DTH

Today is a horrible day. A very sad, troublesome day. Charlie Kirk was a smart man. A great man. An American man. What happened today is the ultimate tragedy that will be remembered for decades. His short life was filled with success and strength. Let’s hope we can continue it.

@GeneralManagerO Harris walks they don’t want him anyway and he’s a FA. Sasser, Holland and 2 FRPs would get Kawhi imo.

@DeanBlevins Just shows how deep the Thunder are. Deepest team of all time.

Spurs 100%. #Thunder without 3rd best player in this series who is an all-star & all-league defender in J-Dub. And without OKC’s second or third best creator who’d been elite in playoffs at 2/game. The facts should be emphasized to the world-wide audience bc if the Thunder find ways to win this game and the series it will be one of their most remarkable accomplishments. Against a tremendous SA team it’s amazing OKC is a whopping 5.5-pt favorite … particularly with two lynchpins who are out (I expect for season). But ‘don’t underestimate the ❤️of a champion!’ #NeedMoreProblemSolving

@PlayersChoice_ If you replace him with like 20 different players they’re up 2-1.

If you replaced Shai with Luka, would the Thunder still be up 2-1 right now?🤔

@sny_knicks Looks way better with 1 hand than 2 😂

Mitchell Robinson works from the foul line in pregame warmups

@a1fantasy23 I mean, Cleveland just hasn’t been very good on the road. They were also down 2-0 to Detroit and they literally found a way to lose Game 1 at the Garden. Detroit was also 10x better defensively than Knicks. Cavs just need to execute offensively and they’ll be alright.

Jalen Brunson is causing massive issues for Cleveland because the teammates around him are so much better. Toronto and Detroit didn't have the supporting cast to surround their star the way New York does. And with the Knicks' depth making Cleveland pay, Brunson is in control.

@Novig You’re telling me they couldn’t beat Portland or Phoenix? They’re easily a playoff team.

Could the Thunder bench make the playoffs🤔 - Cason Wallace - Ajay Mitchell - Alex Caruso - Kenrich Williams - Jaylin Williams -Jared McCain - Ishiah Joe - Aaron Wiggins - Nikola Topic

This OKC team isn’t the greatest ever but they’re easily the deepest team I’ve ever seen. Don’t even think it’s close. SGA, Dort, JDub, Chet, IHart, McCain, Caruso, Wallace, Jaylin Williams, Mitchell, and Joe. 11 Deep. All of them start on nearly every single team in the NBA.

@Jokeeee_ You know he’s probably the most fit player on the team, he can’t come out second half or they’re cooked.

Wemby is +12 at half and SAS is down 7 At what point does Mitch Johnson just play Wemby all game?

@a1fantasy23 They need less Shroder. Dude has been awful for weeks now. Need to let Mobley cook I’ve said that since the first series. Atkinson has really not done a good job coaching this team 🤷‍♂️

Evan Mobley could sit in the paint with nobody on him and they’d have no idea how to pass him the ball

@watupdoe168088 Dort plays elite defense and isn’t chucking up contested shots like McCain. They don’t need him shooting 15 times when he’s made 4 shots.

@Realdtharrison Dort!?? Cmon man he spreads the court way more then that guy

The obsession with Jared McCain is maddening. Why is he getting all these minutes late? He’s not better than Caruso, Wallace, Mitchell, or Dort.

@UnderdogNBA Some of yall (her included) don’t understand sarcasm.

SGA when asked what impact putting Isaiah Hartenstein on Wemby had tonight: “I’m not sure if it was good to be honest… it was alright. It was good. It was good.”

@jacksettleman Unfortunately I’d have to take him over Harden after today 😂

Who is the best player all time that you’d take Jalen Brunson over? Give me Brunson over Russell Westbrook

@Juliovext999 @SalvoBets Yea not sure it’s a good Mitchell series. They also hunted him on the defensive side. They need guys who can hit open 3s and play d. They already have SGA and JDub to facilitate. Totally agree wit you.

@SalvoBets he only shot 2 shots for a reason. now if fox is back then maybe bc he might be the only person any of them on okc can " pick on" but fox sits down too so it's a tuff one. I was pissed takin the over last game bra he looked terrified

NBA PLAY #1 🏀 Ajay Mitchell Over 10.5 Points Yes, I know Jdub is back and he takes his starting spot, but last game he still played 34 minutes, but only took 2 shots all game. That’s just not something that normally happens for him. When Mitchell plays 30+ minutes this season, and he’s cleared this line in 16 of his last 20 games, averaging 16.7 PPG. When Mitchell plays 30+ minutes, he averages 12.8 FGA per game, so the volume should bounce back heavily here. This line feels way too low if he gets his normal workload offensively The recent form has been strong too, he's overs in 9 of his last 10 and multiple games landing in the 15-28 range As long as the minutes stay there again tonight, this is a great bounce back spot for him offensively. Also see the Thunder taking this game and tying the series so there gonna need him to step up Data by @OutlierDotBet hmu for free trial

Absolutely disgusting display from James Harden. Still can’t believe as a future hall of famer you allowed yourself to get absolutely HUNTED on the defensive side and cost your team the game. Look yourself in the damn mirror and show some pride next time.

@DamienPetersNBA The issue is, Wemby (like Jokic v AD) can neutralize a 99% percentile defender so you almost waste the strength of him there. It’s like what BB used to do defensively. We will put our best CB on your WR2 and double your WR1 with 2 inferior players.

The NBA is in a weird place where a 7’1” star who finished 2nd in Defensive Player of the Year voting doesn’t guard the opponents best player at 7’5”. We all understand the logic behind it, but in theory it doesn’t make any sense. I felt the same when Anthony Davis, one of the all-time great defenders in league history would not take the matchup on Nikola Jokic when it mattered most. I do wonder in some ways whether we are overcomplicating things schematically.

@Perrywinkle1267 McDaniels is off the table

What do we think? Bucks: -J. McDaniels -J. Randle -R. Gobert -2026 FRP (#28) -2028 FRP swap -2033 FRP Wolves: -Giannis -M. Turner

@calebbets3 I understand it’s difficult for coaches to pivot quickly especially since they know these players personally and better than the public but if what a lot of us think happens, Hartenstein should only play the 10-12 non Wemby mins against Kornet. It makes 0 sense to challenge Wemby

8 THINGS TO EXPECT in THE NBA TODAY: May 18th - WCF, Game 1 SAS (2) v OKC (1) 1) Here we go. The League's MVP faces against his toughest matchup this year, as The San Antonio Spurs have beaten The Thunder in 4 of 5 total meetings. The two MVP frontrunners share some thoughts on this becoming the league's best rivalry: “We’re not quite [at a rivalry] yet, but it’s a good sign people see that it’s possible… I don't think anybody right now can claim to have a rivalry with them; they are in their own tier." - Wembanyama “Possibly, yeah. There’s a good chance. They’re young, really good, have a lot of talent, play the right way, play a good brand of basketball. Definitely a possibility." - Shai, post NBA Cup Loss 2) Jalen Williams returns here from the hamstring issue that caused him to miss the entire Lakers series, noting, “It’s good i haven’t had to rush back from my hamstring stuff at all, im actually taking extra days now then what was even originally planned cause we’re up 3-0 so there’s no point going into this series and possibly hurting myself”. This will send Ajay Mitchell back to the bench unit after averaging 22.5 PPG in Round 2, with SGA calling him their "best player this series". Still will sit in 20-25 minute range here 3) Chet Holmgren has faced off against Wembanyama in 4 of these H2H meetings, and has made just 1 single shot against him across that span. While Chet averaged 20 PPG against The Lakers in Round 2, he averaged just half that total vs San Antonio (10.5). Per 75 Poss, he is notching 8.1 Pts and 0 Ast since start of last season with this matchup. Granted, Wemby in this Spur defensive scheme has been a pure roamer, not logging more than 10 total partial possessions on a single OKC player this season. Isolation wise The Spurs have an edge, as Stephon Castle has done an equally solid job at limiting SGA in their matchups, holding him to 6-19 shooting. 4) Hartenstein is the top OKC candidate to be phased out this series, similar to what we saw with Rudy Gobert last season. With Wemby on this postseason, The Spurs have a 99.7 DRTG -- allowing nearly 16 Pts better than average. With a non-shooting big like Hartenstein on the court, Wemby gets to sit near rim at all times, rather than if OKC goes into a 5-out that requires San Antonio's pre-switching to keep Wemby down low. Another issue for Hartenstein is that you can't hide him on Castle anymore, who has shot 42% from deep post All-Star Break. Thus, little value here after playing near 28 MPG vs Ayton and The Lakers. With 25 or fewer minutes alongside SGA/Chet/Jdub/Mitchell, he is just 5/19 to this PRA mark. 5) All season long, The Spurs have allowed the most Pullup shots that typically stem from the midrange. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is shooting 54% off midrange shots this season, which is near 10% better than league average for teams. Spurs now have an issue at hand, as they can't simply run OKC off the 3PT line into these pullup shots; Ajay Mitchell just shot 58% from Midrange last series, Jdub is back and Holmgren has added it to his bag. 6) Rather, it seems more advantageous to surrender certain 3s. Caruso got up 12 3PA in 20 minutes for last healthy meeting between these two, and has made just 31% of his Catch-and-Shoot attempts this season. Caruso, Wallace and Dort are the top candidates to notch high 3PT volume in their minutes. 7) Spurs offense thrives in transition, now facing into the best transition defense across the last two seasons. Real bad recipe for Dylan Harper, who was able to dominate the Timberwolves in transition who often ran the slower triple big lineup of Randle, Gobert and Naz Reid. Harper just scored 14.7 PPG vs Minnesota, would expect this to hover closer to 10-12 this series. 8) De'Aaron Fox is the most unique piece of The Spurs offense, being the speed guy surrounded by extremely physical players. In two of the three total full strength meetings, Fox notched 22+ Pts, but OKC loves to throw players at him knowing that physicality is his weakness. Thus far he has played incredibly well in this spot, notching just 1 turnover a game to Castle's near 5. Expect him to handle more than Castle here in favor of that security for the OKC small-ball minutes.

@LegionHoops You’re in a top 5 spot in the NBA. Cade is a top 10 player, Thompson is a 1st team all defender who will only improve. They need to move off Harris and Duren tho.

What’s next for the Detroit Pistons?

@whatsontapnba Lmao hopefully they don’t agree with you otherwise they’re gonna end up in a worse spot than this season lol. Randle is 🗑️

Detroit. There is no way you guy can contend without a second star. Lucky for you, there is an All-NBA player who is one of the three players to ever average 24/10/6 on 40% from three. Someone who can play bully ball and blend into the city of Detroit. That man is Julius Randle.