To me…tonight’s Game 4 in Minnesota could very well be the defining game in this series. We as passionate NBA fans have yet to see a close, competitive game in this series go to the buzzer. All three have been blowouts despite the TWolves actually playing fairly well in the first halves in their two losses at Oklahoma City…minus the last minute of each first half.
Everyone was calling for this series to be a knife fight of sorts. But as we all saw in OKC there was no knife fight because the zebras coddled and protected Shai to the tune of 14.5 free throw attempts in both of those games. And that’s exactly why the Minnesota fans greeted Shai with a chorus of boos every time he touched the ball on Friday night.
That’s precisely why they followed Doris Burke’s cue and began chanting, “Free Throw Merchant”, every time Shai toed the line in Game 4.
Maybe that’s why the whistle happy zebras from Games 1 & 2 never materialized in Minnesota as Shai suddenly only had 4 free throw attempts in the Thunder blowout road loss. Or maybe Batman and Robin just played soft.
Remember …Michael only averaged 8.2 free attempts per game in his career. Kobe only averaged 7.4 PGFTAs.
But with that dynamic in place one would expect the Thunder themselves to be physical with Anthony Edwards. It never happened. So what happened to the Thunder’s historic defense in Game 3?
What happened was two-fold…OKC got hammered on the boards by a 51-32 count, and they only created 10 turnovers of which only several led to Thunder live ball points in the first half.
Game 4, here we are. So… ya’ll Oklahoma City Thunder fans think the TWolve fans are just going to let that angst for Shai’s getting to the free throw line 29 times in OKC go away because of the blowout win on Friday night be the Game 4 narrative?
I wouldn’t think so. I would think if anything the TWolve fans try to turn it up a notch if the Thunder come out flat as they did in Game 3.
Let’s be blunt on here now….just this past week Shai won the regular season MVP, while JDub made the All-NBA Team for the first time in his career.
Sam Presti and Clay Bennett are getting ready to pay both Batman and Robin A LOT of Oklahoma pecos. I mean… a bunch of money. And then they’ll have to decide Chet’s ultimate value…or should I say the NBA market itself will determine Chet’s injury prone value after three years in the league.
So if I’m the Thunder…I would think all the urgency and desperation which was nowhere to be seen in Game 3 in Minny might manifest itself tonight in Game 4. The NY Knicks sure showed some desperation and guts last night in Game 3 in Indy. Kudos to KAT and the other guys. That was awesome.
I picked the Thunder this series to win in either six or seven tough games. I thought it would be a knife-fight. I thought in the end..Batman and Robin would be the difference because Minny doesn’t really have a Robin or two.
Two weeks ago in Denver…the Thunder in essence won that Game 4 to save their season by rallying in the fourth period to even the series at 2-2. That was the game when the mystery thunderstorm suddenly emerged in Denver just as the game finished and my son called me to tell me as much. I call it the Denver Thunderstorm Mojo game.
Some Thunder mojo is needed tonight in Minny.
These are the type of mental aspects I love about NBA Playoff basketball. The back and forth…the ebb and flow of human emotion and frailty. Caruso challenging these guys in the shoot around today. Reminding them that NBA rings aren’t just given to you by your adoring fanbase.
Hope everyone in the NBA family enjoys the game tonight.
Mike J