Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

Doncic, Brunson Too Much for Thunder to Handle





Luka Doncic (33 pts, 7 reb, 19 ast) was a man on a mission from the jump in this game as he took it right to the Thunder from the opening tip. Playing up on him to keep him from getting any easy look from deep, Doncic blew past the defender and sent one in over Mikal Bridges (10 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk) and Chet Holmgren (27 pts, 11 reb, 1 stl). From that moment on, the Thunder knew they were in for a fight.



Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (33 pts, 7 ast) was not going to back down from the challenge it took it to Doncic and the Dallas defense as well to the tune of 15-19 shooting including this and-one finish on the Maverick superstar.



After falling behind early in the 2nd quarter and with SGA and Holmgren on the bench, Tre Mann (14 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast) did his best to keep his team afloat by staying aggressive on offense and hitting some clutch buckets to keep the Thunder in the game.



Oklahoma City tried to take advantage of any non-Luka minutes on the floor, but once he checked back in he was back in his bag. After losing R.J. Hampton (7 pts, 1 ast) on a drive down the right side of the lane, Doncic shoulders him away, steps back and drains a triple from the corner. Any shot Luka attempted, whether there were hands in his face or not, it seemed like he was completely unphased and in the gym all alone.



After a quiet first half, Chet Holmgren went on a personal 11-0 run in the 3rd quarter that included a triple, a pull-up jumper off the pick-and-roll as the ball handler as well as this thunderous dunk over Christian Wood (7 pts, 7 reb, 1 stl) and Davis Bertans (5 pts, 3 reb). Holmgren drove baseline, executed a fundamental hop step and flushed over the two Maverick big men.



Stretch bigs will do wonders when you’re playing with a heliocentric superstar like Luka Doncic and Christian Wood plays well in that role. While he was rather quiet offensively, he was able to keep the Thunder defense honest by pulling Holmgren away from the paint. On this switch, the defensive rotation made a mistake and Luka found Wood for the wide open three.



Playing next to Wood is rookie sensation Nikola Jovic (20 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl) that is probably a better shooter than the veteran big he starts with. Jovic abused the Thunder by hitting on wide open shots all night long. His job is to be ready to shoot and he did just that, banging nine of his 11 shots on the night for a 20-point explosion.

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

Holmgren, Thunder Hammer Home Win Over Houston





In their second career game against each other, the feud between sophomore guards Josh Giddey (15 pts, 4 reb, 15 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk) and Jalen Green (27 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast, 1 blk) was as intense as ever. Even though the Thunder brought in a phenomenal defensive stopper in Mikal Bridges (23 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast), Giddey was sure to let the team know that he’s guarding Green.



While the game was billed as a sophomore showdown, two of the top-3 picks in this year’s past NBA draft were going head-to-head as well with OKC’s Chet Holmgren (32 pts, 21 reb, 3 blk) matching up against the #3 overall pick Paolo Banchero (12 pts, 8 reb, 3 stl, 1 blk). To open the game, Holmgren got lost on a screen and allowed Banchero a sliver of daylight to gun a corner triple to get the scoring parade going.



Early in the game, every time the ball touched Giddey’s hands he was looking to attack and be uber aggressive against Green. While Green is the far superior athlete, Giddey’s size and body control allowed him to pick his spots and attack like on this layup that he is able to flip up with his off hand just over the outreached fingertips of Green.



While being a scorer first doesn’t come naturally for Giddey, Green relishes in the opportunity to play that role and did just that as he was able to dance with the ball in his hand, lose Giddey countless times and drain bucket after bucket including this three from the left wing as the Thunder guard got hung up on a Banchero screen.



Scorching hot after the first quarter, Green opened the second with a third three-pointer on the game and stared down Giddey as he played up to the crowd in celebration. At this point, Giddey changed his mentality from aggressive scorer to playmaker for his teammates to play more into his strengths.



When he wasn’t drilling threes, Green was attacking the rim and got a couple highlight dunks in the process as Giddey and Tre Mann (5 pts, 3 ast, 1 stl) struggled to contain him on the defensive end.



Not typically known for his defense, RJ Hampton (2 pts, 1 ast, 1 TO) attacked Green and attempted to dunk over him. Green, to his credit, hustled into position, elevated and swatted the dunk attempt at its zenith.



Giddey started putting Green into precarious positions on defense, including in the pick-and-roll, and began proving the defense as he dished out a game-high 15 assists on the night. On this play, he was able to drag Alperen Sengun away from the paint and throws a lob to Chet Holmgren for the emphatic finish with Green unable to do anything but watch.



A furious comeback attempt through the 4th quarter was led by, who else, Jalen Green as he continued to attack on offense. Aleksej Pokusevski (2 pts, 11 reb, 1 blk) was late on this defensive rotation and wasn’t able to contest yet another dunk attempt by Green.



While Banchero was thoroughly outplayed by his rookie counterpart, Banchero stayed aggressive and scored a key basket down the stretch to keep the Rockets in striking distance as he took Holmgren off the dribble, muscled through the big man and finished against the top-notch defender.

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]



The 2023 NBA All Star Game in Houston is going to be led by the two top vote getters in the league as team captains: Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant. The two had battled against each other in the NBA Finals last season and will now renew their rivalry in the All Star Game.

Luka got the first pick of the draft and grabbed arguably the most dominant player in the league in Giannis Antetokounmpo. Durant selected his old teammate Steph Curry to be his running mate. Doncic filled out the rest of his starting lineup with Jayson Tatum, Zion Williamson and Bradley Beal while Durant grabbed Anthony Davis, James Harden and Nikola Jokic.

While there were a few regulars selected as reserves, we had three first-time selections that need to be celebrated. The Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, having been stuck in Oklahoma City in near anonymity, is now a national name and has been selected to his first All Star game of his young career. Joining him on Team Kevin will be the reigning Rookie of the Year Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons. On Team Luka, rookie Chet Holmgren will be the first rookie since Blake Griffin in 2011 to be selected to the NBA All Star Game.

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]



The Phoenix Suns are drowning and DeAndre Ayton made it clear last summer that this would be his last season in the desert after signing the qualifying offer and scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2023. The Los Angeles Clippers, currently out of the playoff hunt, want to make a push with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard still playing at a high level.

Sending away Zubac is a wash as it just gives the Suns a 1-year stop gap center to play out the rest of the season. They were able to get a young point guard prospect in Jason Preston as well as a future 2nd in the deal. Phoenix was glad to add a young prospect and a marginal pick for a disgruntled player.



The Chicago Bulls have been floundering all season, are the 2nd worst team in the East and are without Zach LaVine for the next few weeks due to injury. It was time to sell on DeMar DeRozan as he no longer fits their timeline. The hyper efficient two guard goes back to Toronto for sharpshooter Gary Trent Jr., Jordan Clarkson and a lottery protected 2025 1st round pick from the Raptors.

For Toronto, they will either have DeRozan come off the bench and be an incredible 6th man or move him into the starting lineup and bump rookie sensation Jaden Hardy to the bench. Either way, the Raptors got much, much stronger and should threaten to be moving up the standings in the Eastern Conference.



The Lakers are looking to make the most out of LeBron James’ final season and it was clear that John Wall wasn’t making the difference they were expecting. Chris Paul, one of Lebron’s best friends across the league, finally gets a chance to link up with LeBron and returns to play in the city of Los Angeles. The Suns were selling anyways, especially after moving on from Ayton, and are able to get out from under Paul’s contract a year earlier with Wall expiring after this season.



The Lakers weren’t done as they called up Utah, who is clearly tanking hard, to see the availability of scoring guard Terry Rozier. The Jazz were more than willing to oblige and grabbed Kendrick Nunn, Talen Horton-Tucker and a future 2nd for Rozier. The players aren’t going to move the needle, and neither will the pick, but they will open up some serious cap space with this trade.

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

[studbucket]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

Where are the Thunder at in the standings. At 13-10 I imagine they are between the 6th and 8th seeds in the playoffs?

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

Gilgeous-Alexander Takes Over Late to Lead Thunder to Victory





The Thunder relied on their big man Chet Holmgren (32 pts, 24 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk) early and often to pace them on the offensive side of the ball as the rest of the team was a little slow to get going. The rookie-on-rookie crime was evident as Jabari Smith (2 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk) got abused by the eventual Rookie of the Year all night long.



Another Pacer that got absolutely picked on was Gordon Hayward (5 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast) as he is clearly a step slower than every wing player the Thunder employ. Knowing this, Mikal Bridges (21 pts, 3 ast, 1 stl) was aggressive and was able to score seven quick points in the first quarter as he got any look he wanted against the veteran Indiana native.



The Pacers have themselves a stud in Tyrese Haliburton (26 pts, 3 reb, 10 ast, 3 stl) as he dominated on both ends of the floor. While dishing out a game-high ten dimes and scoring a team-high 26 points, Haliburton was a pest on defense and harassed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (24 pts, 3 reb, 9 ast) into five turnovers. On this drive against Tre Mann (11 pts, 2 ast), he gets a wide-open window to throw a lob to The Goggles as Jalen Smith (19 pts, 9 reb) rolls hard, elevates and finishes the oop with authority.



Jalen Smith was a monster on the glass as he was able to beat Darius Bazley (11 pts, 7 reb, 3 ast) to the offensive rebound and finishes through the contact for the and-one. Smith missed just one shot on the game as he poured in 19 points in just 17 minutes of action off the bench.



The late close out on Buddy Hield (18 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl) by RJ Hampton (1 reb, 2 ast), including a little help by Aleksej Pokusevski (2 pts, 1 reb) from the bench left the sniper wide open for three from the corner. Hield’s second triple of the game gave the Pacers a 10-point lead early in the 4th quarter and forced the Thunder to wake up and fast!



While Haliburton locked up SGA for the first three quarters, the fourth quarter belonged to the Thunder’s star lead guard. In the final ten minutes of the game, Shai scored 17 points including a couple loud dunks like this one around Jabari Smith. His offensive energy brought life to Chesapeake Energy Arena which, in turn, led to increased energy on the defensive end of the floor as well.



On top of his ten 4th quarter points, SGA handed out three assists over the same time period for his team-high nine assists. On one of his final dimes, he found Bridges coming off of a down screen, completely losing Hayward yet again. Bridges caught in rhythm, set his feet and banged home his third three-pointer of the game and gave the Thunder their first lead of the 2nd half, a lead that they would never relinquish the rest of the way.



Though he struggled all game long, Gordon Hayward hit a huge three from the top of the key to cut a four-point OKC lead down to just one with under two minutes to go.



After getting a stop, the Pacers had to foul down the stretch. First to step to the line was SGA who calmly sunk his two free throws to reach 24 points on the night to give the Thunder another four-point lead.

The Pacers would come down and get a quick two by Tyrese Haliburton and have to foul Josh Giddey (15 pts, 6 reb, 7 ast, 1 stl, 3 blk) and put him on the line for the first time on the night. While not the most sure-handed shooter in the gym, Giddey followed suit and drained his two free throws to go back up four points.



The Pacers would miss a quick triple down the other end. Chet Holmgren would corral the miss for his 24th rebound on the night and get fouled as Indiana looked to extend the game.

In one of the more iconic photos of the Thunder season, the photographer snaps a picture of OKC’s big three as they were icing this game. When SGA and Giddey stepped to the line, the crowd fell silent and then erupted on each of their four makes. But when Holmgren stepped to the line, the reaction was completely different. The chants rained down on the rookie sensation: “MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP!”

While Holmgren connected on both free throws to win the game by six, one can’t help but wonder if both Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey were looking on as they were passing the torch to Holmgren as the face of the franchise and the alpha male of the Thunder.

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

Where are the Thunder at in the standings. At 13-10 I imagine they are between the 6th and 8th seeds in the playoffs?

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

Giannis Single-Handedly Destroys the Thunder





The Milwaukee defense is stingy in the backcourt and long in the front court, so getting easy buckets was very rare on the night for the Thunder. Early in the first quarter, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (21 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast) got an angle on rookie center Walker Kessler (12 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk) and attacked him hard. Kessler showed great defensive positioning to avoid picking up a quick foul but the power guard from Canada finished through the contact.



With Giannis Atetokounmpo (37 pts, 20 reb, 10 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk) blitzed a screen too hard, Josh Giddey (10 pts, 5 reb, 12 ast, 1 stl) dropped a quick bounce pass into the hands of Chet Holmgren (17 pts, 9 reb, 3 ast) who slipped the screen and finished with his off hand.



A rare Max Christie (10 pts, 1 ast) game as he came off the bench gunning, getting up 10 shots in just 11 minutes. On this dribble hand off, Adrian Griffin Jr. (16 pts, 5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl) slid too far off and allowed Christie to bang another triple.



As the Thunder struggled to score, SGA kept putting his head down and attacking the paint, this time scoring against Jrue Holiday (24 pts, 3 reb, 8 ast, 4 stl).



The Bucks’ defense was so stingy that even Jordan McLaughlin (1 reb, 1 stl) even disrupted this alley-oop attempt to Darius Bazley (10 pts, 12 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl).



A rare pretty offensive finish, Josh Giddey hit a beautiful fadeaway on the baseline over Holiday for a deuce.



Giannis was an unstoppable force and took it right to SGA who, unfortunately, jumped to try to defend it.



Giddey caught Holiday sleeping on the break as he got baseline and hit him with this sick reverse dunk to try to get the crowd back into the game.



After ripping down an offensive rebound, Giannis elevated and threw down a sideways dunk over Bazley.



And to cap off the monstrous performance, a flying two-handed alley-oop for Giannis got some oohs and ahhs out of the crowd.

[RolePlayer]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

37, 20 and 10 is an absolutely crazy night for Giannis

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

37, 20 and 10 is an absolutely crazy night for Giannis

It was crazy and I absolutely loved it. Just so realistic the entire way. I started the game with Chet on him and on the second possession Holmgren picked up a quick foul. I figured we weren’t going to slow him down so I threw Bazley to the wolves and kept Chet out of foul trouble. Clearly it didn’t matter lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

Mobley, Cavs Swat Away Thunder for 2nd Straight Loss





Defense was an issue for the Thunder as they struggled to keep Darius Garland (23 pts, 5 reb, 7 ast, 1 blk) from getting anywhere on the floor he wanted. Early on he was able to blow by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (19 pts, 2 reb, 13 ast, 5 TO), challenge Mikal Bridges (19 pts, 6 reb, 1 blk) and send a message early with a ferocious dunk.



While he finished with game-highs of 24 points and 11 rebounds, Chet Holmgren largely struggled with budding superstar Evan Mobley (20 pts, 11 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl, 4 blk) on both ends of the floor. One of the easy looks he was able to generate was off a feed from SGA early and sent in a one-handed tomahawk.



The forgotten member of the starting five for the Thunder, Darius Bazley (8 pts, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk) was on the receiving end of a few dimes from SGA as well and most were finished above the rim like this lefty dunk.



Holmgren was a step late recovering after showing on a screen by Mobley. Garland found the big on the roll and before Chet could get in position to really challenge him, the second year big man out of USC rose up choosing violence and slammed home a two-handed jam on the assumed Rookie of the Year as if he were a traffic cone.



While Collin Sexton (15 pts, 3 ast, 2 stl) gave a nice offensive punch off the bench, the Thunder knew he was a defensive liability and SGA took advantage of that as much as possible. As Sexton tried to get up in to the Canadian guard on this drive, Shai discarded him with his off hand, got into the lane and finished with a sweet reverse layup as he avoided a block attempt by Mobley.



Early in the fourth quarter, the Thunder relied heavily on their bench to keep them in it while the starters rested up to try to complete a comeback. Tre Mann (19 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast) caught fire as he connected on three of his five three-pointers in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. His third was a complete heat check as he received a screen from Aleksej Pokusevski (4 reb, 1 ast), got Mobley switched on to him and elevated to bang a three over the towering big.



Giving Mann a scoring boost as well, Bridges hit two of his three threes in the final quarter as well as the Thunder rattled off four straight triples in consecutive possessions to cut the Cavalier lead to just two.



With the game tied with just 14 seconds remaining, the Cavaliers pushed the rock up the floor and tried to get Darius Garland to the rack. The Thunder sent a double-team to get the ball out of his hands, with Isaac Okoro (11 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl) getting it on the right wing. As the Thunder scrambled to recover after the double, Bridges rotated over to stop the Okoro drive, leaving rookie Patrick Baldwin Jr. (14 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl) open on the left wing. The 6’9” wing caught it in rhythm, stepped into a long two and calmly knocked down the eventual game-winner with three seconds remaining on the clock.

[kibaxx7]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

What a freakin' line by Giannis. Two tough losses

[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

What a freakin' line by Giannis. Two tough losses

Giannis was as dominant against us as he would be in real life so while frustrating trying to slow him down, it was definitely enjoyable to watch him take over the way he did.

As for the Cavs game, this loss is definitely a testament to the slider changes I made because we struggled to keep guys like Garland and Sexton out of the paint. Evan Mobley is also a star in the making and he made Chet’s life difficult in this one. In the end, we had a chance to win/tie but didn’t make the play we needed.

We are closing into the playoffs and if we don’t right the ship we are going to fall into the play-in tournament.


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[R1zzo23]

Re: Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

Max Christie Shows Out In Blowout Win Over Jazz





The Jazz are heavily slanted towards offensive players on their current roster after blowing it up in the offseason and dealing away Rudy Gobert to Minnesota and Donovan Mitchell to New York. One of the best players coming back to Utah was Immanuel Quickley (15 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast) who finds himself as the top offensive option for the Jazz. In this game, he came out firing early and was able to connect on his first three-point attempt. Fortunately for the Thunder, he would miss his next five.



The tanking Jazz not only acquired Quickley from the Knicks in the deal for Mitchell but also the 2nd overall pick from the 2022 NBA Draft in JD Davison (8 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast). Davison was seen as a shocking selection by the Knicks as the passed over drafting Paolo Banchero. The Jazz decided to take a shot on Davison to aid their rebuild. As a starter, the rookie was picked on all night long as Josh Giddey (10 pts, 7 reb, 10 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk) abused him to the tune of three quick fouls in the first half, leading to six free throw attempts for the Thunder wing.



The Jazz struggled mightily to score with an efficiency on the night and Larry Nance Jr. (7 pts, 4 reb, 2 stl) was no different. Thinking he had a clear look at a layup after slipping a screen, Mikal Bridges (12 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk) slid over from his help position in the short corner to swat the layup attempt at the rim.



For all his warts, Davison did show flashes of brilliance. He did hit two step-back threes with a hand in his face to showcase some of his range while also getting by Giddey on the wing with a smooth reverse layup on the right side. It’s going to take some serious time but there’s a chance Davison becomes a very good point guard in the future.



Known as “The Other Thunder Rookie”, Max Christie (22 pts, 1 reb, 3 ast) was feeling it as he poured in a career-high 22 points on the night. After scoring eight quick points off the bench, Christie got a chance to play some pick-and-roll at the top of the key. After Isaiah Roby (2 pts, 6 reb, 1 blk) got Talen Horton-Tucker (2 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast) hung up on a screen, Christie peeled back, squared up and fired another triple that found nothing but net. If the Thunder can get this kid on track heading into the playoffs, he will add a huge scoring punch off of the bench.



It’s not often that the #1 pick in the draft goes up against the #2 pick in the draft with little fanfare, but that was the situation here as Davison and Chet Holmgren (26 pts, 13 reb, 1 blk) took the floor against each other’s team. Davison was clearly overmatched all night long while Holmgren continued his torrid pace towards eventual hardware at the end of the season.



After scoring or assisting on 15 straight points in the game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (22 pts, 6 reb, 11 ast) came to the bench after a Jazz timeout knowing that he officially put this game out of reach, securing a big win for the Thunder as they look to avoid the play-in spot.



A rare highlight for the Jazz came in the final few minutes of the game as Quickley caught SGA trying to challenge him at the rim as the athletic scoring guard flushed a two-hand jam over the All Star guard from OKC.