How Injuries and Role Players Shaped Thunder Vs Spurs, Game 7 Takeaways

Game 7 doesn’t just end a series, it exposes everything. Mr. Bell come's in hot on the Oklahoma City Thunder vs San Antonio Spurs Western Conference Finals showdown, starting with the part people love to skip how injuries and missing playmakers quietly rewrite playoff basketball. When a real point guard is out, turnovers spike, roles get warped, and “next man up” becomes a lot more complicated than it sounds.

From there, get into how the Spurs take Game 7 by winning with the others, not just with Victor Wembanyama. Timely threes, regained confidence, and clean decision-making swing the biggest moments. On the Thunder side, we give Shai Gilgeous-Alexander his respect for looking like an MVP and an all-time great even in defeat, plus shout out the guys who attacked the moment instead of hiding from it.

Then tackle the conversation everyone’s having: Chet Holmgren taking only two shots. We talk through the mental side, the matchup pressure, why defense alone isn’t enough in a Game 7, and what OKC may have to consider next with roster construction and future salary cap realities. Also close with some Pacers talk, including the Haliburton injury “what if” and Trey Murphy III trade rumors.

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Transcript

Welcome And What We Cover

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Man, what it do, what it is. You already know the vibes. It's your boy, Mr. Bell, aka Say your name abundant pie. Might not be with you tomorrow. Welcome to another episode of Hold Up and another thing presented by Mixed Fast Media. You already know the vibes. I

Why This Series Felt Different

SPEAKER_00 0:19

want to touch on game seven of the Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. I don't think we're going to have time to get to it when we get on from my perspective. Shout out to Deion. But with the finals going on, the Stanley Cup, and then we're going to have to touch on some WNBA as well as Clash of Italy. It's so much that we're going to have to cover. I don't think we're going to actually get a chance to recap what happened in the conference finals. It definitely felt like a heavyweight battle between Oklahoma City and San Antonio. Game one, all-time legendary games is going to go down the history. It's one of the great games in the conference finals that we have ever seen. And that's not even being recency biased. It really is we saw Shay at an MVP level. We saw Victor play at top three finish of an MVP level. We saw, you know what I'm saying, defensive player of the year. We saw Chet play well in game one and what have you. Felt like something was lacking in this series. It felt like it didn't, it led up to the potential in a way. Because maybe it's because we knew what these teams was capable of, but if injuries played a factor, we can't ignore

Injuries Change Everything

SPEAKER_00 1:52

the fact that injuries played a factor in this conference finals. So let's think about it. Game one and game two for San Antonio, Fox was out. He having a point guard makes a difference. We talked about that throughout the season when it came to the Houston Rockets. Without Fred Van Bleet, the team wasn't going to live up to their full potential because, in fact, you have people playing out of position. A point guard, a table setter, changes everything. And the leadership changes everything. It changes the way the team plays, changes the team's dynamics. So you saw that in game, even though the Spurs won game one, game two, you saw that Capsule had all of these turnovers. Capsule, it's just like eternity, the turnovers were grown until when Fox came back, the turnovers went away. And then when you look at the Oklahoma City side of it, J Dub was out. Their second best player, their second best playmaker, and their second best player was out. He came back in game six and you saw. He played 10 minutes. He was a minus point 18 or something like that. And he only played 10 minutes. He had one point, one assist in the shot that he, one of the shots he took, the shot, well the shot that he did take was a three-point of that, was off way off. Completely off. Then not only with JW out, their third best playmaker and a similar player to JW, AJ Mitchell was out. Their third best playmaker, their second best playmaker, and their second best player, Ron J Dub, and then A.J. Mitchell, their third best playmaker, was out. So you didn't get to see Oklahoma City at their full potential, which is crazy. They went to a game seven, missing two key players, and then in game seven, another key player not playing up to his best potential. They still was in that game. They still had a chance. They still kept fighting. That shows how deep that Oklahoma City roster is, and how continue, how I think this is going to continue to go for them. Because in fact, they got a bunch of young talent. And then they got still. I think he got two in this year's draft alone. He's going to be able to keep continue to build, continue to continue to build pieces around him, around Shay.

How The Spurs Won Game 7

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Alright, so let's talk about game seven. It wasn't like Victor had this crazy 40-point game. The Spurs won this game as a team. Victor did what he was supposed to do in those key moments. Fox showed, go back to, showed the importance of having a guy that has been around the block, who's been in this league for a while, who's capable of making plays, as well as setting up other people. And they also got six men of the year, uh knocked down two key threes and knocked down a key basket. I think the threes was in back-to-back plays. Johnson had those three, those threes back to back, and I went though. I think the layup was later. He also got away with an over-the-back column. It happens. You know what I'm saying? I just remember. I ain't trying to throw no shade on the brother. But it was uh, I think it was shade. He went over the back and I was like, so they're not gonna, they not gonna come there. Ain't nobody gonna. Okay, cool. But Kelden Johnson, shout out to Kelvin Johnson, like saying six men of the year. Um, and then Dylan Harper, he has struggled. Like the first game played well, and he has struggled throughout the series. He ain't struggled in game seven. And then he knocked, when he it's like he did that, he knocked down that first bucket and he looked, he, you know, put his ass together and looked up to the sky because it's like I finally got one to go. He got his confidence back. Champagne, I hope I pronounced that right. If I did, my brother, I'm apologizing. But he knocked down, he's a sharp shooter three. When you think of a three in D-wing, that's hey, once he gets rolling, you see, he gets rolling. And brother knocked down, was able to knock down some shots. So the San Antonio Spirit won that game, not just because of victim, but also because of the others, because of the team. And we didn't even talk about what's held, right? You know what I'm saying? Because we knew we know what they are capable of doing too. They won the game because of the others. Uh Oklahoma City Thunder. They was playing with the

Shai’s MVP Level Loss

SPEAKER_00 6:35

disadvantage, but they still was able to produce. They were still able to angle and win games in the end of the series. And this game was plus because Shay showed he was the MVP. My biggest take, my biggest takeaway from game seven is Shay showed that he is an all-time great and he was even in defeat. Shea showed that he's that guy. He's that level. He's on a different level than a lot of the other players is playing in this league currently. And, you know, it's hard for me to say because they beat my faces last year in the finals. And I wasn't happy, right? And I don't like to give Shay too much credit, but I want to give plus he plus he went to that school up the road, Daddy Blue. You know what I'm saying? I don't even I don't even remember him playing there, but he went there. Just like John Calipari is a master improvement because it's so many UK players that's in the league. From the time that John Calipari was there, it's like, damn. They could put two rosters together of just UK lists. And I don't give the credit to UK. I give the credit to John Calipari. I like John Calipari. Still don't like this dude. Never have no idea. Neither here nor that. But like I said, back to say, Chase showed that he was the MVP. Pam Wallace, another UK player, showed that he wasn't scared of the moment. Cam Wallace said, okay, there's some we they need points for me. I'm gonna give them shots. He went, he was taking the threes. He was hitting the threes. He missed a couple layers about it. Like I said, this was two minutes and other situations where they just having to eat threes to even be in contention, to even have the opportunities to win this game. So I don't even thought him for those. Jeremy McCain. Let's spend a couple seconds on Jeremy McCain. The Oklahoma City Thunder got Jeremy McCain for a Gatorade and a protein bar. All they gave up was a Gatorade and a protein bar. And they got a guy who would attack the basket versus Big Vic. I don't if y'all watch the series, I hope y'all did. Y'all saw what I saw. Jeremy McCain would go in the paint and find a way to get the layup over Vic. Most people, most NBA players, we have seen, you got that seven foot, they got that seven foot five dude down there in the paint. They're gonna either back it out, back it out, and find another way, do a step back, whatever the case is. A lot of times he still blocks those shots. Jeremy McCain's there. Nah. I'm gonna hit him in his chest, and then I'm gonna angle this layup for where I'm still gonna get it up. He might block it, he might not. And he a lot of times he didn't. Jeremy Jeremy McCain played, Jeremy McCain played with no fear. And you need that from a guy coming off the bench. Well, he did start, he did start game six. I think he probably should have started game seven. And that's no slight to Luke Dor, but you needed another playmaker on the floor besides Shape. Because it got to the point where Caruso was trying to be a playmaker. And that's not really Caruso's game. Right? Caruso is, speaking of my face, he's like the TJ McConnell. He he steals the ball, he hustles hard, he plays defense. He only does it in spurts. You only go get it for like a five minutes per hair, a six-minute spark here, a seven minutes per here, then like a four-minute spark here. He ain't doing this, he's not playing 40 minutes a game. He give he'll give you 25 to 30 minutes a game, but he's gonna give you the four initially spurts. He's gonna knock down open threes. I wish Ricano would do that. But Caruso wouldn't knock down open threes. But playmaking really ain't really ain't Caruso's game, but he had to do that in game seven because of the injuries or whatnot. And then, like I said, Jerry can't be amazing. Cam Wallace, amazing. Um, the other Jalen Wheels, again, you can't be scared of the moment. Can't be hesitant. You gotta see that Shane help, okay. When my number is called, I'm gonna knock down these shots. And that's what he did. He knocked down a bunch of open shots when the when you open, especially in this type of game, and Big Bic's playing you and he's in the paint. If he ain't gonna come out here to this three-point line or a contestant or a two, or a nice mid range, you gotta take that shot. You gotta knock it down when you got the opportunity. The other Jalen Williams. Jay Will, as they call it. He he did that. So give

Chet’s Passing Up Shots

SPEAKER_00 11:20

him credit.

unknown 11:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

So, I mean, we we know where we know where we gotta get to, right? We're talking about Oklahoma City, we're talking about what happened in game seven. We're we're gonna have to get to chat. There's no other way to discuss it. Or, you know what I'm saying? You gotta talk about chat. And like I said, my biggest, I know everybody else's biggest takeaway is gonna be chat, but I called it when we get from our perspective last week. I said it's like it's like that the team of the Spurs, not only Vick, the team of the Spurs is punting Chet now. So he's in his head. I don't I saw somebody distracted as Ben Simmons, um, Philly Vert, I think it was Mammy. He, when he, instead of taking that layup, he passed the ball out. It's like he had that moment. And the reason my bigger takeaway is Shay is because Chet still played good defense in game seven. He just didn't shoot the ball. He got benched because he wouldn't shoot the ball. It wasn't because his lack of defense, he still was out here playing pretty good defense. It's only showing much defense you're gonna be able to play when you play the 7-50, and when you're not even the main person on the 7-50, which is my biggest takeaway is if I'm Chad, I want that matchup because of the simple fact I know he don't like me. So I'm gonna do everything in my power to make his life a little bit. Because you don't like me for me winning an MVP game when we were 17. Bro, we were 17. We both are the NBA now. What are you still mad at me for? So, if I'm Chad, I do everything in my power to get on that man's nerves, to hurt that man. So I will want to play him because simple fact. Them two are all forever gonna be linked because of simple fact. They're both seven, they're both 71. Or as big as 75. You act like he's 74, bro. You you probably said and six for real. They both can turn to face the basket. They both can knock down the three, they both could play make enough. They both could play make at that size better than any other big we ever seen. They look like Orlando Magic Shaq, but even better, right? Not LA Lakers. I'm talking about Slim Down and Orlando breaking the glass shack. That's what Chad and Vic both look like, but they even look better because in fact both both of them can shoot a three-point and both of them can. Vic's out there doing step back threes and doing crossover moves. Like he thank he got an album in the 7-5, 7-5 byte. Chet can do some of the same things to similar. So they always gonna be connected because you see that big dog like Chet. I don't know if I don't know if Chet was scared. I don't know if Chet was scared of the moment because I wouldn't say he's scared of the moment, because we've seen him in the playoffs run last year, he had good games. And he was third in a third uh third team all NBA this year. So we see that it's there. I don't, so I don't want to say he's scared of the moment. I just can't explain it. Right? What happened in this game that makes you not want to shoot the ball? Knowing that your team needs you to shoot the ball, you can't have it looked at as let Shay do it because of the fact. Shea's gonna tie himself out. And what you saw that dude after the first of the late of the third and the fourth quarter was Shay was tired. Shea was doing it all. Shea was trying to dribble the ball, he's trying to play point guard, but as well as put up 50 points. He only put up 40, but if you get what I'm saying, I'm trying to I'm trying to have a 40-point, 20 assist game. That's that's unfair to Shay. Yo, you need you need your third best player, or at this current time, your second best player, because Jay Dubbs out, to come along for the ride. It wasn't the others for the Oklahoma City, it was the others. That I don't want to say cost them them this game, but had a high impact on them losing the game. The only reason they lost this game, he did have a high impact. He was one of the contributing factors of them losing this game. You gave me the Western Conference brand of game seven at home, and you only shoot two.

(Cont.) Chet’s Passing Up Shots

SPEAKER_00 15:53

You and you can't go one for two. It's just it. You know what I'm saying? There's no, I guess like you can say there's no excuse for that or whatever. But I don't think, I hope this fuels chat to be great. I hope this fuels chat, not in a sense of where the Simmons went, but in just in a different manner of continuously reaching to higher levels. Because for this matchup to continue, they're gonna need Chet to do that.

OKC’s Costly Offseason Choices

SPEAKER_00 16:25

I also think Obama City Thunder is gonna have to make a decision. And I don't, and the reason I say that is because of the fact the books is gonna get expensive because of the fact you get J Dub, Chat, and Shay all making max money, and you still gotta pay everybody else. The question is, does J Dub become the casualty of this? Like you said, AJ Mitchell, very similar player, very cheap price goes. Very cheaper price tag. Do they run it back next year and just say, we just won the finals last year? Just won the finals the previous year. We had two key injuries. Just the safe assumption is we can get back, we can get back to the finals. We can get back to that level. If we fully healthy, that that that team, the San Antonio Spurs, can't beat us. Do they think like that or do they think, okay, let's get under, let's get under the aprons, let's get cheaper. Do we and still have this still quality of team? Because simple fact, let's be real, they're still gonna have Chad. And you're not gonna church Chad. I know people's gonna make this big thing now because Chet plays so he only took two shots in game seven, which is still crazy. But I know people's going to be like, you gotta church chat.

unknown 17:42

Come on, man.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

They don't make seven footers like that. They don't make seven footers that could do that. Let me seven footers you know can do the things that that man do. You ain't training. You can't, hey, you can't trade hype. You know what I'm saying? You can't trade hype because you can't teach hype. Not hype with skill as well. He has skill and hype. You're not getting rid of that. I know it's kind of crazy to be saying other than he did what he did in game seven, but I'm still gonna, like I said, I still think he's gonna go up. He's not gonna go down like a Ben Simmons. And I ain't gonna keep trying to throw shots at Ben Simmons, but that's that's the to me, that was the comparison, is he had a Ben Simmons moment. So I I'm interested to see what the Oklahoma City Thunder do in this offseason as far as roster construction. Do you have to put a pick with Jay Dub if you want to trade them? I wouldn't think you have to because I mean he had an injury riddle season. He's still a he's still a phenomenal player. You just get rid of, you just want to get him off the books. But do you, because of that contract money, do people our other team to go on the second guess? I wouldn't if I was G him. But would you? Plus also that big of a contract. It ain't gonna be the easiest thing in the world to move. It ain't it ain't a it ain't a uh uh booker contract,

Spurs Knicks Finals Preview

SPEAKER_00 19:06

but it's still a big contract. It's not gonna be the easiest contract in the world to move. Um I want to see what Oklahoma City's going to do this offseason. I'm excited to see the finals uh between the Knicks and between the San Antonio Spurs. You get to see Big Vic on the stage, another seven-footer who can do the face to the basket, knock down the perimeter shots, play make a little bit. You got Carl Anthony Towns on the other side. Carl Athony Towns also loves to foul. We need him to foul. You got Castle, you get a little hot headed sometimes. So I won't, this is gonna be an interesting finals. Me and Deion's gonna fully break that down on from my perspective. But I want, like I said, I want to give y'all a hold up in another thing episode that covered Game 7 because I feel like Game 7, I feel like this series, like I said, was a was a heavyweight championship about it. The games in the middle wasn't the best. They weren't they was competitive, but they weren't close, if that makes sense. Maybe I'm looking at it with rose-colored glasses on, because they none of a lot of those games wasn't close. A lot of them deployed. But game one and game seven delivered, especially game one, but game one and game seven both delivered, and I had high expectations going forward. I think both of these teams are still gonna be the conference finals. You know, unless Minnesota's gonna be these the two teams that I still think would be safer to make the conference finals next year, and they're gonna keep hitting their head. Keep hitting their head against one another. But

Pacers What If And Trade Rumors

SPEAKER_00 20:55

I'm gonna go home before it, right? Watching this game seven, Oklahoma City versus San Antonio, made me come to the realization, which I had already felt like this, but it solidified it for me. And I know, you know, if if's was a fill, we all be drunk. But let me tell you. If Tyrese Halliburton didn't get an issue in that game seven, because we only go off about twelve. If Tyrese Halliburton did not get an injury in that game versus Oklahoma City Thunder, my Indiana basis is the champions. And we would be looking to repeat because of the fact that Tyrese wouldn't have been hurt. He wouldn't be hurt right there. We will be champions. Am I crazy to say that? Y'all tell y'all let me know, but tell me what y'all think. If y'all think I'm crazy to say that, I think we would be champions. I should it's to me, it showed that we could have we could have hang with them and we can continue paying with them. I want to talk about my basics real quick before we get up out of here. There's a lot. Of there's a lot of rumors going around about a trade Murphy III Trey from the New Orleans Pelicans. I think Trey averaged like 18, 19, 20 something points a game last year. But he makes like 25 million dollars. 25, 27 million dollars. So the only way we're gonna be able to trade for him is we'll have to get rid of the four seven. And I more than likely it'll either be M Hart, Nee Smith, or Obi Topman is in some package of them four or one of those, or whatever. One of those is other players or two of those, because you got to make the money work. Okay. Here's my issue. One, we I don't think we have the depth to get rid of more than one of those players at a time. I don't feel like my Indiana faces have the depth to just do a trade where we get rid of two key players to bring back in the world. We don't have that. And I don't, maybe the team has more confidence at the people at the end of the bench than I do, but I don't. I don't, because I seen them play a lot this year. Because everybody was hurt. I seen them play a lot this year. I don't have the most confidence in those guys. I think they they are into the bench end of the bench players, but I don't know if they're rotational players. So giving up more, giving up two players for Trevor Burrus Third, I think it's going to hurt the team. If it was one, I think the counter one would be Nymar. Because of the fact you put because you bring it in a shooting guard, he is the current shooting guard. So he would just be an easy trick. But you can't get rid of Nymhorn in somebody. And I don't want to, I don't, you know, maybe it's just a band that me talking. I wouldn't want to give him nobody. I just want to bring in Trey Murphy. And put it in, but I understand that's not how solid caps work. I don't, I think I look at Nees Smith and Nemhart as B minus wings. Some would say C plus, but I look at them as B minus wings. I look at Trey Murphy III as a B plus wing, but to get a B plus wing from C plus or B minus Wings, you gotta give up something else. And we don't have a draft pick. Let's not go down that right now. So I mean, well, I won't, I would love to get Trey Murphy the third, but I just don't think we got the pieces to get Trey Murphy III to be in Indiana Pacers uniform. I think it will cost too much for him. He up in Indiana hanging up, hanging out, him and Tyrese's too. When you see a person hanging out and you keep hearing a bunch of smoke, I mean you keep hearing a bunch of rumors where smoke is far, something's probably coming. Just don't know what that something is quite yet, but we will find out.

Wrap Up And Pod Shoutouts

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Yeah, man. Thank y'all for listening to another episode of Hold Up and Another Thing presented by Mix Vice Media. Man, uh, I got time. Check out from my perspective. Sports podcast, shout out to my boy Dion. We're gonna break, we're gonna be breaking down the Stanley Cup in the finals. UFL shout out to the little games. They're going to the playoffs. So we're also gonna discuss that. Then you know what I'm saying? We also got uh the Mixed Bise podcast, shout out Jerry, shout out Quag. And then, you know what I'm saying, then respectfully wrong, shout out Joe, and then uh hopefully, I say what I said. Shout out my big son, shout out to Ashley. Make sure y'all, you know what I'm saying, y'all got some time, check those out, and uh, we're gonna get at y'all on the next one. Y'all be easy.