Game Day: Thunder (30-5) @ Suns (20-14), Sun 1/4/25

[Mori Chu]

I just rewatched crunch time on the Thunder broadcast for fun. Royce completely fell asleep on the last possession. Almost cost us big time.

Be careful. His defense is good here or ELSE

Hey Saucy, do make sure not to at all enjoy beating the defending NBA champs. Don't let the win distract you; not the great comeback, not the clutch Booker 3. Don't show even one bit of enjoyment. Keep your focus on shitting on one of our role players at all costs. Keep fighting the good fight!

[Split T]

I don’t think anyone thinks Royce is a good defender

[specialsauce]

I just rewatched crunch time on the Thunder broadcast for fun. Royce completely fell asleep on the last possession. Almost cost us big time.

Be careful. His defense is good here or ELSE

Hey Saucy, do make sure not to at all enjoy beating the defending NBA champs. Don't let the win distract you; not the great comeback, not the clutch Booker 3. Don't show even one bit of enjoyment. Keep your focus on shitting on one of our role players at all costs. Keep fighting the good fight!

Great, go ahead and ignore all my other posts in the thread to try to shame me cause you think it's funny to put others down

[specialsauce]

Let's gooooooooooo

Hated that typical bad contested attempt by Book, but glad he got one to go in. Get to your fucking middy like J Will did!!!! Seems to be the only one that can't get to his spot when he needs to

Different situations…game was tied and Book needed to make sure he took the last shot. Also double was coming and better to get up a fairly clean 3 than a double teamed mid range shot. Sure it was lightly contested, but he pulled up in rhythm and Caruso’s contest didn’t impact anything. They played him to take that shot and he took what they gave him and made them pay.

Book has shot 29% on 3's this year, and the degree of difficulty on the one he took was particularly high. Y'all can celebrate the random W on a last second heave, but it still shows the incredible inability for him to just get to his fucking midrange shot at the end of games. The next time we're in this scenario it'll be another brick. I'm looking more for the process to improve, not for him to start making these incredibly difficult Hail Marys he loves to launch at the end.

He took TOO LONG to go, drove right into the double and the team did him no favors. I'm sure that was the plan, frustratingly again to just back off and stand at the corners and let him take a top of the court deep 3. I wish for once they'd try to get him the ball inside the 3 point line and let him rise up- I can live with him missing his go-to.

[Mori Chu]

Great, go ahead and ignore all my other posts in the thread to try to shame me cause you think it's funny to put others down

Just giving you a hard time, friend. You're entitled to your opinion, and you have been backing it up with specifics and details and stats and such. It's all love.

[bajanguy008]

Well look at that
My pregame post wasn't a bad shout after all

It's good vibes these days in The Valley and that means place rocking and we really getting some quality wins at Home now

[bajanguy008]

I actually get what Saucey is saying

That is literally the only carry over I can see from last year but that's really the League too. I mean only probably Joker/Murray pick n' roll is an end of game staple

Give the ball to your star and spread the court is the norm but yeah I not a fan of that either. We use guard on guard screens alot but that's just an automatic trap right now. With Jalen for example, it's harder to blitz that but overall Ott has put in nice wrinkles all season so not gonna stress about it

[Superbone]

Well look at that
My pregame post wasn't a bad shout after all

It's good vibes these days in The Valley and that means place rocking and we really getting some quality wins at Home now

You were ONE year too early, man! Hopefully, you can get back out here when the place is rocking again.

[bajanguy008]

My favorite thing about last night game for Goodie is that we just saw the podcast stuff with him talking about Ott giving him confidence and freedom.

Haven't heard it from Oso himself but I'm sure he's in the same boat. His season started rooouugh so glad to see this aggression is consistent now every night. Missed couple FTs last night but seems like a better process there at the line also.

Yeah Royce D isn't it lol, he just has really quick hands and that's when he's effective. What I've recognized is he seems to be having lots of mental lapses with careless passes and just not smart plays.

Brooks was so Clutch, that turnover probably the lasting memory for folks but his jumpers and also that dime to Oso were massive plays.

I hate bringing it up all the time but facts are facts
We just get our ass kicked 10/10 times with the squads of last couple seasons. Physicality just made us crumble.ovef and over, so refreshing to see us be this relentless

[bajanguy008]

Well look at that
My pregame post wasn't a bad shout after all

It's good vibes these days in The Valley and that means place rocking and we really getting some quality wins at Home now

You were ONE year too early, man! Hopefully, you can get back out here when the place is rocking again.

I purposely chose not to mention that sir.....
Smh lol
It's all good man, no regrets

[Split T]

Let's gooooooooooo

Hated that typical bad contested attempt by Book, but glad he got one to go in. Get to your fucking middy like J Will did!!!! Seems to be the only one that can't get to his spot when he needs to

Different situations…game was tied and Book needed to make sure he took the last shot. Also double was coming and better to get up a fairly clean 3 than a double teamed mid range shot. Sure it was lightly contested, but he pulled up in rhythm and Caruso’s contest didn’t impact anything. They played him to take that shot and he took what they gave him and made them pay.

Book has shot 29% on 3's this year, and the degree of difficulty on the one he took was particularly high. Y'all can celebrate the random W on a last second heave, but it still shows the incredible inability for him to just get to his fucking midrange shot at the end of games. The next time we're in this scenario it'll be another brick. I'm looking more for the process to improve, not for him to start making these incredibly difficult Hail Marys he loves to launch at the end.

He took TOO LONG to go, drove right into the double and the team did him no favors. I'm sure that was the plan, frustratingly again to just back off and stand at the corners and let him take a top of the court deep 3. I wish for once they'd try to get him the ball inside the 3 point line and let him rise up- I can live with him missing his go-to.

They would’ve doubled as soon as he made his move regardless. Then he has to give the ball up and try to get it back with enough time to still get a shot. You can try to get the ball to him already in the mid range, but he’ll get doubled on the catch.

I think the only options here were

1. Lightly contested pull-up 3
2. Highly contested double teamed mid range
3. Someone else shoots

I think you have the issue of having to trust someone else with the ball in the scenario where you get it to Book in the midrange. You can’t let Brooks do it as he won’t make the pass. Gillespie is probably the best option.


I will say that I look forward to our late game offense when Green can play. Just run a Booker/Green screen and see what they do. If they double Book, just give it to Green and let him shoot. If they switch, Book can isolate and get to his spot. If they double off someone else, just have Grayson and Gillespie as the shooters and hit one of them for an open shot. It gets much cleaner imo with Green.

[ShelC]

Book took the same exact shot guys like Luka, Harden, Steph, Tatum, etc all take as a final shot. That's what stars do. And he did it against one of the better defenders in the league in Caruso.

[pickle]

[pickle]

I just rewatched crunch time on the Thunder broadcast for fun. Royce completely fell asleep on the last possession. Almost cost us big time.

The shot from Mitchell was very open and I went back to rewatch in the moment, and I think someone from the scrum had allowed a player (I want to say JDub) pop free into mid range and Royce had to make a choice between the two. I think this was the case of a well executed ATO from the Thunder.

[SunsRIt]

Why was the last inbounds play for Oklahoma City not a backcourt violation? Their player jumped from the frontcourt, caught the ball and landed in the backcourt. That’s a violation.

[Shabazz]

I just rewatched crunch time on the Thunder broadcast for fun. Royce completely fell asleep on the last possession. Almost cost us big time.

The shot from Mitchell was very open and I went back to rewatch in the moment, and I think someone from the scrum had allowed a player (I want to say JDub) pop free into mid range and Royce had to make a choice between the two. I think this was the case of a well executed ATO from the Thunder.

Why was O'Neale so far under the basket to begin with? A 2 couldn't hurt us.

[pickle]

Huh? Maybe I saw the wrong guys on the play. I should go back and rewatch. I thought O’Neale was the one with his back to the inbounds passer, who let Mitchell to the corner.

[pickle]

You are right tho. A 2 can’t hurt us so he should’ve protected the three point line and ignored the guy in the mid range.

[Superbone]

I know it's fun to slam O'Neale but what about his good traits like the fact that he's the best inbounder we have on the team.

[pickle]

I know it's fun to slam O'Neale but what about his good traits like the fact that he's the best inbounder we have on the team.

I’m pro O’Neale. I would rather have him than Kuminga.