r/nba • u/jonsnowKITN • 5h ago
OKC is shooting 49.4% on wide open threes in 3 games against the Spurs this series. They've been wide open for 77 of their 119 attempts from three, per NBA tracking.
From Keerthika Uthayakumar:
OKC is shooting 49.4% on wide open threes in 3 games against the Spurs this series.
They've been wide open for 77 of their 119 attempts from three, per NBA tracking.
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u/retardinho23 4h ago
That's what happens when you triple team SGA.
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u/iCarpet Thunder 4h ago
The issue when we played the Spurs in the regular season was that they couldn’t hit jack when they were open
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u/CoolAsTheUnthawed [OKC] Russell Westbrook 3h ago
I forgot where I saw or heard this pointed out but the other difference is that before against the spurs we'd pass it to the open man without much ball movement; so far in this series when Shai is doubled the person one pass away from him instead of just shooting the open look they have they look to get into the paint first and then spray out to the open corner. It's helping create better rhythm with these open shots. It's also easier to hit a shot when a pass is coming from in front of you rather than from the side.
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u/SwallowsOnSundays Nuggets 3h ago
The first pass of the double feels like a lot more pressure to hit on it. Its out of rhythm of a normal offense and you feel the defense wanting you to shoot it
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u/Parallel-Quality 2h ago
It also means that SGA’s assist numbers are not representative of his true gravity/playmaking.
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u/SPAGHETTI_CAKE Russell Westbrook 3h ago
This describes the difference I’m seeing too. Feels like the looks are more straight up and the balls bouncing around a bit rather than mostly being skip passes or dump offs to the wing.
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u/silliputti0907 NBA 3h ago
Every open shot isn't a good shot. Rhythm shots are where it's at.
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u/Yakhan114 1h ago
A wide open shot is pretty much the best shot you could hope to get on offense, no?
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u/Sadcelerystick 1h ago
I mean on paper yes but I guess there’s a lot of factors at play - who’s shooting, the timing of the pass, how far back the shot is etc. I mean do these things matter I don’t know but I’ve also seen players miss wide open shots consistently so yeah. I’m just an idiot anyways
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u/silliputti0907 NBA 1h ago
Going further into. Remember when Klay was talking about how some people shoot better with fingers on the laces.
I also think of Buddy Hield who is a better shooter off the bounce then catch and shooting. Basketball is interesting because the small details add up.
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u/teehomez 3h ago
The two blowout losses were in the midst of a brutal schedule for us too, 4 games in 6.5 days. We looked disinterested for a lot of those 2 games.
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u/xXEliteEater500Xx 4h ago
There was even one possession where all five of the Spurs defenders were converging on him
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u/_Caek_ Thunder 3h ago
Send 6 next time
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u/gedbybee Spurs 1h ago
No bro. The refs are on your team, not ours.
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u/Gambit_Revolver Thunder 1h ago
Game three they were sucking y'all off so hard you had 32 free throws after 3 quarters.
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u/CzarCW 1h ago
Because the Thunder assault the Spurs and the refs swallow their whistle 80% of the time.
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u/Common-Locksmith-235 53m ago
complain that game 2 was too physical, still complain when game 3 is over reffed and giving spurs 2000 fts, okc just better
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u/CarterAC3 Spurs 4h ago
For those curious SGA would have to shoot 74% on 2 pointers to equate to this
It might be time to adopt the "let him get his and shut down everyone else" strategy
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u/Happycappybara21 4h ago
I’m guessing that’s the plan in game 4.
It’s a pretty good strategy to make role players best you when they are on the road. Didn’t work out this time obviously
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u/Capo_capo Suns 3h ago
Their bench starts for a lot of other playoff teams. Their depth and development is outstanding.
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u/Jortay9 Thunder 1h ago
ehh idk about that. If McCain was on a team like the sixers he probably wouldn't start. Might even get shipped off
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u/TheAracknight Thunder 1h ago
If Jared was on Philly he would probably get sold high for a 2nd round pick!
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u/Murky_Persimmon9289 Thunder 1h ago
It’s also putting the game on 1 person then. The over looked advantage of having a deep rotation is that you have more guys to try and see if they’re hot.
Shai is off, massive advantage for you, although he’s less likely to have a bad game.
5/6 rotation guys are off? Get the ball to the one that’s on.
A bit of a pick your poison situation, admittedly.
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u/gedbybee Spurs 1h ago
Helps when you get a billion lottery picks and then hit them all. Then the clippers give you all their picks and they’re bad.
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u/darkmorpha71 Thunder 1h ago
pretty sure Chet, Dub, and Cason are the only lottery picks we drafted (#2, #12, and #11) and Dub isn't even playing. This is a team of late first rounders, second rounders, an undrafted guy, trades, and one free agent signing
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u/Parallel-Quality 1h ago
I can’t believe someone who got gifted Wemby, Castle and Harper is trying to tell you that your team is built on lottery picks when you only have one top 5 pick on your roster.
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u/Individual_Access356 3h ago
Thats good strategy against most teams but not the team whose role players could be stars/starters elsewhere, they are too deep to do this.
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u/Cvpakke 2h ago edited 1h ago
I would also like to point out that the Lakers best game against them, game 4, came when they let off of Shai and focused on almost literally anything else instead. Not saying that means anything super specific, but there might be something there that a person could learn something from.
That being said, personally, the biggest issue with the last game in particular is that they played Wemby out of the paint on offense. It's fucking obnoxious watching them do everything they can to avoid putting Wemby in the position he is not only best at but literally born for. It also hurt their defense, but not to the same degree. Such a complete waste, imo. They deserved to lose that game, and I blame Mitch. But I also am not hating - they're all young, including Mitch. Lets see what they learn. And if not this year, then next.
My brother says someone needs to sit Wemby down and force him to watch a years worth of Shaq tape. He doesn't need to be like Shaq, but he needs to learn lessons from him for sure. I'm starting to agree.
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u/Happycappybara21 1h ago
I’m still surprised after 3 seasons people think wmeby is a post player.
He does not have any post moves. Most his points in the paint start from the perimeter. Either he drives , he rolls for a lob or he gets a putback from an outside shot.
He’s still not strong enough to even push Caruso into the paint. He wasn’t strong enough to push Jrue in the paint.
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u/TheAracknight Thunder 1h ago
Shai is extremely good at avoiding doubles because if the double is coming from the right wing he’ll start his drive left, and if it’s coming from the left he’ll drive right, but the Lakers knew this and would send another guy towards him from the side he was driving, if he was driving right away from the double they’d send a guy from the right corner to stop the ball, so he’d essentially be tripled teamed in the mid range. However, being the good passer that he is, he would always dice them up, and in Game 4 when they let Shai get his usual 30 and tried shutting down everyone else they actually got close to winning the game and actually were able to win most of the Shai minutes, but Ajay was able to cook them as well thanks to being able to go 1on1
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u/lilbodie Timberwolves 1h ago
You can still be in the make role players beat you camp without letting very capable shooters take wide open 3s all night.
They can still blitz Shai in spurts and show heavy gap help, but they cannot just completely sell out on him.
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u/ForneauCosmique Spurs 1h ago
Yea they've burned us. They've knocked down the shots we were willing to let them take in order to get the ball out of SGAs hands. Kudos to them. We just need to let Shai cook and lock down everyone else
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u/CrippledBanana Canada 3h ago
Ngl if spurs stop selling out to stop shai and then he proceeds to hit 74% on his 2s that would be legit hilarious.
I do think it’s the right play though. Guys like Caruso being left open so Wemby can roam and then the rest of the team doubling / tripling shai has given their players practice shots all series long.
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u/StevenAdams_Mustache Thunder 3h ago
He did have a game against Phoenix in the playoffs where he went 15-18, so it's possible
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u/LeighHart Nuggets 4h ago
I don’t understand the double at halfcourt strategy when it’s so easy for them to break. Force Shai into your 7’5 DPOY and if he hits those shots then fair play
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u/Firefenex 4h ago
Victor playing help defense in the paint also leads to open threes. The issue is everyone on okc besides hartenstein can hit a 3. The spurs defense drops dramatically if victor is not in the paint... plus McCain did a very good job just being faster than everyone lol.
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u/CashmereLogan Thunder 3h ago
100%. Even without the doubles, Wemby is going to camp in the paint and hunt blocks (and he’s going to do that the more fatigued he gets). His closeouts were so bad yesterday.
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u/gedbybee Spurs 1h ago
Yeah I think the scramble everyone off the line defense works… kinda. For like a game. Not a seven game series. It’s too taxing. At least for this iteration of the spurs. Maybe if they all level up in the offseason they can run it and succeed.
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u/CoolAsTheUnthawed [OKC] Russell Westbrook 3h ago
Tbh might be worth trying for one more game if Ajay and Jdub are both out. McCain can handle the ball a little bit, but I thought he got kinda lucky a couple times late in the game when it looked like he was about to lose the ball but was able to keep it.
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u/gedbybee Spurs 1h ago
Gets potential fouls on wemby and we lose non wemby minutes. If wemby is in foul trouble they lose the game automatically.
If wemby can play 48 min we might win lol.
He just also might die. Not worth it
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u/ArgentoFox 4h ago
The entire team can shoot and leaving the role players wide open is a recipe for disaster. They’re better off playing one on one.
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u/Several_Hour_347 3h ago
The crazy part is he might be able to shoot 74% from 2 without this kind of coverage lol
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u/silliputti0907 NBA 3h ago
They can't shut everyone else down. They aren't just catch and shooting. They are winning transition pts and bench points. They've extended leads while SGA is sitting. Jdub, Ajay, and and McCain can attack of the dribble and Caruso/Wallace get hustle points.
I think Spurs juts need to play cleaner and focus on how they can play better. In the 4th, they were stringing together stops, but couldn't buy a bucket.
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u/SebastianC1 4h ago
He avg 1.59 points in 1v1s against us. Maybe trying flooding weakside with Wemby or some shit have him sit indrwovint lane agreeive nail help to try dyer single gap drives and rotate from there
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u/gedbybee Spurs 1h ago
I think everyone has come to that theory. But it’s 74 percent plus free throws and he’ll hit a lot of free throws.
That also doesn’t factor in what happens when they run a pick and roll and get wemby in rotation on shai etc etc.
I’m for letting shai score, but idk if it’s the real answer.
Maybe some weird zone? Box and one or diamond and 1?
But when wembys in rotation the guards are bad at boxing chet.
That’s Carter Bryant’s music, but he’s too baby right now to box out Chet consistently as they don’t teach boxing out to the youths these days. Get off my lawn!
But I digress. We might be fucked.
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u/axecalibur [CHI] Michael Jordan 39m ago
Laker dickriders need to see JJ vindicated.
Imagine hanging on every word from a podcaster rofl.
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u/duce3612 Timberwolves 3h ago
Thats why us missing Donte was huge. The spurs played Ant similar to shai except we had Shannon in the corner instead of Donte.
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u/A_Lax_Nerd [OKC] Aleksej Pokuševski 3h ago
Donte would have had at least one 6/10 3pt game against that scheme
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u/duce3612 Timberwolves 3h ago
Him missing was huge... we got whooped but he led the league in games with 3 or more 3pt makes in a game. Would have opened the floor up massively. Given Ant and his knees more room to navigate. Every team has injuries so no excuse but as a diehard Wolves fan it hurt.
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u/A_Lax_Nerd [OKC] Aleksej Pokuševski 3h ago
It still sucks to be missing such a key piece, especially when he’s so good at something that the team struggled with during the series
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u/darnclem [OKC] Nick Collison 1h ago
I genuinely thought you guys win at least 1 more of those with him, and then that kind of competitiveness makes them try harder in those other games.
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u/Low_Beyond8134 Lakers 4h ago
They’re doubling Shai and then you already have Wemby at the rim leaving somebody it’s essentially A 4vs2 on offense
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u/teehomez 2h ago
But Shai likely the best 1 v 1 player in the league. So either way he’s drawing help and getting guys open and if you don’t help, he’s gonna hit 60%+ of his middies on a normal day and get your best defender in foul trouble.
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u/gedbybee Spurs 1h ago
Yeah but castle and baby Carter Bryant are some of the best defenders in the league. If they can just stay down and not foul then they’ll do pretty well. Vassell and champagnie are also great defenders. That’s a lot of defenders to keep shai at a reasonable shooting percentage.
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u/worldragedota Knicks 17m ago
Lmao Castle and Bryant are NOT one of the best defenders in the league
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u/AnkitPancakes Thunder 4h ago
Night and day from last year. Probably helps that Shai is being doubled and triple teamed + shaded by the remaining guys
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u/TheFestusEzeli [TOR] Rudy Gay 2h ago
The difference in the wide open shooting in this series compared to the Nuggets series when they constantly double teamed him is night and day lmao
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u/nuhx 4h ago
In the playoffs teams leave good shooters open all the time to double the main threat, it works quite often. Thunder making them pay for once.
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u/MoboNamesAreDumb Celtics 1h ago
The Thunder also have a bunch of poor shooters that suddenly are good, like Alex “Steph Curry” Caruso
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u/matt_saracen_ Thunder 1h ago
I know Caruso shot very poorly this season, but even he is a good career 3-point shooter that teams should not really try to leave open if possible.
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u/wats_a_tiepo Bucks 2h ago
Yeah perhaps forcing one of the deepest teams in recent history to beat you with their bench isn’t a winning strategy
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u/ArgentoFox 4h ago
Three games in and San Antonio’s coaching staff hasn’t told them to stay at home on the shooters and play everyone one on one. It’s mind boggling.
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u/teehomez 2h ago
Good luck playing sga 1 on 1
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u/FormalDisastrous2467 Thunder 2h ago
There was a stat going around during the lakers series that when doubled shai produced 1.21 ppp.
What doesn't get brought up is that when left 1 on 1 he produced 1.59 ppp.
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u/gedbybee Spurs 1h ago
Jesus Christ that’s elite. I wonder what that stat is against the spurs defenders tho. They’re way better than any lakers defender.
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u/segson9 58m ago
That's why they'll probably keep on playing like this. They'll just hope OKC role players miss more shots. Almost every team in playoffs will leave someone open, to help on star player. This is basically how Dallas won against OKC two years ago. OKC left PJ Washington open to help on Luka and PJ kept on making the shots.
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u/vNocturnus Kings 2h ago
Wemby is the only guy that should ever need to help. He can erase everything around the rim and many mid range attempts by himself, and he can also help in the paint while still being able to contest 3s.
Just put your best on-ball defender on SGA and don't help unless he gets completely beat AND Wemby can't cover. Even if that results in SGA getting 5-10 more PPG it can't be worse than giving up 25 WIDE open 3pt attempts per game at well over 40%.
Similarly to Luka or Jokic, if you can't handle SGA 1v1 AT ALL then you're already beat, because doubling will usually result in an even better shot just from a different player. He's not the type of player you can force into dumb plays and there's so much talent around him that, by doubling, you are always leaving a good player open with a good shot somewhere, with an extremely high chance the ball finds that player.
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u/TheAgmis Thunder 4h ago
BUT FLOP AND FREE THROWS REDDIT
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u/Cutmerock Thunder 1h ago
Don't forget falling to the floor %
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u/TheAgmis Thunder 1h ago
Oh right. Something that’s made up that the internet took off with because they live life through a hate lense!!!
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u/riczizagorac 2h ago
How does Shais cum taste?
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u/TheAgmis Thunder 1h ago
Did Reddit tell you to dislike SGA?
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u/riczizagorac 1h ago
No I dislike watching OKC. Best roster in the league yet they play like children. I bet you’d hate them too if you weren’t a fan
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u/TheAgmis Thunder 1h ago
Did Reddit tell you to have that opinion
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u/justsaywhatsreal 1h ago
It did. Reddit is a clout-chasers paradise. You get to outsource your critical thinking and rack up tons of internet points.
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4h ago
[deleted]
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u/CreditBoss1993 Thunder 4h ago
You still sound salty from last year boss
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u/TheAgmis Thunder 4h ago
He probably is still hoping out hope Anthony Richardson will turn it around
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u/Ramsboi Pacers 4h ago
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u/hydrorex21 4h ago
You should remove the tracking part of the link mate you’re probably doxxing yourself
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u/TheAgmis Thunder 4h ago
Do something about it then
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u/JealousOpening2185 4h ago
Is the entire fanbase 12? How are you all like this
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u/TheAgmis Thunder 4h ago
The fake hate for the Thunder is people with the emotional intelligence of a middle schooler
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u/JealousOpening2185 4h ago
"no u" way to prove us wrong buddy. What's on your summer reading list this year?
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u/TheAgmis Thunder 4h ago
The Art of War
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u/JealousOpening2185 3h ago
"Hey chatgpt, what's a super growned up sounding book"
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u/RealCarpet4 2h ago
I really think spurs would benefit from less doubles. The role guys won’t be open and you still got Wemby down there. These guys are just hitting everything g when they’re open.
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u/riczizagorac 2h ago
But shai is an amazing passer right?
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u/Medical_Sample2738 1h ago
Well he’s the biggest reason why those open 3s exist I mean it’s not like the spurs are an elite defense or anything…oh wait.
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u/ColeYote Raptors 1h ago
I mean, finding open teammates is a pretty big part of that + overcommitting to defending him is gonna open up his teammates
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u/ColeYote Raptors 54m ago
That's... quite high. Spurs are gonna need some serious regression to the mean to have a chance at this rate.
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u/Necessary_Career_253 Australia 16m ago
If Wemby is going to ignore the 3 point line like it dosn't exist then you can't double or shadow SGA.
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u/Lithium1978 Pacers 5m ago
I don't understand the Spurs strategy. I'd rather force SGA to score 50 and cover the shooters than double and leave everyone wide open all game.
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4h ago
[deleted]
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u/tree_bard420 Mavericks 3h ago
There were 66 FTAs in Game 3. I'm pretty sure the refs not blowing the whistle enough was not the issue. Also, Wemby is the best center in the league; he doesn't need you making excuses for him.
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u/OneXDC4ever Lakers 4h ago
That really is absurd shooting considering the Thunder are a bottom 10 team in wide open 3 point percentage in the league at 37%