In defense of the Minnesota Timberwolves very low energy loss in Game 1 of these WCF’s…like me—they seem to be confused as to what constitutes a foul in games played inside the Pay.Com Arena in Oklahoma City.
I’m completely objective in this series because neither one of these teams are where my basketball heart resides, but, man …on Sunday the Thunder were allowed to tackle and urinate on Nikola Jokic, while in this Game 1 of these WCF’s Rudy Gobert, the interior defensive stalwart of the Wolves, found himself bench-ridden 1:48 into the game with the tickiest-tack foul second foul one could imagine in what never turned into a knife fight.
Now…let be clear here on the blog…the officiating wasn’t the reason Minnesota shot 15-51 from beyond the arc or the reason OKC turned 19 Wolve turnovers into 31 points. No…in no way did Minnesota perform at a level in the second half which would warrant them winning this game. That’s not where I’m going with this.
Where I’m going with this is the zebras the remainder of these NBA playoffs don’t need to treat Shai and the other Thunder players as if they’re pristine little glass figurines out there. Call it the same as far as physicality allowed…call it both ways so we as NBA fans are allowed to see real playoff basketball on both ends of the floor for both teams.
ALLOW THE WOLVES TO DEFEND AT THE SAME LEVEL YOU ALLOW ALEX CARUSO TO DEFEND.. I love physicality. I love watching basketball knife fights here and there. MJ loved the Detroit Piston Badboys.
Shai’s mommy isn’t going to come out of the bleachers from the Edmond soccer field bleachers and attack you zebras if her little baby gets bumped into now and again. I mean, Doris Burke, on the telecast said it best when she said,”This is why Shai is called the Free Throw Merchant in NBA circles.”
But enough of that. The Thunder did enough in the second half to easily pull away down the stretch and gain a 1-0 advantage in this series. I thought Shai was good in the second half after a poor first half. JDub and Chet supported Shai’s 10-27 night with some solid play in the second half. So..I guess the three AT&T guys are my 1-2-3 Stars of the Game.
Kenrich Williams did very nice things for Coach Mark in the second half of this game with 9 points and a +19 rating in ten minutes of action. Plus, he seemed to slow Julius Randle down a bit. I love Kenrich. I wish he was a Denver Nugget. I pleaded with the Nuggets’ front office to see if they could acquire Kenrich at the trade deadline, but to no avail. Kenrich gets my 4th Star of the Game. Maybe now…the Nugget front office will follow some of my advice.
Game 2 on Thursday night inside of the Pay.Com Day Care Pre-K facility where we don’t allow touching or overly agressive children wearing non-Thunder apparel to participate in recess.
Anthony Edwards and his buds need to step up and play much better if they want this to become a compelling WCF which goes beyond four or five games.
Have a beautiful day.
Mike J