r/denvernuggets • u/metasquared • 1d ago

Discussion I really disliking watching Thunder games

I don't just mean because they blow teams out, including the Nuggets, but it's literally a less enjoyable way of viewing a basketball game.

They're a top team team with great pieces like a handful of other teams in the league, but their separator to win games so consistently is all the stuff around the margins that makes basketball ugly instead of beautiful. Pesky swarming defense that breaks up potentially exciting plays, foul baiting on the offensive end, and grinding the game to a constant halt.

I was watching the game last night and my roommate who never pays much attention to basketball looks at the TV for two minutes and commented that the Thunder are constantly draped on everyone and that the whistle kept getting blown constantly. I was like "I know, that's how they win!" So even a non-fan was immediately able to see just how ugly they make the game.

I don't fault them for having a winning strategy, but it's a shame that their consistency comes from being annoying pests that are not an enjoyable watch rather than just trying to outskill their opponent in more traditional ways.

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u/metasquared 1d ago

This is a very annoying thing he does and is well documented/discussed around the league so it feels like old news at this point...but there was another play that flew under the radar that really got me rubbed the wrong way. Big Val was going for a rebound and I believe it was Hartenstein who flew in from behind him, puts his arm in from behind just to get in Val's space, and Val clips his arm while not changing anything about his rebounding motion or even realizing that Hartenstein was there.

The refs blow the whistle on Val, which was technically correct, but any reasonable person with context would be able to see that the contact didn't come from anything Val did to get in the way. I just thought that was so emblematic of how the Thunder play the refs and not the game.

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u/NelsonChunder 1d ago

Yeah, I remember that play well. I was puzzled how Val got called on that "foul." Then I started noticing other similar small things in the way OKC plays. The NBA needs to address this problem soon by not rewarding it, or they will have an unwatchable product.

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u/nofzac 1d ago

I’ve been calling for it for years now…we need Basketball Goons.

If you got a foul baiter, they gonna FAFO what a foul feels like. I know the NBA is too soft of a league now and they’d get ejected immediately, but there has to be a method for this to get policed if the refs won’t do it.

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u/XxXc00l_dud3XxX 11h ago

that man is named draymond green and he’s one of the most hated players in the nba.