There’s been a lot of recent conversation about celebrating the current NBA, but ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is not on board with that. During ABC’s halftime coverage of Game 4 of the Oklahoma City Thunder-Denver Nuggets series Sunday, Smith went off on the quality of the game:
Stephen A. Smith: “There are no highlights. It’s all lowlights. It’s been horrible. It’s a horrible brand of basketball that we’ve been witnessing in terms of shot-making. Both teams are shooting 13% from three-point range… combined 6-for-44. I mean, just awful.” #NBA pic.twitter.com/n2RmNMM37S
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 11, 2025
This certainly fits into the wider discussion of many national NBA media figures being critical of the current game and not enjoying the basketball that’s on offer. And Smith has come up there. However, it is worth noting that unlike, say, Bob Ryan, Smith is not advocating for the abolishment of the three-pointer, merely criticizing teams’ subpar execution of it.
The shooting numbers for both teams got a little better in the second half Sunday. Oklahoma City, which won 92-87 to tie the series at two, finished this one with a 35.6% field goal mark (24.4% from deep). The Nuggets shot 31.3% from the field, also hitting 24.4% of their three-point attempts. But this still certainly wasn’t an offensive clinic, especially in a first half that finished with a 42-36 Oklahoma City lead. So Smith’s comments there had some merit.
There is always the discussion of what’s actually bad offense and what’s good defense, though. Not all low-scoring games are inherently terrible. And it’s interesting to hear a rightsholder analyst so bluntly criticize the product he’s discussing, especially in a league where the commissioner’s recently complained about negative coverage. Regardless, Smith made it clear how he saw this game, and that wasn’t in favorable terms.
