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@Betsycashmoney @BBB8421 MIN would get 2 games? After a worse version of this OKC team beat a better version of them in 5 last year?

It feels like you’re determined to die on this hill? Sure, it was genuinely surprising how good the Lakers looked given personnel, but they did in fact look quite good

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@YeahCaz @ErinIsntEpic @bennyspeak @homahoops (fwiw, familiar with it in part bc OKC had/has a few of those guys haha)

Maybe Castle avoids it for another series or the rest of the playoffs even, it’s a small enough sample size that it’s possible. But I’d guess not—regression tends to come for everyone at some point

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@YeahCaz @ErinIsntEpic @bennyspeak @homahoops Yeah, he’s got exactly the profile of a guy who can fool you with low-volume %s over smaller sample sizes, but when it comes down to it can’t be trusted to consistently knock them down. I’m sure he might have a game or two where he hits a few but guessing OKC will live w that

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@Betsycashmoney @BBB8421 Also Smart is a very good defender. Not saying they’re some juggernaut, but a perfectly reasonable 2nd-round opponent. The “haven’t played any good teams” thing for OKC is silly. They won 54 games despite RS injuries & the current iteration just beat a 50win team in the 1st round

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@Betsycashmoney @BBB8421 The defensive talent is lacking, sure, which is why they had stretches each game where there were breakdowns. But JJ is really good, and the scheme was creative & dictated terms pretty well considering the personnel. And then, as I said, the tough shotmaking on offense was elite

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@ErinIsntEpic @YeahCaz @bennyspeak @homahoops On the flip side though, he shot the absolute lights out in like 3 or 4 of the OKC games and his game/those games as a whole could look a lot different if that doesn’t hold up. Which, considering he’s not a good shooter, it very well may not

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@Betsycashmoney @BBB8421 Not sure you can watch that lakers team play and call them “not good”. Their tough shotmaking was elite throughout that series and the defensive gameplan was actually really good. OKC was just so good it didn’t really matter, but they prob get a couple of games off of anyone else

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@villxD @Rylan_Stiles Not sure if this is Jaylen’s burner account or what but defending his extremely loser behavior (press conference and the twitch stream) since yesterday is just weird man. He’s a grown man pouting and complaining like a child that didn’t get his way lol

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@HPbasketball Really though, what does this mean outside of “they just weren’t as good as we thought they would be”?

Like, is the argument they just couldn’t muster up the motivation to care all season? Feels far more likely that their awful defensive infrastructure was just exposed

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@Coopa_Troopa32 @HPbasketball Okay, so you traded for a couple of those guys, which completely cleans you out of draft picks. Now what? You’re still bad-to-mediocre without a superstar, still can’t get free agents, have nothing left to trade, and now can’t use the draft to get better.

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@SteveThunderfan Presti should offer picks to teams willing to initiate an Adam Silver ouster

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@sixringsofsteeI Adam Silver genuinely needs to be gone asap. Doesn’t care about the actual basketball product whatsoever and is only concerned with lining billionaires’ and gambling companies’ pockets. He’s going to set the NBA back decades if he’s allowed to.

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@statcenter @kissanotherring Anyone is allowed to play physically when they do it correctly—Nembhard in the finals last year is a great example. Most guys don’t have the talent & discipline to do it on a consistent basis and so when they try to they make mistakes and foul.

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@SteveThunderfan The “it’s so good to see them finally catch a break” line or whatever was extremely confusing coming from ZL lol. Especially after the season they’ve had

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@pacersAN2 @Sam_Vecenie Yeah maybe not exactly a hot take, just don’t feel like I’ve seen a lot of talk about him as a 2026 guy

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@Sam_Vecenie Am I crazy for thinking McKenney might be the best pro guy for them? Really feel like I’d consider him mid-late first this year

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@SmoothieSipper @JoestarJokic The playoffs are always awesome because basketball is awesome, that’s not thanks to anything Silver has done lol. And actually, I agree that team-building is in a solid spot! But then why are you defending him messing with it? The changes are just bad and unnecessary

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@SmoothieSipper @JoestarJokic The flattened odds were always dumb and had the exact effect critics always said it would (more egregious tanking, not less). Silver’s decisions over the last 10-12 years have hurt the NBA tremendously, but he doesn’t actually care as long as he can sell a short-term profit

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@McHogor @bolingerj2004 @BrandonRahbar Prove this was your opinion of the PG trade at the time, when he was 28 & just finished 3rd in MVP voting and Shai was a rookie averaging 10 ppg, and you might salvage a little credibility with this take lol