media conspiracy @tinman Why do we care about dumbass ESPN talking heads? 99ers are way more pure than that . . . oh wait.
I saw this and thought the same - what are odds that bro had a closet full of Kobe jerseys at one point? The gratuitous "push off" comment was my favorite. It was a run of the mill play. If that's an offensive foul then Michael Jordan retired in 1998 after receiving a 10 game suspension for his brutal flagrant foul against Bryon Russell in the Finals
When it comes to media in general, objectivity has long since left the building. Everything now is subjective opinion. It has never been this bad. It used to be that "truth" was the first casualty of war. Now, the truth is "whatever I say it is." The amazing thing is that most people accept whatever the "experts" say. That's scary.
ESPN is still a thing? They're basically going to go down in the history books much in the way of Blackberry, Garmin GPS, and the Dodo bird. They're a middle man that adds nothing of real value to sports, while extorting cable customers. I cut the cord years ago and never looked back.
You guys always with the media conspiracies, constantly coming across as some jilted lovers. Those are the same comments made 1 thousand times a week across broadcasts in sports.
The other ESPN narrative I’m getting tired of is harden’s points all being unassisted (believe his last 3 games, all of his points have been unassisted). There’s some insinuation that not only is this bad but that he’s a selfish stat-stuffing ballhog and not playing basketball the “right” way. The other narrative I can’t stand is Harden will tire and be ineffective in the playoffs like he always does not acknowledging Harden led teams have come closest in the West to knocking off GSW (and despite incredibly terrible refs) and Harden for the majority of his time in Houston, having no all star teammates.
They did steal the game though. No complaints about that comment. The lakers worked us for most of the game and we stole it in the end. The harden step back travel is so annoying. It’s not a travel lol! However, he did push off with his forearm at least twice to get a shot. My defense of that is technically under the current rules the defender should be called for a foul before that push off because he’s on top of harden. He pushes off because guys are impeding his movement which is technically a foul on the defender in the nba right now. Notice that harden never gets a freedom of movement call, they’d have to give it to him on literally every play he way teams defend him. The trade off for not calling that in defenders is not calling the push off
And there are many reasons someone should care about these anti-Harden narratives! - narratives can influence, if not directly compel potential free agents and trade targets from signing with Houston. Besides CP3, Rockets don’t have a great track record of all star in their prime talents coming to Houston in the Harden era. - even more than free agents, these narratives influence GMs, referees, Commissioner, and even changing rules of the game (rip through from 3 point line) and sports agents in negative ways - by harden’s own reactions (the few I can discern from his questions by the media) can and likely dies take a toll on him and his teammates. He’s had to defend himself unlike many other superstars and it’s totally unfair - these narratives incite other players (think Steph Curry) to “troll” Harden when the get called for blatant travels in games in which they’re not even playing the Rockets - the no defense narrative was so pervasive that I have no doubt it warded off potential all star free agents - these negative narratives have directly taken away multiple well deserved MVPs from this man and that alone should warrant an organizational counter/response. Why? Because I’m convinced these narratives influence referees in how the call rockets games in the playoffs - the impact of Harden narratives on the playoffs (blatantly not calling fouls) should be very concerning and I think you may see the NBA somehow make his step back illegal. All this is happened because of anti-Harden narratives and this is why we (certainly the organization) should care and actively counter them. The head in the sand approach never works. Harden and his teammates are playing their asses off and everyone else should be taking the burden to counter the BS narratives with that same intensity!
I had SportsCenter on in the background a couple of Sundays ago and during highlights for a Blazers game (not against the Rockets), Damian Lillard flopped and the analyst said he was pulling a Harden. An hour or so later during a different broadcast of the highlights, they showed Lillard flopping and again forced in a different reference to Harden. It's just weird.
This type of media BS is why Harden is behind players like Derrick Rose, Paul George, and even Luka freaking Doncic who is basically Harden lite in all star voting. I mean seriously what other player coming off an MVP season and leading the league in scoring would this happen to?
Warriors has 6 all stars in one team. Warriors is bully all NBA team. I think warriors is an evil. Media should dislike warriors rather than hate harden. Leborn is an old man now, he is unable to dominate in NBA now. Forget him and try to appreciate the effort of James harden
Harden’s game is now so reliant on the 3-point shot, and his history in the playoffs is a major dip in 3-point shooting efficiency — especially in the latter games in the series. That’s a legit talking point.
Tim Legler: "These Rockets really steal a game that the Lakers thoroughly outplayed them most of the night." He is 100% correct. The Lakers outplayed the Rockets in about 47 minutes of the game in regulation last night and the Rockets just hit a lucky shot to force the OT. There is nothing to be shamed of, just like the Rockets outplayed the Nets for 47 minutes the other night and lost by some crazy 3s also.
Actually right after the game on sports center James harden got a lot of credit and love Around midnight here the new sports center was being aired by the west coast team (LA) So they were just being homers
Had to look up who Eaves was since I had never heard of him before: https://espnmediazone.com/us/bios/michael-eaves/
