2026 NBA Playoffs Thread

[Chaplin]

And obviously, to a man, they're taught to violently flop like they do. I don't know know if it's coming from the coaching staff or the players themselves, but it's ruining the integrity of the game. Obviously the refs haven't caught on.

Or just maybe, the refs have caught on.

 

[Superbone]

Or just maybe, the refs have caught on.

Why would they want to rig it in OKC's favor?

 

[Chaplin]

Why would they want to rig it in OKC's favor?

That's the real question now, isn't it?

I don't know if you just don't see it, but the refs do fail the eye test spectacularly when it comes to the Thunder.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

Nice try. I'm sure it's frustrating to finally "be on top" and have to live with so much sour grapes but they are sour for a reason. No one can stand your team. That isn't basketball. I can't stand to watch any of them play, almost to a man.

The Thunder are the most talent-laden team in the NBA and deserve to win it all (and they likely will) but I don't believe their domination will last very long. The league will push back. No one, and I mean NO ONE, wants OKC to rule the basketball world. And if the league doesn't take action (mostly through rules changes and referee instructions) against that style of play, the whole league will copy it and exceed it.

Reasonable and I understand that when you’re king of the hill, everyone wants to knock you down. That’s fair.

But after watching the Durant/westbrook era, I truly love watching this team play. The ball movement, the unselfishness, the commitment to defense, the leadership.

It’s all on display and The thunder are a thing of beauty. As aesthetically pleasing as they are successful. this, despite how the physical nature of the playoffs uglies up the games.

Not sure if we’ll make it by the Spurs or not, because they look hungry. But we’ll be back again next year for sure.

And Would love for the Suns to rise up next year to get maybe a four seed and a home playoff series. I think You need a superstar in addition to book if you’re going to compete for a championship.

 

[Superbone]

That's the real question now, isn't it?

I don't know if you just don't see it, but the refs do fail the eye test spectacularly when it comes to the Thunder.

Maybe you haven't been reading my comments as I do see it and comment on it regularly. I just don't believe that the refs are purposely WWEing it. I think OKC has become experts team-wise and individually at the art of the flop and I don't think the refs have caught on. But on the other hand, how many examples do they need? And how is it possible that the NBA overseers don't see what is happening and what the fans are pointing out regularly.

I'm just not a conspiracy theorist guy.

 

[Chaplin]

Maybe you haven't been reading my comments as I do see it and comment on it regularly. I just don't believe that the refs are purposely WWEing it. I think OKC has become experts team-wise and individually at the art of the flop and I don't think the refs have caught on. But on the other hand, how many examples do they need? And how is it possible that the NBA overseers don't see what is happening and what the fans are pointing out regularly.

I'm just not a conspiracy theorist guy.

That's fair. It's hard to think that the refs aren't catching on when it's not only obvious, it is something that is all over the NBA world.

 

[Phrazbit]

This crap isn’t basketball.

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If they get in real trouble I have little doubt that they’ll just deliberately injure Wemby.

 

[Superbone]

This crap isn’t basketball.

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If they get in real trouble I have little doubt that they’ll just deliberately injure Wemby.

I'm not sure about that one. That's been going on for a long time.

 

[Adrian]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
·
1h
Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams will be evaluated day by day, game to game with a left hamstring injury, sources tell ESPN. He'll undergo treatment and return based on how he feels recovering from the second injury to the same hamstring in under one month.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

That's the real question now, isn't it?

I don't know if you just don't see it, but the refs do fail the eye test spectacularly when it comes to the Thunder.

That’s just part and parcel with the best teams getting the benefit of the doubt. Just as was the case with the spurs, it’s not in the leagues best interest for small market teams like San Antonio and Oklahoma City to be dynasties. Win one every now and again to keep other small market teams and fans interested? Sure. But to be dynasties? No. It literally costs them money. That’s why I ultimately shrug off conspiracy theories as being silliness. The dollar is most important to everyone involved. If it doesn’t make dollar sense, it’s just not real.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

That's fair. It's hard to think that the refs aren't catching on when it's not only obvious, it is something that is all over the NBA world.

I’ve explained this before, it’s REALLY difficult to officiate a game in real time at game speed from the floor with fast, big athletes flying around the floor. We didn’t have these issues before not because the officials were better, but because no one flopped to this extent. There’s just more BS being perpetrated that’s difficult to catch in real time. And coaches have limited challenges so the officials don’t have the luxury of going back and watching every play in replay.

That said, as I mentioned before, if I was an official and saw all that garbage and how it made me look bad, I’d swallow my whistle for the rest of the series on the team making a mockery of my profession and me.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

This crap isn’t basketball.

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If they get in real trouble I have little doubt that they’ll just deliberately injure Wemby.

Yeah, I’ve got no respect for OKC. The more I see the more they’re just proving to be talented punks making a mockery of the game. That’s intentional. And it is cheating.

 

[GatorAZ]

This crap isn’t basketball.

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If they get in real trouble I have little doubt that they’ll just deliberately injure Wemby.

Bruce Bowen would be proud of that petty stuff that might look innocent in real speed.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm not sure about that one. That's been going on for a long time.

Yeah, Wemby is getting roughed up, but I don't think there was anything out of the ordinary on that play.

 

[Yuma]

I guess it's today's NBA, but in the seventies and eighties, guys were killing each other at the free throw line battling for boards, and just regular plays rebounding. Lots of elbows, pushing, grabbing, etc. Alvin Adams was skinny when he first played, maybe not as much as Wemby, but he got hammered a lot. That's just what other bigs did since he was slight of build compared to them.

I remember one play Kareem basically swept him down to the ground like a karate move. No ref whistle on that. That was before flopping. They didn't reward you back then for falling down. Maybe they need to go back to that for flopping.

 

[Hoop Head]

The NBA is weird in how a team is revered until they get to the mountain top and then they're nitpicked until they fail. See Golden State, Boston Denver, and now OKC. The hate is louder towards OkC because they're so young and virtually unstoppable due to their construction. It really is a lot like Golden State's run and the backlash once they had KD and were wrecking teams.

 

[boisesuns]

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K

. We didn’t have these issues before not because the officials were better, but because no one flopped to this extent.

 

[GatorAZ]

Or just maybe, the refs have caught on.

I don’t think it’s rigged but sometimes it seems like there’s unforgivably called series for whatever reason. I’ll never believe the 02’ Kings, 06’ Mavs and 07’ Suns aren’t alternate reality champs.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I don’t think it’s rigged but sometimes it seems like there’s unforgivably called series for whatever reason. I’ll never believe the 02’ Kings, 06’ Mavs and 07’ Suns aren’t alternate reality champs.

The Kings, definitely, but the others, not as much. The Kings were simply cheated, we were complicit in our own failures although Stern did us no favors.

 

[Mainstreet]

I guess it's today's NBA, but in the seventies and eighties, guys were killing each other at the free throw line battling for boards, and just regular plays rebounding. Lots of elbows, pushing, grabbing, etc. Alvin Adams was skinny when he first played, maybe not as much as Wemby, but he got hammered a lot. That's just what other bigs did since he was slight of build compared to them.

I remember one play Kareem basically swept him down to the ground like a karate move. No ref whistle on that. That was before flopping. They didn't reward you back then for falling down. Maybe they need to go back to that for flopping.

Just a few years ago the NBA allowed brutal play inside so much so that I noticed it even when the Suns were not involved. The wings got all the whistles.

It's hard to explain how the game is called when it is not consistent.

 

[Adrian]

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Underdog
@Underdog
·
1h
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has fallen to the ground on 17.4% of his shot attempts in the playoffs, per
@tomhaberstroh

 

[Adrian]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
·
1h
San Antonio's Dylan Harper will be a game-time decision tonight in Game 3 against the Oklahoma City Thunder after MRI showed an adductor injury, not a hamstring, sources tell ESPN. Harper is expected to go through his pregame routine to make a decision on his status.

 

[GatorAZ]

The Kings, definitely, but the others, not as much. The Kings were simply cheated, we were complicit in our own failures although Stern did us no favors.

The rules not the refs screwed us in 07’. Amare and Diaw were just running towards Nash, not going after Horry. I don’t like Silver but he probably suspends them for the first game of the next regular season if that happened today.

 

[Adrian]

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[Adrian]

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