2026 Playoffs: West Semifinals (1) OKC Thunder Vs (4) LA Lakers

This and an enforcer. This team needs a 2010 Ron Artest who everyone was scared of or a 2020 Dawite Howard throwing elbows around. Right now our most physical player is also our best player without Luka which is a problem. Ron bullying The Wheelchair and Dawite bullying jock itch are things that turned series around.

Even with all the rule changes to move the NBA away from the 90's era Knicks vs Heat slugfests, there still seems to be a need for a team to have that guy on it. Especially if OKC can basically play a different sport out there.

 

I dearly miss Ron Ron.
Everytime I force myself to watch a team that has BeerdoMcFloppington, I replay Ron’s beautiful elbow to his head several times, and it calms my soul.

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXaELeNEYMc/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

I know most here can’t stand him.
I, for one, am always entertained by his “a-hole-ness” and appreciation for his willingness to take up the mantle of our beloved Ron Ron.

 

Artest was serious about it though with genuine just below the surface malice waiting ... none of that bleep in those clips above just to antagonize someone. To my point, if Meta was on the team today and he and LeBron both being in the same ballpark "strength wise" and size .... there is NO way that a-hole would dare try that s*** with him.

 

To be fair, there is only one Ron Ron.
The dude is a true original.

 

A lot of whining in this topic.How about just not turning the ball over 20 something times every game.probably do wonders for on court performance regardless of referees

 

They're turning the ball over because OKC is hacking, grabbing arms, tripping players, etc., lol

I'm not saying Lakers aren't careless with the ball but it's not like they're intentionally doing it. They're legitimately getting roughed up and on the other hand, get called for fouls just for standing on the court.

 

So you’re upset about normal playoff basketball? I’ve seen so many unforced turnovers I don’t know how JJ keeps his sanity

 

I don’t agree. That regular season game is over rated, and taken as some kind of gospel on why they’re miles better than us. The truth is, we’re not that bad and they’re not that good. Don’t let that game cloud your judgment.

Take the numbers for example: they shot 65% from 3 in the first quarter - they’re not a good 3pt team. We had 8 TOs in the first 6 mins, we don’t average 60 turnovers a game. It was a terrible start for us and a fantastic one for them and we couldn’t go on our own run because Luka and Reaves got injured. After that the whole team collapsed emotionally.

There’s no reason why OKC would be coasting in the playoffs and going full blast in the regular season. These are the games that matter today, it’s jsut everyone is now trying as hard as they are in the playoffs. We’re right there with them:

- Game 1, half way through 3Q, it was a 3 pt game
- Game 2, half way through the 4Q, it was a 5 pt game

With Luka back, we steal one of those.

We’ve done a tremendous job guarding SGA by the way, the soft double has been super impressive. We’ve also done a good job of rotating out to OKC’s open man out of that. Where we have had breakdowns has been when they find the open man on the interior (Chet) and not on the 3 - or when they find McCain open who hasn’t missed. I think if we had one more scorer in Luka and one more two way wing, we’re in a 7 game series.

Heck if next year’s version of Adou was here today, or Jake was a 36% shooter that didn’t get the yips, we’d be there with Luka.

We really aren’t that far, OKC’s super power is they play hard in the regular season with a 12 man rotation and everyone gives 100%, with lots of redundancy due to injury. That is mitigated when everyone plays hard in the playoffs. You just need a team with some depth to manage their waves, we saw Denver and Indiana do that last year.

 

You know whose help is in this dog fight. Dillon Brooks, that guy would be in the fire against OKC right now with the rubbish officiating. He’d also bully the other team, there’s no LeBron’s or Vando’s on OKC that can handle his physicality.

He’d take out SGA on a hard foul and stand over him.