Thursday, May 23, 2013

Twitter and Basketball Mix Like Fire and Gasoline

I am an extremely opinionated person when it comes to basketball. Just ask any of my teammates. I build opinions on players based on their individual game and dig deeply into the negatives of said game while stating obvious positives and not diving into detail about them. It's probably because I'm like 5 foot 8 inches tall and think that the bigger dudes out on the court don't work nearly as hard as me but are labeled as better than me because their genes are favorable to the sport. Yeah that's definitely it. Nate Robinson embodied the true colors of the under 5 foot 8 inches club this post season. His heart, determination, and f everyone who doubted me mentality was evident. When it comes to the men with the talent, I am always skeptical.

So last night/today I realized how many people we're watching that Heat vs. Pacers game last night. What a thriller!! Great basketball game for sure and set the tone for the Eastern Conference Finals Series to come. When I checked twitter after 6 hours of dormancy, I was shocked to find the reloading of tweets to only be from 39 minutes ago. Basically that meant that there have been A LOT of tweets since 39 minutes ago. As I read through them and realized they were alllllll about the game! And a majority we're about Paul George. I saw people going ballistic over the shot he made. I'm sorry but I can provide no examples because my twitter will not go back that far right now. Either way, it really got me going. I tweeted twice about it. Everyone really needed to chill, like literally sit in a fridge. His shot was not that good, and his overall performance was not as good as LeBrons. Paul George, meet my opinionated side...

You say Paul George is a star?

1. Paul George had 6 turnovers.

2. I respect the fact that Paul George's "stardom" status may have been acclaimed last night by everyone else in the basketball world, but not by me. The game tying shot was a heave that really couldn't have any thoughts or decisions attached to it. He grabbed the ball and shot it because he had to. It wasn't like he cleared everyone out, went one on one with LeBron, turned away from the double team, and hit a fadeaway three to tie it.


Tell me I'm wrong. Great shot but not much thought in that one down by three with 2 seconds left I'm heaving it up to coming off that dribble hand-off.

3. Before we get to the nightmare that was the OT for Paul George, let's remember he missed a two pointer with 27 seconds left to tie the game and then got a second chance at it... and threw it to his bench players drenched in yellow swag-iforms on the sideline. DUMB.

4. Paul George made the 2nd Team All Defensive Team today. The Pacers are supposed to be known for their gritty defense. Paul George is the leader of that team...? And their defense down the stretch in OT was HORRIFIC. Paul George's and-1 foul on Chris Bosh was really stupid. He jumped carelessly into a rebound that was not his to get an committed an extremely obvious foul. Mis-communication at the top by David West and Paul George caused Shane Battier to be wide open for the three that he luckily missed. Can't have those blemishes in the playoffs.

5. With 16 seconds left, I think it was Norris Cole, doesn't really set a screen, he just kinda shuffles through slash exchanges with LeBron at the top of the key. Miami throws this in their offense thinking hey maybe we can get the opposition to screw up the communication on the simple exchange and force the smaller guard defending Cole to slip into a switch and have to defend LeBron one on one. Clear advantage to The King. And the freaking Pacers fell for it. They freaking fell for it!!!! They fell for that dumbie little exchange that basically is a decoy. Paul George switches with George Hill and LeBron takes Hill to the rack on a straight blow by. When does a second team all-defensive dude who matches up best with LeBron (and knows it) pass up the opportunity to defend The King on the last play of OT with the game tied? NEVER EVER! EVER!!!! No "star" does that, not even Kobe and there is definitely no D in "Kobe Bryant." You get my point.

6. The last play of the game. The last play of the game! THE LAST PLAY OF THE GAME!!!!!!

If Paul George became a star during that game last night, they might as well give me a scholarship because I've definitely done all that wrong shit during one single practice once. Ask the team, I have made a shot like Paul George's three, it's not that hard when the shot clock or game clock is going off it's basically second nature. The King would blow by me too. And I could easily tape my mouth shut and not communicate an exchange at the top of the key. Simple as that, I could have done what Paul George did last night on defense and IF I was 6 foot 8 with the wingspan of a dinosaur I could have made that three too.

Paul George, I love you man, you played great and I'm with everyone that you are separating yourself as a promising young star. But my twitter feed really needed to chill because there was way to much love for a dude who basically lost his team the game and not enough love when LeBron shut all those George lovers up with two straight buckets, and one of them at the buzzer to win it. I hate that Twitter fired me up like that I just had to take it out on y'all. I will not apologize for it. Next time everyone do not tweet praising one player until the game is over!!! Or at least apologize in your next tweet for praising the man who lost his team the game because that just pisses me off.

P.S. my friend today said: "Never trust a man with two first names." lol. Paul George.

5 comments:

  1. This post is so dumb on so many levels. Paul George's shot at the end was C-L-U-T-C-H and one of the best shots i have ever seen in NBA History. Paul George is the NEXT big thing in this league. mark my words.

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  2. LeBron did the same thing against the Magic 3 years ago I believe? Literally the same shot. Best shots you have ever seen in NBA history? Tell that to MJ, Kobe, Bird, Magic, Kareem or any NBA hall of famer and see what they would say. Dude the Pacers are gonna lose the series and that shot is not gonna matter. I am very glad that people are reading this and getting fired up about it. We need more of this.

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  3. I agree with bobby. Paul George planned out shot it and not chucked it. He prob practice that shot over and over in situation drills.Steve, it may come to a surprise to you because you know nothing about the game, but coaches actually practice situations like this in practice!

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  4. Tim. I'm glad to see you are riled up about this. I practice everyday and run through those same end of game drills. You can practice all you want, but when the balls in your hands with a second left, skill sometimes goes out the window, and your second nature ability as a basketball player takes over. Nothing compares to taking that shot in front of thousands of unruly fans. Until you've taken a shot in front of thousands of people when the clock is ticking down it's hard to truly understand how hard it really is to make a shot like that. You can practice a "run as fast as you can into a dribble hand-off right foot left foot down shot" as many times as you want but it never equals the situation truly. Example: tonight during the game that I'm watching right now, Paul George and Lance Stephenson just hit the back board on two wide open three point shots that came off of simple offense and ball movement that you practice everyday. Sometimes it's better to appreciate the art of luck in a game that is sometimes too focused on skill. I like to go on tangents in these blogs. Please consider my outside of the box thinking.

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