you 94 feet and again on Shay he’s been amazing so far but because they’re such good defenders Pacers like we just switch those n Smith can hold his own he couldn’t he couldn’t um the difference between N Smith and Nimhard I mean there’s a lot of differences because these are different players and again they’re both great defensive players but the the one thing that is to differentiate as far as like a guarding a shay thing is N Smith tends to be a little bit more out of control defensively than N than Nhar a little bit less disciplined on that side of the ball and that’s part of his superpower right nobody fights over screens or through screens better than than Nith you need a level of I don’t give a [ __ ] defensively in order to fight that well over screens but that mindset doesn’t work against a SE Alexander so say get them into like the the elbow slash you know free throw line area and the shot making the decision making in that aspect as far as like recognizing where N Smith is beat and taking advantage of that was supreme the baseline jump shot supreme shotmaking they their feets tangled up both of them fall maybe get a little bit arm from Shay that ain’t nothing out of the ordinary though the shot making they’re insane hit um one three-pointer today the team only hit three so yeah he hit And the one three-pointer that he hit is just such a big three he ended with 353 and and three steals zero assist a zero assist 35 point game is going to be crazy throughout history and he looked bad for three quarters and then he comes in and has an MVP moment and again I don’t know what happens for the rest of the series i I don’t know what happens for the rest of the series but I can’t help but to think that if OKC goes on to win this series you’re going to look back on game four and be like damn you know I thought that when OKC went on their their little run um maybe I got to re go back and rewatch it but like there was a a time there where Hallebertton was on the bench just a little bit longer than I probably would have would have done it maybe maybe i’m not Rick Carlile rick Harle is a gazillion times more smart than I am when it comes to basketball he’s he’s you know done the right thing 99% of the time so who am I to talk about that one miss rotation but for Obie Topping to give you that 17 and it was a loud 17 it was an emphatic 17 um it sucks to lose this game man it really does on OKC side I got a text message from my boy Mike let me read you what this text message said um this is during the game mike sends a text message that says um where where is it at where’s it at where’s it at hey y’all dudes I’ll say dudes um ain’t get a first round pick for that man you know what I had to say to him shut up i should have hit him with the so the so is better than shut up he said he worked at least two derek said he planned out of his mind and then you know when when people hit you low and hit you with a spot that you very you know you very uh self-conscious about something that you think about all the time you got to hit them lower so what I say to Mike Daniel Trey Zubots for Michael Scola got him got him you know what I’m saying got him but Aluso was incredible today talk about keeping the team afloat out of nowhere i mean just this whole series uh series he’s been pretty good but like 20 points five steals a block um he got a couple and ones in this one dub I I guess I could give he ended with 27 some of the shots that Dub ended up taking i know he’s a mid-range guy that I mean that’s what that’s the identity of these their top two dudes they get to the mid-range they create from that spot but I just think that they have so and he specifically has so many more opportunities to take three-pointers and they just he opts not to you know you think about the game against um was that the Denver Nuggets game seven whichever game it was there was a game where he just went bananas from three and it was just all catch and shoot open opportunities it’s like some of those shots are still there against the spacer team and for whatever reason bro just don’t want to do it he about to get downhill which I mean getting downhill has worked at least a little bit for him um he to get downhill and stop and turn around and take the midi i was surprised to see as much uh Wiggins that I did wiggins had a really bad stretch in the first half and I was like in my notes I wrote no more wigs and he checked into the third quarter i was like oh what the hell is this about um only thing I can say is like I wanted them to get more Pascalakum touches down the stretch he was great today i thought that he did an amazing job getting switches he got Sha Alexander on one of the first possessions of the game he got uh Kase Wallace a few times he got Caruso when he had that opportunity to do that they were good the the difference is like there was a time where Obi Toppin had the small defend on and he’s trying to get a post touch obi Toppin don’t have the same level of give me that ball as Pascal Seakum so they tried to throw it in Obby to end up being a turnoff like no how about we just keep those post touches to Pascal Seakum please please please please um yeah man some of these notes is like 520 in the first quarter uh 7 seconds left on the shot clock before Indiana Oh no this is the defense about okay see before Indiana even came close to the three-point line that ended in a turnover so it’s like some of the small thing this is a game of small margins and the Pacers feel like they won majority of them they won 96% of them we putting into man 11 three-pointers to three let me do some mathematics here that is um 21 21 point difference 24-point difference and three-pointers made and you walk out of there with a win a lot of conversation is going to be about the officiating trust i hated the officiating tonight too um I made a tweet that’s like I can’t wait to see the 30 minute highlight reel of Scott Foster today cuz god damn did we see him a lot um I mean there’s a lot of free throws in general in this game 33 from the Pacers 38 from the Thunder i don’t think it was a well officiated game i’m not normally a guy that talks about officiating but I didn’t think it was a well officiated game either way um it it it was a great game for what it was worth but because of the officiating it dumps a A minus game to maybe or a a game to like a minus game because I thought it was pretty atrocious and I think part of the problem is they change the level of physicality that you’re allowed to play on a game-to-ame basis so sometimes that play right there is a foul but other times it’s not so me as a player do I play it as if it’s a foul or should I continue to be aggressive here and it just became too much um we we should not be hearing Scott Foster’s voice four times in a basketball game personally that’s my opinion um we get until Monday we got the whole weekend with no NBA hoops so that’s kind of trash i thought that the timing and schedule of it probably impacted Shay at least a little bit and again Shay scored so much in the fourth quarter that it doesn’t matter but like this was the first time where we had a um a game just one day break in between you know we had to be getting the two game breaks between game one game two and game two and game three but three and four only gave us one day and now they get another two day they go back to Oklahoma City and yeah they just took it’s a tight series but because of homec court advantage they just took control of the series and we’ll see how the Pacers react what a series this been this has been though grace ears

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