Game Thread Spurs (22-7) vs Thunder (26-4) (Thu 12/25/25) [1:30 PM CDT]

[Millennial_Messiah]

No feedback on Manu or TD, but, I stood next to Parker once and I'm 6'.5" in shoes and Parker was barely taller than me. Probably 6' 1.5" in shoes. One thing that I saw that blew my mind was TD and Shaq standing next to each other and Shaq was at least an inch taller, a foot wider and a foot or more thicker. Largest human I have ever seen.

Yeah Shaq was solidly a seven footer, while in his era most of the other big name bigs of his time (Ewing, Duncan, Garnett, Webber, Dirk, etc) were all a little short of that.

I've also confirmed that Steve Nash is barely six feet tall, if not 5'11.5". Avery Johnson no taller than 5'9" and that's pushing it.

 

[heyheymymy]

Finally just watched the full game for the first time on HD replay. What a statement game. That Fox triple looks so wet. Really thought Harper was helpful with the timely buckets and played well for a rookie. Looked like Harper had the Philippines flag colors on his shoes. Lu Dort needs to chill the fuck out. I actually came away with a new respect for SGA as much as a hate to admit it. Might downgrade my hate status there.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

Feels good that OKC is the Spurs’ bitch, tbh.

For now, it’s a long long season. One thing we know for sure is how well we match up with them. I was kind of unsure about that until the Christmas Day game. They had all the motivation in the world to kick our ass and they still couldn’t do it.

 

[spursparker9]

 

[heyheymymy]

Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord

 

[spursparker9]

Rachel Nichols saying that Wemby has learnt the art of getting the mental edge over your opponents (something that MJ like to do) by intimidating Chet

And OKC refusing to let Chet guard Wemby is adding more edge to Wemby's psychological warfare on OKC.

youtube comments someone wrote maybe OKC should try trade away Chet to stop Wemby's hatred on them.

 

[Biggems]

Rachel Nichols saying that Wemby has learnt the art of getting the mental edge over your opponents (something that MJ like to do) by intimidating Chet

And OKC refusing to let Chet guard Wemby is adding more edge to Wemby's psychological warfare on OKC.

youtube comments someone wrote maybe OKC should try trade away Chet to stop Wemby's hatred on them.

The Jackals should make shirts Wemby and Butthead with a picture of Wemby towering over Chet

 

[O_V]

The Jackals should make shirts Wemby and Butthead with a picture of Wemby towering over Chet

Chet looks like the hillbillies in the Bugs Bunny cartoon.

 

[Shmurs]

The jackals…I don’t know where they’ve found these people. But I think it’s turning out to be a good thing, which is very surprising.

 

[DTW]

It's probably been said, but what the Spurs did to the Thunder has got to be unprecedented.

In 10 days, for the Thunder to go from the consensus being at least a decent chance at 74 wins, save injury the championship being a wrap and a dynasty in the making to are the Spurs, with only a handful of games under their belt and 3 of their core 4 college aged, as good or better? Insane.

 

[heyheymymy]

This shit is absolutely ridiculous. Time for the league to sit down Lu Dort and have a talk with him:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBATalk/comments/1px3l3e/compilation_of_lu_dort_trying_to_injure_people

 

[spursistan]

It's probably been said, but what the Spurs did to the Thunder has got to be unprecedented.

In 10 days, for the Thunder to go from the consensus being at least a decent chance at 74 wins, save injury the championship being a wrap and a dynasty in the making to are the Spurs, with only a handful of games under their belt and 3 of their core 4 college aged, as good or better? Insane.

I was skeptical about OKC half court offense going back to last year's playoffs and that theme segued into this season, which is why the comparisons with the Warriors (even the iteration sans Durant) in terms of invincibility were overblown; the latter possessed a far more explosive offense that gave them a sense of intimidating inevitability whereas OKC's was gummed up by lesser defensive teams like Denver/Indiana..

I think the roles will be switched in this burgeoning rivalry compared to the one they had between 2012-16; that is Spurs will have the overwhelming star power (including best player in the series) while Thunder boast the superior depth thanks to their myriad of draft assets and scouting acumen..

 

[heyheymymy]

The open handed nut slap on Lively II is over the top. That clip doesn't even capture the dead leg on wemby fully and it still looks terrible. I guess Bowen fans can't complain but this seems more egregious and more of a share Dort's overall game than Bowen but that's probably debatable.

 

[Biggems]

This shit is absolutely ridiculous. Time for the league to sit down Lu Dort and have a talk with him:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBATalk/comments/1px3l3e/compilation_of_lu_dort_trying_to_injure_people

Dort is Draymond without the suspensions.

He reminds me of Eduardo Najera. If this were hockey, he would be an enforcer. He would be brought in merely to rough up the star players on the other team.

 

[DTW]

I was skeptical about OKC half court offense going back to last year's playoffs and that theme segued into this season, which is why the comparisons with the Warriors (even the iteration sans Durant) in terms of invincibility were overblown; the latter possessed a far more explosive offense that gave them a sense of intimidating inevitability whereas OKC's was gummed up by lesser defensive teams like Denver/Indiana..

I think the roles will be switched in this burgeoning rivalry compared to the one they had between 2012-16; that is Spurs will have the overwhelming star power (including best player in the series) while Thunder boast the superior depth thanks to their myriad of draft assets and scouting acumen..

Well last season they mostly didn't have Mitchell in the playoffs and for most of this season to this point, they haven't had Williams, who is still not in peak form. They've also yet to have Topic. It'll be interesting to see their half court offense with all of their creators at their disposal.

In comparison to those Warriors, the Thunder's defense is as overwhelming as the Warriors offense was and I'd argue in Gilgeous-Alexander, they have a better creator than Curry or Durant. They don't have a second superstar though and offense is generally slightly more important than defense, but I think it's at least closer than you think.

Agree on the last part.

 

[tearsofmorningdew]

Well last season they mostly didn't have Mitchell in the playoffs and for most of this season to this point, they haven't had Williams, who is still not in peak form. They've also yet to have Topic. It'll be interesting to see their half court offense with all of their creators at their disposal.

In comparison to those Warriors, the Thunder's defense is as overwhelming as the Warriors offense was and I'd argue in Gilgeous-Alexander, they have a better creator than Curry or Durant. They don't have a second superstar though and offense is generally slightly more important than defense, but I think it's at least closer than you think.

Agree on the last part.

SGA is at best on par with curry as a creator. he’s a drive and kick guard big whoop. curry’s gravity in and of itself does more from a creating standpoint than anything SGA can do

 

[DTW]

SGA is at best on par with curry as a creator. he’s a drive and kick guard big whoop. curry’s gravity in and of itself does more from a creating standpoint than anything SGA can do

I mean on ball though. As advanced metrics bear out, Gilgeous-Alexander is the best off the dribble creator in the league and the easiest way to put defenses into the "blender" (rotation) is the way he does it.

 

[Shmurs]

I mean on ball though. As advanced metrics bear out, Gilgeous-Alexander is the best off the dribble creator in the league and the easiest way to put defenses into the "blender" (rotation) is the way he does it.

the secondary effects of working over the refs are hard to measure. Shai is a world class talent and a top 10 player. Shai without guys being scared to breath on him is not in the same discussion as jokic or Giannis in terms of impact and just overall greatness and not in the same discussion as Luka in terms of offensive talent.

You establish that guys aren’t allowed to defend you and a whole world of opportunity opens up, if you can believe it.

 

[DTW]

the secondary effects of working over the refs are hard to measure. Shai is a world class talent and a top 10 player. Shai without guys being scared to breath on him is not in the same discussion as jokic or Giannis in terms of impact and just overall greatness and not in the same discussion as Luka in terms of offensive talent.

You establish that guys aren’t allowed to defend you and a whole world of opportunity opens up, if you can believe it.

This narrative is nonsense. Most (super)stars, especially perimeter ones, do similar things to Gilgeous-Alexander, yet somehow he's despised for it and someone like Doncic isn't.

Guy is a class act, the second best player in the league and the most well rounded guard since Jordan.

 

[O_V]

I think I'd put Wade ahead of SGA for now, but that means he's really fucking good.

 

[Shmurs]

This narrative is nonsense. Most (super)stars, especially perimeter ones, do similar things to Gilgeous-Alexander, yet somehow he's despised for it and someone like Doncic isn't.

Guy is a class act, the second best player in the league and the most well rounded guard since Jordan.

doncic is similarly embarrassing. So is Brunson. So was harden.

But ant? Nope. Fox? Nope. Tatum? Nope. Plenty of others. Go find a clip or two on these guys if you want. But they are different things.

It’s not what everyone does. It’s what guys who occasionally act like bitches do. And when you do it well, you get 36 points per game like harden did. You get shai’s last 2 years. You take ELITE talent and add a little cheating and you get pretty incredible results.

 

[Correct Crusader]

The jackals…I don’t know where they’ve found these people. But I think it’s turning out to be a good thing, which is very surprising.

Always good to have people who's sole purpose is to make noise. I'm so over the dead lower bowls of past spurs seasons.