WEBVTT - Thunder Storm Back in Game 4... with a Little Help from Scott Foster? 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:05.600 On this episode of The Heat Check. Oh, God damn it, Pacers, 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:11.440 God damn it, Pacers. We've got a lot to talk about, y'all, 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.480 and the chat a lot to get to. It's an 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.600 immediate reaction extra episode on a Saturday. What up, Wyatt? 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:23.120 Drop that motherfucker beat? That should be Rihanna. You you're 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:27.640 listening to the Hottest, the Hottest. It'd be a podcast 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.319 out here. I said what I said, it's the Heat 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:40.839 Chick Check. Guys. What did I just watch? What did 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:46.120 I just see? I knew it. I just felt it. 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.040 I felt like, there's just no way, There's just no way. 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.800 There's no way that the Pacers are gonna win three 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:54.160 of the first four games. It was Scott Foster game, 0:00:54.560 --> 0:01:00.200 the extender pause. NBA calls him in whenever they need 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.119 to stretch a series out, to stretch it out pause, 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:09.959 and that's exactly where this series is heading. So it 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:14.120 felt like for most of the game, Indiana had this 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:18.479 shit sorted. The Thunder couldn't shoot a three to save 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.560 their life, didn't even want to try. Shae had a 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:25.759 very quiet first three quarters. They were staggering his minutes. 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.440 Dagonall was taking him in, taking him out, took him 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.880 out of the third quarter, then put them immediately back 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.240 in because the Pacers took took the lead to ten, 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:35.920 and it was like, oh my god, what are they 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.959 gonna do? The Pacers had a ten point lead for 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.920 most of the second half, and we're still leading one 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.360 O three, one O two with two twenty three left 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:46.720 in the game, and then Shaye hit a shot to 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:48.880 give the Thunder their first lead of the second half, 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:53.920 and it was just brutal. The Pacers scored two fucking 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:59.360 points the rest of the way. Unacceptable, unacceptable. Most of 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.200 the Indiana collapse is probably gonna fall on the shoulders 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:07.040 of Ben Mathern, who absolutely the only reason he was 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.280 in the game at all was because Andrew Ne Smith 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:14.520 fouled out. So Nie Smith, gets your shit together. Mattherine 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:19.440 went one for four from the free throw line, three points. 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.440 Smiths there and committed not one but two away from 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:25.799 the ball fouls that gave the Thunder two free throws 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:30.160 and the ball and the ball five points and the 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:35.520 other ones that I I just it's inexplicable. Had he 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.000 made his shots not committed those two fouls, it would 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:39.440 have been tied one O seven, one oh seven the 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:45.480 final twenty seconds. The Matherine experiences is very similar to 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:49.960 the current Russ o Westbrook experience, where some days Russ 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.880 winds you a game and some days Russ loses you 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:58.160 a game. An athletic monster who sometimes makes inexplicable decisions 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.440 and plays just as often, and as he's making the 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.120 ones to say, Wow, this guy's a fucking bucket, this 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:10.000 guy's really good. Here are my thoughts. With three minutes 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.040 and thirty four seconds left, Shay had twenty two points. 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:17.320 I looked at the graphic on the screen and he 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:23.560 had thirty eight, he had thirty four, he had twenty four, 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:25.800 and at that point he had twenty two, and I said, wow, 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:29.480 the pacers are really getting better and better out holding 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.520 him down. And then he scored thirteen points in the 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:37.200 final three and a half minutes. Crazy. He had two 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.280 free throws halfway through the fourth and ended up ten 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:47.400 for ten just inevitable. Inevitable chat was pretty good. He 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.960 had a game high plus fourteen. He had fifteen rebounds. 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:53.920 He was okay on offense. He had a couple of 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:58.280 get into the lane layups that were big boss, like 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:00.960 put your body into him and get into the lane. 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.320 Defense was pretty solid. He had a big block on 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:08.000 Halliburton on the perimeter. I think two of those. Alex 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:12.640 Caruso was excellent. Bounced back from a bad Game three 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.280 where he was a game worst plus minus to tie 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.279 chat with the plus fourteen net rating. Had twenty points 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:22.320 off the bench, and not just the twenty it was 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:27.000 when he decided to score that was super meaningful. He 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:32.200 had this one side fallaway jumper baseline that I was like, God, damn, 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:38.200 that's a Superstar shop splash. He had an astonishing five steals. 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:40.919 He was really fucking good. He pretty much was the 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.120 reason I think that the Thunder had a chance to 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:49.000 even come back into this game. In Game three, the 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:52.240 Pacers bench doubled up the Thunders bench in scoring. In 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.480 this game, the gap was only ten points. Here are 0:04:55.480 --> 0:05:00.200 some other stats that I think are super interesting. So 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.800 last game, we saw the Pacers get get into the paint, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.719 get busy. I think they had forty eight points in 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:12.760 the paint in this particular game, thirty six points in 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.560 the paint compared to okayse He's fifty. And they had 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:21.440 only thirty three total rebounds as opposed to Okaysee's forty 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:27.080 three rebounds, and okayc had twelve offensive rebounds. As a whole, 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:29.520 that's just extra points that they're going to put back 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.520 on you. When you have Chet getting put backs to Hartenstein, 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:37.080 who was pretty largely irrelevant, having put backs, it's just 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.559 not gonna work. The game was very ticky, tacky towards 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.960 the end. It was actually like great in the first half, 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:44.839 and then as soon as the second half came around, 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.359 it was like, hey, Scott Foster, call fucking everything. He 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:53.880 called two flagrant one fouls two are you fucking kidding me? 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.400 It was just disgusting, right Like, if you watched it, 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:02.520 and hopefully it did, cause it was a classic, it 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.920 was hard to watch. There were some touch fowls where 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.880 Andrew Nei Smith had his hand on Shay's shoulder and 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:14.080 Shay ripped through and tried to shoot just fowl merchant stuff. 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.960 Siakam At at certain points in the game looked like 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:19.919 the best player on the court. Again. He had twenty 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.520 eight and five. He had five steals, he had a block, 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.280 his defense was really good. He had some crucial rebounds, 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:28.800 and he only took those fifteen shots. He was just 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:31.400 he was a difference maker, but he only took fifteen shots. 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:36.440 Obi Toppin could not be stopped. Ain't no stopping Obi Toppin. 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.400 He had seventeen seven and one and it wasn't just 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:44.320 like how many points he had in the third quarter. 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.960 Obi Toppin had this one opportunity for a three pointer 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:53.640 and it looked like, oh wow, Obi Toppin just doesn't 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.840 have it tonight. Where Obi Toppin isn't aggressive right now, 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:59.559 you need to take every opportunity you can against thunders defense, 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:05.880 shotlock violation. After that, Obi Topping back to back threes 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:11.800 and then Obi Topping big dunk, put back dunk just 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.280 like he did in Game three, and then a big 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.520 rebound that caused a foul that put the okac in 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:21.760 the UH in the penalty. Then a block on Jalen 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.360 Williams that causes shotclock violation, all in the span of 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.760 two minutes. Like I said about Cruiser really fast, all 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:34.280 of Cruiser's points stopped runs pretty much. It was bucket 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.760 after bucket that made the game feel like it was 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.960 closer for Oka. See it gave them hope. Miles Turner 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:47.040 just disgusting, just disgusting stuff missed a hugh multiple open 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.000 threes that he either missed badly or did not take that. 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:52.760 We had one that would have tied the game. I 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.160 think it was an airball. His shooting oh for six 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.120 from three, three for ten was just That's why Obi 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.200 Topen has to get minutes because Myles Turner is just awful. 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.240 They need to figure it out. Tyrese Haliburton, I'm sure 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:09.400 is going to get gonna get shit on again. It's 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.400 up and down and up and down again for Tyrese Aliburton. 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.200 What can the man do? He was okay eighteen two 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.920 and seven at two steals, shot one for seven from three. 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.520 He kids can't really have that. But they were figuring 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.400 some things out. I'm not sure why Halliburton wanted chet 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.840 on him to shoot threes. I personally don't want a 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:30.840 seven footer on me when I want to hit threes. 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:35.360 That's just me. Had a few crucial layups down the 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.760 stretch of the game, though, and some and some crucial 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:45.120 and one opportunities. So the game was decided one because 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:48.240 Scott Foster was there. Number one. That's like to me, 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:52.880 number one. The fouls were agreed. I cannot express to 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.760 you how upset I was by that the Pacers were 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:59.240 awful for them from three, but so were the Thunder 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.480 as bad as the Pacers were from three. The Thunder 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:09.120 shot seventeen percent from three three for seventeen. Wow, So 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:13.640 that wasn't the equalizer, but because they only had thirty 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.680 percent from three, much better than seventeen. They had open 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.960 looks they missed, but the free throws dog. They just 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:25.640 couldn't make the free throws down the stretch. In terms 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.640 of the free throw disparity, Pacers shot twenty five for 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:30.720 thirty three from the free throw line, and a lot 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:32.760 of those misses were down in the fourth quarter. You 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.840 just cannot have that. Just cannot have that. In some ways, 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:40.520 I feel like the Thunder one a game where a 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.640 lot of the stats show that they should have gotten 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.400 blown the fuck out, which is a testament to them. 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.920 Two of their starters had six or less points. Hartenstein 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:53.480 had two, Dort had six. Dort was very physical, gotten 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:57.680 foul trouble. The Thunder made three total free three pointers 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.640 all game. Like I said, they turn over, blocks, and 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.079 steels were basically even. Four of their five bench players 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.760 shot at combined three for thirteen. God, they were bad. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.840 None of these are particularly good statistics. They only had 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:14.040 ten assists in the whole game. Ten assists in the 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.840 whole game. Tyrese Haliburt averages ten assists himself in the 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.160 Pacers at twenty one. And yet somehow, okay, see one, 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:26.560 how Scott Foster, Scott Foster, no shay was incredibly had 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.520 nine straight points and that was pretty much. Yet those 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.400 touch fowls for Scott Foster are going to really lament. 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:38.040 Rick Carlisle was absolutely losing his mind out there. He 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:44.319 was the touch foul on mathin grabbing Jalen Williams's wrist. 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:49.760 Was I can express to you how baffled I was 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:57.320 by that. It was a wildly inconsistently left game. Back 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:00.320 to the Thunder, they become the first team in NBA 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:04.720 history NBA Finals history, with ten or fewer assists and 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.520 three or fewer threes and still win. No team since 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:10.160 twenty twelve has won a Final game with only three threes. 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:15.160 And they should not have won. OKAC is calling this 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:19.760 the greatest win in OKAC history. This feels to me 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:25.240 so much like Game four against Denver. You should not 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:29.600 win this game, and you won it somehow. You're down 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:33.880 with two minutes left to go, and you stretch this 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.040 thing out where they got to play the foul game. Wow. 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:42.360 OKAC has the best win percentage following a loss in 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.720 NBA history. In the postseason, they're six. No, they're eighteen 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:52.200 and two following a loss. We move on to Game 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.240 five at OKAC, which I'm sure will be on fire, 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:58.280 then Game six on Thursday and Indie, and a possible 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:04.440 probable Game seven Sunday night in Okay. See. I need 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.240 a Game seven. I do. And I have a confession. 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:12.280 I'm rooting for these Pacers. I'm worried, but I'm rooting 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:15.520 for him. I just like the little engine that could 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:17.800 chugg the chigg the chill, that chill, the chigg the chill. 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:22.720 And I really hope that Haliburton gives us magic. And 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:24.920 I hope that the Pacers figure out a way to 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.160 slow down Shake because they haven't exactly figured out a 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:30.680 way to do that yet. And by the way, real quick, 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:34.400 before we end this, Shae can't be an MVP and 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.240 call for switches against Andrew Nemhart to get him off 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.040 of you and get aaron Ne Smith on you. That's 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.640 some crazy ass shit. If I'm Andrew Nemhart, I'm texting 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.440 him all night. I'm in your head, buddy, I am 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.480 in your head. You don't want me guarding you because 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:52.720 I can put the buckle up on you and strap 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:56.480 you down. And he had him frustrated. So more. Andrew 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:00.200 Nemhart on Shae Less, Aaron Neith Smith. That's all the 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.120 time that we have for this episode of The Heat. 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:04.599 Check come back Tuesday for an all new episode, and 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:08.280 check out the feet for past episodes and the occasional 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:13.040 bonus emergency episode like now that came at unexpectedly like 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:17.079 a Ben Mathuram smelt. Ben, give us, then take us away. 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:19.360 That's all the weeks time that we have. We'll see 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.560 you next time. Thank you for waking, thank you for listening.