Finding game nuances in the whistle:
Let’s follow up on this whistle situation and find a positive to use for the OKC Thunder.
More from Thunderous Intentions
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- Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
Having witnessed several Celtics matches this season this Boston crew are masters of committing offensive fouls and getting defensive personal foul calls out of them (especially Walker and Marcus Smart).
They are equally adept at getting offensive calls on their opponents (note the first game versus Toronto this season the Raptors were called for TEN offensive fouls). Brad Stevens must have a session on this in training because it’s a constant and clearly the Celtics have discovered the fine line on how to effect those calls.
This isn’t shade — hey, we’re witness to CP3 getting the same benefit for capitalizing on his own pump fake to draw whistles. Rather, it’s something Billy Donovan should keep in mind for future training sessions.
Ultimately the main takeaway here is the OKC Thunder aren’t far off being an upper echelon squad. Minor tweaks to the current roster and strategy could mean this club is much closer to achieving the goal of moving higher up the ladder than perhaps we thought.
It sure will be an exciting spring and summer. Barring the bottom falling out, the Thunder are poised for a playoff appearance where Sam Presti will be able to evaluate how close the team is to moving up and what will be required to bolster those chances in the future.
Exciting times in Thunder Nation – that’s for sure.