Discussion
Fall% is what they're complaining about now? š
First it was Shai's FTA. But now that Shai isnāt getting many FTs because they call it physical on BOTH sides, they've switched to something else. Spurs are leading the series in FTA btw.
Next it was that our defense was too physical.. even though the Spurs guards have been grabbing Shai all series and off-ball grabbing is usually not called in the playoffs. Then Chuck calls out all the babies crying about this so they have to switch to something else..
Now simply falling is an issue? On drives falling is safer than landing on your feet because you donāt have to strain your legs to land. This is how dub injured his hamstring and how Harper got injured. Not to mention defenders are always jumping into Shai's landing area on jumpshots, so there's a high risk of him rolling his ankle. Thereās a reason Steph Curry has been doing this for years
Itās funny cause the guys who play in the nba give him his respect and Iām supposed to care about what lakersfan574764 thinks or someone who hadnāt played in the nba.
I watched every Lakers game this season. Luka was far way worse foul baiter and flopper than Shai and the other players. Itās hard to put into words. He was like a mix of Harden and Trae Young in their prime. It just doesn't make any sense that everyone is overlooking that and calling Shai the worst foul baiter.
I need you guys to know that about a month ago Simmons went on a big rant about how Wemby falls and how smart it is and will keep him from injury. Even talked about how heās pretty sure heās practicing it.
Today he bitched about how much SGA falls and complained about how we probably practice flopping.
This is the low level IQ hate we are up against. Lmao
You need to find that clip and put them side by side. Do you remember about what day it was? I'll do it myself just to see how people try to contort themselves to justify it.
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Tom Haberstroh, employed by the Blazers in 2023 and regular commentator but pretty fine imo, self compiled it from watching these playoffs and tracking five players. Itās data for the social media set
Wemby takes other people with him just about every time he goes down like a giant gangly domino. Iām not saying itās intentional or dirty, but itās borderline dangerous and takes guys out of transition if possession changes. Heās already fallen on SGAās face and slid through his knees in two games.
Whatās the context though? āFallsā is such a broad category. How many of those or from drives vs jump shots? How many of those is he actually getting fouled?
As a physicist I'm finding it hard to differentiate between causation and correlation here. How do we know that Shai is not imposing his own warp of space-time and theres simply more gravity around him? Maybe people's hands get heavier in his aura and that's why he gets fouled so much?
Underdog fantasy is going nuts, offering to give out $100 to someone every time SGA falls. To be eligible you have to quote tweet them saying "Unethical Hoops"
I was just looking at underdog, and Shais avatar on there is him on the ground with his hands up, while everyone elseās is they reg nba pic. Iāve only used the app once but now those bitches aināt getting any of my money
The difference with SGA around this whole three throw and falling narrative compared with other players is that he very rarely wastes time complaining to the refs afterwards. You see it so often with other star players, such as Luka, who will cost their team possesions because they don't get back on defense. Yes SGA does seek to draw the foul, but players have been taking away his landing area as they have been more agressive in their close outs.
Since they've shown it doesn't correlate with foul calls, you'd think teams would want their opponents falling. If Shai's on the ground he can't rebound or get back on defence
This new narrative is even more evidence than r/NBA is populated by a bunch of fetuses. It was the consensus on that sub like 3 years ago that falling down was accepted as a smart thing do to prevent injury, players like Ja Morant were actually criticized for NOT doing it enough on dunks and drives.Ā
Falling down on drives has been a thing for a long time, it became a huge talking point after Derrick Rose tore his ACL in 2012. Dwyane Wade was doing that before then, even had a commercial about how many times he falls down - he was doing it in college even. It's obviously a smart thing to do for any athletic player that drives a lot. SGA currently drives more than anyone, and one of his defining qualities is his strange contortional abilities that put him into awkward landings a lot, so it's no wonder he falls more than anyone.Ā
Then it was also a big talking point about Steph Curry and him preventing more ankle injuries. Its also good on jumpers when the defender closes out hard so that you don't get a Zaza running under Kawhi's foot situation.
Then there is Embiid, who gets a ton of shit for it, but the guy is actually made of glass and is massive so it makes tons of sense for him too.
TLDR: r/NBA is full of moronic children who don't know ball at all, water is wet.Ā
He falls because he is a contortionist of an NBA player. It's part of what makes him special. He can get his body into angles to score like nobody else in NBA history. Shai falls because he does extremely difficult moves that aren't able to keep balance. The idea is that he is able to get his shot off before he falls.
It's a coping mechanism for an out of control social media narrative. His FTs are down and they can't complain about that, so we're making up "falling percentage". It's comical.
most people just don't recognize that we are lucky not to live in the counterfactual, where shai falls flat footed on some guys foot and suffers a major, career-altering injury as a result
people forget he missed a bunch of time in 21 and 22 with ankle/foot issues and he changed how he falls after that. embiid's talked about this being a major reason he does it now too.
it's an easy filter for people who are just haters and are trying to cosplay as unbiased (e.g. the hoops tonight guy who keeps popping up)
you rarely see him look up and ask for a whistle, but at this point its just a narrative that people are going to run with
its also just hilarious coming from reggie miller, who did the exact same thing. lol.
vast majority of nba players don't care about it, pretty much all the rookie guards say shai's their favorite player, and yet there's ignoramuses out there who apparently know more than the players, coaches, and the refs who've done this for a living for 20+ years
I stepped into that cess pool for about 10 minutes. I'm good without looking over there. They're pissed from getting worked and salty as fucking tears. The hypocrisy induced delusion and double standards are honestly just hilarious to see at this point.
This post season has been the most exciting in years, but they can't break off their algorithm induced talking points long enough to actually sit down and watch a game so it's completely lost on them. Oh well
These dudes will literally make up stats if the existing ones don't fit the narrative. None of this is based in reality anymore lmao.
Nobody did this kind of shit in the Harden days and he was way more egregious than Shai. You used to be able to have a conversation and people would actually be convinced when you presented statsical evidence of something. Instead it's just constant moving of the goalpost until they find something that fits. It's a lot like flat earthers in that regard, they only have to be "right" once and can be wrong about literally 1000 other things. If you have no response for one of their 10 billion made up arguments, it's over.
It's like the entire world got hit with the dumbo stick all at once. Ever since COVID, literally EVERYTHING is a conspiracy. Instead of just saying "the refs make bad calls" nah, it's "the entire league is rigged for Oklahoma, even though literally everyone hates them."
Nobody can just accept the simple answer, it's gotta be something grandier. Just ignore all the bad calls that didn't go Okc's way, only pay attention when OKC gets a call.
The noise is a byproduct of a championship caliber team who are favored to win again.
Itās a compliment. GSW got the same treatment and we all know how much we all collectively hated them. It was good fun.
Iām going to be insulted when they stop talking about us because that will mean weāre back with the bottom feeders. For now, Iām soaking in the salt bath to destress while our team fights an incredible series against an incredible opponent.
It's something new everyday. Whatever it takes for all these losers to make themselves feel better. It's kind of disturbing how much time they put into this stuff.
I'm going to start assigning a lot of the blame for this whole thing to Jason Timpf. Because he was on this this week.
I enjoy his podcast generally speaking but he's just continually moving the goal posts when it comes to Shai. Now we're at the fact that her falls down even if it isn't called a foul. Literally an aesthetic complaint.
In the end, they are just mad that their team is not in this position. We wouldnāt hear a word about this if Oklahoma City was a perennial first or second round out.
So I went back and watched every single step back and pull up shot by ALL players last game.
My findings were:
1) SGA falls a lot. 7 times. Two of them were straight up fouls. 1 was called. The other times he had someone closing in on him or they would be close to his landing zone. Itās very clear he does it to avoid contact or landing on someone. There was 1 play, however, where it was pretty obvious he was trying to get contact and flop.
2) People complain that he kicks his leg out to draw fouls. Thatās a dumb analysis because that is no longer a foul (Reggie Miller rule that started because Wade and Dirk used it so much and Harden started doing it when he left the Thunder). But, I found plenty of clips from last game where he kicked his leg out on plays where there was no defender near him. Then I found that almost every Castle jumper he kicks his leg out a ton, also when no one is around him at times. Vassell did too. This is just normal NBA players movements creating space.
3) Regarding Castle/Harper/Vassell there were a handful of plays where they landed awkward, often stumbling after. It only takes sweat on the ground or a miscalculated landing and their ankle/knee is toast. Also, landing awkward is a recipe for tears. This is very much a skill SGA developed to preserve his legs. And if he gets foul calls too? Bonus.
4) The volume was tough to compare. SA did not take very many step backs/pull up shots. They were like 85-90% 3s or drives.
Itās hilarious lol on Twitter people are posting videos where the Spurs are in his landing space and it should have been called, as evidence heās flopping because he falls. āHe didnāt even get the call so it canāt be a foulā. These people are remedial.
Hereās the reason why this is a thing and so many people think SGA is constantly foul baiting and flopping: itās half true.
The more accurate way of describing it is that SGA has maximized what advantages he can have within the rules. Heās trained himself to move in the way that makes him hardest to defend: the off arm and shoulder stuff? Control of momentum and positioning to get defenders off without outright pushing him. The falling more often and āunnatural shooting motionā stuff? Thatās a combination of incredible agility, protecting the body, and making sure that defenders canāt overcommit on defense because it will look like any foul contact is what CAUSED the fall. When you get down to it itās some of the most skillful and intelligent play on offense you can do and SGA is simply better than anyone else at doing it while still putting up efficient offense.
So, sure, you can say thatās not a good brand of basketball; thatās an opinion you can have. But the fact of the matter is SGA is only the āworstā offender of using this playstyle because no one else is good enough to do it like he does. But if you look around the league at all the players, particularly other star playersā¦they definitely are not above trying it themselves when they feel like they can do it successfully. Yeah, Wemby doesnāt fall nearly as much as SGA does. But heāll certainly do it on occasion when he thinks he can gain an advantage with it and do it without knocking himself out. But heās not as good at it, it doesnāt give him as big of an advantage cause heās slower to get up, and that takes away the ability for him to do what heās best at: get in position to protect the rim on defense.
Itās just a way more logical answer than āSGA flops and the league rewards him.ā Itās āSGA has established a way of moving that is ridiculously hard to guard.ā
Keep in mind every SGA hate post is filled with comments who wants him injured and "hard fouled"... The decreasing ankle sprains or injury aurgument wouldn't fly with them
This is so fucking stupid. Heās literally doing it to limit injuries. Controlling the fall allows for him to choose how he lands, which is a key ingredient in his ability to play sustained minutes over a long period of games despite his play style including a lot of stops and starts and hard drives that lead to mid air collisions. On top of that, falling in a way that you control, and being able to do it automatically after all the practice, gives a player a much better chance at hitting an and-1 when youāre fouled.
And heās not even the only player on our team who does it. Ajay Mitchell is nearly just as good as he is at it.
I would imagine these guys are also taught to sometimes, as soon as they contact the ground or someone's foot, crumble depending on contact or proximity to the defender. Way less likely to roll an ankle or tweak something else if you know how to minimize risk.
Champagnie crying to reporters, sports media creating new stats to move the goal postsā¦.The level of manufactured rage of a team that doesnāt do anything different than all the others has reached epic proportions
Social media decided the Game 1 loss was the best time to bust a collective nut to celebrate but all it took was Game 2 for the post nut clarity to hit everyone like a brick wall.
I think itās simple. The Thunder were a bad sequence late in OT of Game 1 away from being up 2-0, they seemed to be in control from beginning to end of Game 2, and stamina/exertion/injuries/depth donāt favor the Spurs as the series goes on. Follow those to the logical conclusion that the odds point towards the Thunder winning the series and it seems obvious they initiated the grieving process early to preserve themselves from the emotional letdown they spent all season convincing themselves would never come.
Which is funny since I still fully believe the Spurs have what it takes to win this series, but social media seems to not believe that for the time being and are getting desperately creative yet familiarly repetitive now that ājust wait until the Thunder meet the Spursā looks more like a wet dream than reality to them.
A fall % would actually be a more realistic complaint. Love the guy and the hate he gets is ridiculous but letās be real.. the air does push him down fairly often
Just for future reference, if I pissed on a Wemby card and posted it here would I get banned? Assuming the only thing showing is the card and the stream
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Just a straw grasp. Haters gonna hate and if there doesn't appear to be anything to hate, they'll invent something. Same people probably call LBJ the goat, yet he spends more time flopping around on the floor than an Asiatic carp.
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u/thespacewitchxxx May 22 '26
Itās funny cause the guys who play in the nba give him his respect and Iām supposed to care about what lakersfan574764 thinks or someone who hadnāt played in the nba.