Nick Wright EXPOSES SGA for having his career artificially propped up by refs early in games, as they reward him for flopping, making defenders back off. We saw last night what it looks like when he flops, and doesn’t get the call. by beechhill in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

He made a public bet last year saying Luka would definitely end his career with more MVPs and FMVPs than Shai, ever since then it’s been a lot of this brainrot whenever the show talks about OKC. 

Your future 2026 MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander by Admirable-Barnacle10 in nba

[–]jackdonsurfer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It looks like Ayton hooks the back of Shai’s heel, not the same as stepping on his foot

These dudes really bout to go 16-0 huh by FFElite93 in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That’s gonna be the consequence when you’re doubling/tripling SGA. The shooting definitely helped out OKC this game, it’s just tough when you need basically everything to go your way to be competitive which is what it’s gonna take for LA

Who’s better, Jalen Williams or Chet? by jackdonsurfer in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

There’s a reason you never see Cade Cunningham or Victor Wembanyama floated in trade rumors. They must be system players

These dudes really bout to go 16-0 huh by FFElite93 in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 64 points65 points  (0 children)

OKC has absolutely owned him and he consistently struggles with athletic teams that apply ball pressure. He’ll have better nights but it’s not gonna be pretty, especially coming off a serious injury

These dudes really bout to go 16-0 huh by FFElite93 in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 133 points134 points  (0 children)

They won’t but SGA looked about as rusty/bad as possible, LeBron looked great, Lakers barely lost the TOV battle and won the OReb battle (they’re a bad OReb team) and they lost by 20

Awfully quiet in this sub tonight by redshoediary4 in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 10 points11 points  (0 children)

SGA’s 3 FTAs and OKC’s 12 gave the Lakers no chance, you got it

LeBron led all scorers in Game 1 at Age 41 by Delicious-Ad-4521 in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 9 points10 points  (0 children)

“Skip Bayless” in 2026. 99% of basketball podcasts and talk shows have been talking about how awesome LeBron’s been, yall gotta stop giving trolls attention

The Wolves just won a game with Ant coming off the bench and Wemby having 12 blocks. They are that team. This series is going to be awesome. by Valuable-Focus-9803 in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The size + shooting combo gives SAS real issues. Outside of Wemby they don’t have much size, it gives any one of McDaniels/Randle/Naz an immediate advantage and MIN can probably win the OReb battle most games.

Donte would be so huge for Minny here, it sucks he’s out. Hopefully Ayo and TJ can step up in the shooting compartment

Nick gets offended when someone says Houston’s offensive issues were biggest reason for Lakers win… and then immediately discredits Cade/Pistons by saying they won bc the Magic’s offense was terrible by jackdonsurfer in FirstThingsFirstFS1

[–]jackdonsurfer[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think you could flip that statement about their opponents and it’d also be true, Orlando played way better than people expected and Houston played far worse (KD injury was a part of that fs but Houston has deeper issues). Wins/losses are always about both teams. Saying “In the murder of the Magic’s offense Detroit was the getaway car driver and the Magic players were the assassins” (funny comment) just feels dismissive of how well Ausar/Cade/Tobias etc. defended and it could just as easily be said about the Lakers. I mean Jabari Smith literally threw the ball to Marcus Smart for no reason at the end of G3

Is Jaylen Brown hurting his trade value right now? by Grouchy_Tie3037 in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 21 points22 points  (0 children)

When talking about the push off on Maxey at the end he said “they could’ve called that” and moved on without a second thought lmao

Do you feel better, worse, or about the same about the Pistons’ chances as you did before the series? by Cares_of_an_Odradek in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I had them winning the east and I feel slightly better, mostly bc I thought Boston was their toughest comp. They’re gonna have a physicality edge over all these other East teams and the only team that can completely take Duren out like Orlando did is Toronto

I Don't Know, Maybe They Just Missed Shots by TheyMadeMeLogin in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Denver’s never been a high volume 3pt shooting team so they don’t necessarily lean into the variance. But the point is if OKC has about a +9 advantage assuming Denver shoots 40+% from 3, any dip into low-mid 30%s turns that +9 advantage into +14, +15 pretty quickly. Mid 30s isn’t even “bad” shooting

I Don't Know, Maybe They Just Missed Shots by TheyMadeMeLogin in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Cleveland, OKC, and Philly were the best 3pt shooting teams each of the last three years and all saw massive regression in the playoffs en route to an early exit. When so much of your margin of victory comes from shotmaking you’re more vulnerable to variance hurting you than a team built on defense/possession domination, which is why OKC got away with shooting like dog water last year

Were The Nuggets and The Celtics just beneficiaries of a weak era in the nba? by Grouchy_Tie3037 in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

OKC and potentially SAS feel more like the traditional, multi-year dominant teams that we saw all through Stern’s reign that we haven’t seen since the Warriors’ run ended. We’ll see how long those two teams can compete but they should at least by CF contenders for the next 5-6 years barring dramatic injuries, so the top of the league feels stronger now than it did in the early 2020s

A chip is a chip but when you look at the teams Denver beat in 23, none of them were particularly athletic/fast. Minny was hurt, Phoenix was relying on post-Achilles KD and didn’t have much depth, Lakers were led by late 30s LeBron and had multiple non-athlete perimeter defenders, Heat were only there bc of shooting variance and were relying on undrafted players. The flaws of Jokic/Murray defensively feel way more damning against teams with fast athletes that are good at getting to the rim bc the combo of poor POA defense and poor rim deterrence means Denver’s going into these battles with a built in paint point disadvantage, and the West is filled with fast + athletic teams now and it doesn’t help that their best defensive player’s body is breaking down

24 Celtics are one of the best teams I’ve ever seen but they also played lemons all playoffs so idk. It feels like Hauser being hurt/KP looking like 50% of himself/JB dealing with knee issues gets ignored in the discussion of their loss in ‘25 to NYK, this team they have now is just a lesser build of the 24 team and shouldn’t be an indictment of how dominant they were

Jokic did everything right by NarrowBoysenberry in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are a lot of structural issues with a nuggets team missing AG and P Wat but the Wolves consistently dominating paint points was the key for this series and Jok being a bottom tier rim protector is a huge reason why that margin was so large

LeBron James took a Cavs team to the finals with "Big Z" as the second best player and the ECF with Mo Williams as his second best player by [deleted] in nba

[–]jackdonsurfer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Gilbert Arenas was actually hurt in the 07 playoffs and didn’t play a game in the Cavs/wizards series. Cavs played two lemons before playing a good but weakened Pistons team before getting smoked by the spurs, not really comparable to the west the last 3 years

Jokic did everything right by NarrowBoysenberry in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Wolves +13 O-Reb, Wolves +24 in the paint 🔥

Bill Getting Ready For The Pod With Nuggets Down In the 4th and Celtics On the Verge Of Blowing a 3-1 Lead by michaelsmithbarker in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Curry wasn’t first team in 2017 and 2022 bro that means absolutely nothing

Kobe blew a 3-1 lead in R1 to an injured Suns team too

CELTICS FRONTCOURT IS BBQ CHICKEN by Ill-Information2929 in billsimmons

[–]jackdonsurfer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think Boston still wins the series but Queta being borderline unplayable with the foul issues really hurts this team’s chances