Thunder Up! Rebuild in OKC [NBA 2k22]

[HarkTheSound]

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

Enjoy the vacation man!

38 and 24 for Holmgren, my goodness. Dude could be out the rest of the year and already have ROY wrapped up!

[R1zzo23]

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

Enjoy the vacation man!

38 and 24 for Holmgren, my goodness. Dude could be out the rest of the year and already have ROY wrapped up!

Thanks! Would be funny to bench him and sim the rest of the season to see if he wins it lol.


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[RolePlayer]

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

Just a heads up that I’m on a flight to Aruba today, won’t be back until Sunday and then back to work starting Monday. Excited to get back to this next week but updates will be a bit slower going forward.


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Enjoy the vacation!

[ZSmit88]

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

A Lu Dort sighting!!!

Chet is looking like a real contender for DPOY...

[R1zzo23]

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

A Lu Dort sighting!!!

Chet is looking like a real contender for DPOY...

Ya man, Lu Dort has been so hit or cold for me but I’ve started giving him some more responsibility when he’s out there with the bench and he seemingly responds well from time to time.

Cher Holmgren obviously has RoY locked. I’m thinking that he truly is going to win DPoY and should be named at least 2nd Team All-NBA at center if not 1st because his numbers are so outrageous.


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[studbucket]

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

Those are two great wins in a row. I think the trip to Aruba has been done in the name of competitive balance. The beach will diminish your stick skills so the rest of the league has a chance.

I must also admit that I have now associated Chet Holmgren + OKC so much with you, that when I saw the news of his injury I felt sad for you...then realized it didn't impact you...then realized I didn't feel that sad for the real life Chet and OKC...which probably is the wrong order and attribution of emotions.

[R1zzo23]

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

Wiz Reverse Fortunes, Slam Home Comeback Win





Playing without Kristaps Porzingis who is sidelined with a broken hand, Bradley Beal (40 pts, 6 reb, 7 ast, 1 stl) settled into a very familiar role he has played throughout his career as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd scoring option for this Wizards team. Matched up against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31 pts, 6 ast), the two All-NBA combo guards battled all night long in what can only be described as a professional game of HORSE with eight other players on the floor with them.



While Beal poured in 16 first quarter points, SGA one-upped him by scoring 25 first half points including this one-hand dunk where he seemingly floated through the air from just inside the free throw line, reminiscent of MJ himself.



With Gilgeous-Alexander scoring his 25 in the first half, most of the other 36 points came from players not named Josh Giddey (14 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast) or Chet Holmgren (33 pts, 11 reb, 1 blk). Playing an all bench unit to start the 2nd quarter, RJ Hampton (9 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk) got free on a flare screen in which Max Christie (12 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast) found him in the corner for a catch-and-shoot triple.



Seemingly playing more and more minutes with the second unit, Lu Dort (4 pts, 2 reb, 5 ast) is continuously given more and more freedom of running the offense. While he did dish out five assists, he was able to get some minimal scoring going for himself while hitting this floater in the lane over Daniel Gafford (14 pts, 9 reb, 1 blk) and Rui Hachimura (9 pts, 4 reb). Unfortunately, this was the only bucket Dort hit on the night.



Josh Giddey was aggressive throughout the middle two quarters of this game. Though his three-ball was non-existent, missing all four of his threes, he went 7-11 from inside the arc including multiple post ups against smaller defenders. On this possession, he was matched up with Cassius Winston (8 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast). Giddey pounded him down to the block and hit him with a turn-around fadeaway that Winston had no chance of stopping.



The team shot just 10-30 from three on the night including this kickout by Hampton to Gilgeous-Alexander who rose up and knocked down the deep jumper over Winston. The starting trio of SGA, Giddey and Dort combined to shoot 2-14 from deep.



Trying to spark a comeback, Deni Avdija (19 pts, 10 reb, 5 ast) hits a triple over Hampton and plays it up to the crowd. With Washington seemingly hitting everything while getting stops on a consistent basis, the Thunder watched as their 19-point lead continued to dwindle as the game played out.



After a quiet first half with just eight points and four boards, Chet Holmgren started to assert himself in the 2nd half. With Kyle Kuzma (8 pts, 9 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl) playing as a stretch four, there were multiple times he got switched on to Holmgren where the 7’1” rookie just muscled through the much smaller Kuzma and scored at will.



Shai seemingly lived in the paint and above the rim as he finished with a loud, two-handed flush over multiple defenders here. This finish should have deflated the Wizards' will to comeback, but after missing the free throw for the old-fashioned three-point attempt, Washington came down the floor and hit another three to cut the lead to just eight.



Seemingly only scoring in denominations of three, Max Christie took Bradley Beal off the bounced and finished with a sweet underhand scoop shot that Beal just missed getting a piece of. In the process, the Wizards All-Star got called for a foul after smacking Christie on the forearm where he calmly knocked down the free throw. On top of this and-one finish, Christie connected on three of his five three-point attempts en route to his 12 points off the bench in just eight minutes of play.



Wearing the KD’s in the loud OKC orange colorway, Holmgren’s game continues to resemble Durant’s more and more as he comes off of multiple screens, catches well beyond the three-point line and buries the 35-footer with Hachimura severely trailing the play. Against bigger bodies that struggle to avoid screens, the Thunder have utilized Holmgren more and more as a three-point threat to seemingly great success.



Trailing by three late in the game, why not go back to the well? Holmgren came off of three screens, starting from the left wing and slashing under the hoop all the way out to the right wing. This time, Daniel Gafford did a much better job trailing the big man as the Thunder were clearly looking for the tie instead of getting a quick two and playing the foul game. After receiving the pass from Giddey, Chet rose up with a hand in his face with just under 15 seconds left and knocked down the game-tying triple! The Thunder were now one stop away from forcing overtime!



Paying extra attention to Bradley Beal, who was borderline nuclear all game long, allowed Corey Kispert (7 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast) to get loose off of a quick brush screen as he ran across the top of the key past Beal with the ball. Giddey got caught in a bit of traffic, just enough to get a clear passing lane to Kispert. On the catch, Giddey recovered and contested the shot as well as he could without fouling, Having his only two of his first 11 shots of the game, the Thunder could not have drawn up this final defensive possession any better…until they saw the ball swish through the net with just 1.2 seconds left on the clock. Kisper had just trained the improbable game-winning three to thwart any chance at another road win for OKC.

[R1zzo23]

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

Those are two great wins in a row. I think the trip to Aruba has been done in the name of competitive balance. The beach will diminish your stick skills so the rest of the league has a chance.

I must also admit that I have now associated Chet Holmgren + OKC so much with you, that when I saw the news of his injury I felt sad for you...then realized it didn't impact you...then realized I didn't feel that sad for the real life Chet and OKC...which probably is the wrong order and attribution of emotions.

We have been playing well but this loss to the Wizards stings. We were playing so well and then just completely collapsed down the stretch. I wish I could blame it on the rusty stick skills but we just flat out blew it.

[ZSmit88]

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

Did the trade deadline pass already? If not, I'm curious if you've thought about any trades to bolster up for your playoff run.

[R1zzo23]

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

Did the trade deadline pass already? If not, I'm curious if you've thought about any trades to bolster up for your playoff run.

We are probably about a month away from the trade deadline and it is definitely on my mind to package some of our young depth and draft picks to make a big splash. The problem I'm having is finding a wing that's in a situation that they would want to be traded from that makes sense for us as well. Bradley Beal would have been a great option but he's got the Wiz near the top of the East so that doesn't make much sense at this point.

[kibaxx7]

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

I really like the photos you're sharing!

[R1zzo23]

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

Thunder Smack Nuggets 120-87





It was clear that this game was billed to be a battle between two of the best big men in the league in Nikola Jokic (17 pts, 10 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk) and Chet Holmgren (30 pts, 15 reb, 1 stl, 3 blk) and Jokic did what he could early on the block to bully the rookie out of the way.



With the bench unit closing out the first quarter, Tre Mann (15 pts, 3 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk) showed off some playmaking chops by leading Aleksej Pokusevski (8 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast) to the rim for an easy, athletic layup. Pokumon scored all eight of his points in the opening quarter.



The Nuggets used Jokic a ton as a screener at the top of the key to draw switches over and over again. As Holmgren blitzed the ball handler, Jokic slipped out to the right wing where nobody was out there to guard him and knocked down his only three of the game. Jokic was seen barking at Holmgren after the bucket after the Thunder big man made a bad defensive read and left the former MVP wide open.



Seeing that his stud big man was fuming, Josh Giddey (14 pts, 5 reb, 11 ast) called a play for Holmgren to get him coming off multiple screens for a three of his own. Jokic did a great job snaking around the picks but Holmgren was determined to shoot anyways. With a hand in his face, Chet banged the three and stared down Jokic the entire way down the floor. That was the turning point in the game where the Nuggets were going to struggle keeping Holmgren, Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (26 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk) from doing anything they wanted.



After hitting a tough bucket in the paint around multiple defenders, Jamal Murray (16 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast) pulled up for a deep triple that he stared down all the way through the net. The Thunder called a quick timeout to try to slow the Nuggets’ guard down and keep the lead greater than 15 and avoid a 2nd half meltdown like they had against the Wizards.



The leading bench scorer in the game, Tre Mann wasn’t afraid to attack the larger defenders. Even when getting switched on to defensive stopper Aaron Gordon (5 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast), Mann attacked him off the bounce and used his quickness and agility to use an effective stepback jumper in the lane to lose the taller Gordon.



Adding insult to the first half, the Thunder were able to secure a rebound and got it to SGA with just five seconds remaining. He pushed it the length of the floor, saw out of the corner of his eye that Holmgren was working to get down the floor as well and hit him with a sweet over the head dish that Chet flushed with just 0.4 seconds remaining. With the overall effort waning for Denver in these final moments, there should have been no surprise to anyone that the Nuggets would get outscored 57-41 in the second half en route to a 33-point beat down.



Giddey was incredibly effective with the ball in his hands between getting others involved as well as getting his own. Taking Murray off the bounce, Giddey uses his size, strength and ball skills to get this wild scoop shot to fall with his weak hand.



As Jokic started garnering extra defensive attention, he was at his best trying to find teammates. As Giddey was getting posted up by the much bigger Jokic, Darius Bazley (10 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk) came for the quick double. Jokic turned, saw the double coming and calmly found Gordon at the top of the key for the wide open three.



SGA was just picking on Facundo Campazzo (5 pts, 1 ast, 1 stl) early in the 4th quarter. The Nugget guard was just completely outmatched as the Canadian combo guard took him baseline, bodied him out of the way as he hop-stepped, gathered and finished through Campazzo.

[ZSmit88]

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

The Chet domination continues! Such a good, young core.

[R1zzo23]

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

The Chet domination continues! Such a good, young core.

He is incredible. Cannot believe how dominant he really is. He fits perfectly with SGA and Giddey.

I will say at halftime I started increasing CPU sliders as it is becoming obvious it is getting a bit too easy for us. I am not intentionally looking to lose, just have tough, competitive games against teams that are even with us.


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[R1zzo23]

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

Thunder Bench Slam Home Win Over Lowly Suns





Early on the Thunder made it rain in Phoenix as OKC connected on nine three-pointers in the first half including their first bucket of the game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (20 pts, 11 ast) knew he could get his own at any time he wanted against Chris Paul (4 pts, 3 ast, 1 stl) who is clearly a step or three slower this year, but instead he decided to get his teammates involved as he racked up 11 dimes in just 25 minutes. Josh Giddey (13 pts, reb, 2 ast, 1 blk) splashed his first three three-point attempts for the game including this one to get the scoring barrage started off a down screen from Chet Holmgren (25 pts, 14 reb, 1 stl, 2 blk).



Still got some flare, Chris Paul was able to still provide a highlight no-look spin pass from the right wing to a cutting DeAndre Ayton (14 pts, 12 reb, 1 blk) for the easy finish as Holmgren was caught flat footed.With the Suns’ season down the tubes, Phoenix will probably just let Paul play out the season as the ceremonial starter while Cameron Payne (4 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast) will continue to play more minutes off the bench.



Holmgren was active all over the floor tonight, especially when Ayton left the game. With backup bigs Dario Saric (4 pts, 6 reb, 1 blk) and LaMarcus Aldridge (2 pts, 7 reb) the only replacements, Holmgren wasn’t worried about guarding them much and just played free safety in the paint. Any drive that threatened the rim, Holmgren was there to defend it. Here, Payne was able to get by SGA and while the Thunder guard had a chance to contend the layup attempt, Holmgren erased it off the glass for an easy block.



Ayton didn’t get many touches but made the most of them as he hit on seven of his nine shots. He got one single post up on Holmgren and used his massive frame and huge strength advantage to bully the rookie into the paint, used a simple drop step and hit a baby hook over his left shoulder. This could be a battle of two of the best young bigs in the league going forward but it will be interesting to see where Ayton goes after this season.



Continuing to use this season as a showcase to the league, Ayton showed effort on the defensive end even in a blowout as he rose up and denied Gilgeous-Alexander in the paint on this massive block. If he can be a two-way anchor in the paint, some team is going to add a huge piece to their puzzle next off season.



With a 37-point lead going into the 4th quarter, it was time to empty the bench as the Thunder deployed a lineup of RJ Hampton (2 pts, 5 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Max Christie (11 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast), Lindy Waters III (3 pts, 1 reb), Jeremiah Robinson-Early (4 pts, 3 reb) and Derrick Favors (8 pts, 5 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk) for a majority of the final period. While the three wings struggled to find their stroke from deep, fan favorite Derrick Favors came in and did what he does: rebounded the rock and finished at the rim. On this play, he grabbed a defensive rebound, sent it out to Hampton on an outlet and won a prehistoric foot race against LaMarcus Aldridge for the easy finish.

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Author's Note: After the last two games, I have slowly started creeping some CPU defensive sliders up to give them a bit more help in stopping our offense. I've also started increasing the shot timing effectiveness to make it more difficult for me to hit some shots. I think I'll hit a point where I need to up CPU shooting sliders as well to have them hitting more shots because playing games like this is not enjoyable. Sure, the Suns are REALLY bad, especially without Mikal Bridges, but I need the offense I'm going against to pose some sort of a threat on a regular basis. The tweaks will continue and I'm sure things will get more difficult and competitive as we march on through this 2nd season.