Game 4 was a flat out awfully officiated game. Terrible. Trash. It is kind of humorous to me though to read comments here and then to read comments on the Jazz's fan website and lots of fans from both sides say that the refs were rigged and were playing favorites to the other team. I don't know enough to say who got more bad calls against them on a night full of terrible calls. I just find that a little funny
It's also humorous to me how much other team's fans, the Jazz in particular, complain about Harden and Paul flopping. Yes. They do sometimes. But have you watched your team? In the last... Ever?
Well, sometimes he just does. But so does every other Star in the NBA. Even roleplayers travel all the time
That's the most positive news I've heard all postseason. Thank you durvasa. Long live the Houston Rockets!!! For my desi homies on here: Houston Rockets Zindabad!!!
Personally I think Nike has a huge part in trying to tear down Harden's image. Don't forget unlike Steph who signed with Under Armor from the beginning, Harden was a Nike guy until he signed that massive deal with Adidas when his contract with Nike ended. I can't think the last time a major NBA star went away from Nike to one of their major competitors. Players of Harden's stature rarely switch shoe companies. Kobe went to Nike from Adidas but that was all right after the Colorado debacle when his image was destroyed and everyone was trying to distance themselves from Kobe. There is just way too much money to be made by these companies that spending a few million in "marketing/advertising" to hurt their competition is as easy of a decision as there is. There was some rumors put out earlier that some of these Kawhi issues also stems from him wanting a big shoe deal, but Nike only wants to give it to him if he is in a big market.
This is, unfortunately, the state of most media today. Journalism and objective analysis is dead; it's mostly just click-bait and narrative-pushing. Perhaps the most depressing part is all the saps who eat it up... then ask for more
I wouldnt be surprised. Kawhi for Porzingis makes a lot of sense if you put that narrative in the mix. Wouldn’t be surprised if those rumors of SA loving Porzingis were generated by Kawhi’s camp to open up the conversation. Porzingis is an adidas guy. Nike’s probably trying to pry them away from the Mecca of hoops and sneaker culture. Another thing I’ll add is that adidas has become a serious threat to Nike in general. The basketball division is the last thing Nike has a firm grasp on. And they intend to keep it that way with the major moves they’ve made. Forget about finding their signature stars. That’s always gonna be there. I’m talking about the strategic positioning to control narrative. An executive on the board at Disney (ESPN), the money being pumped to the major social media accounts for the demographic (like Complex, House of Highlights / BR, etc.). It’s amazing how that audience just eats up the narratives those accounts spew out too. They got Russ an MVP!!!! And they shoved LeBron right up to the top in this year’s MVP race despite the fact that he required a team facelift at the trade deadline. Adidas is on the right path. They are signing players with off-court appeal or “street cred” as well as on-court performance. It’s working, but they need to improve their b-ball product. They did great with the harden vol. 1. It was heralded as a top basketball shoe performance-wise. Nike is feeling the heat and continue to use their alliances to sway public opinion of their athletes using influencers. Their motto is “If you control the narrative, you gain the influence.” That’s all they’re after. The ability to sell shoes by making their influencers look good. Sorry this was lengthy. I’m really into marketing strategy, and I like to dissect things
I agree with the entire post. Nike has dominated the landscape for so long despite the companies in the past (Reebok, FILA) no one was really able to stop them. UA has Curry who probably was in their price range when he signed prior to blowing up. Actually I just read about Curry's deal. I did not know he was with Nike but his contract ended in 2013 and Nike offered him a deal worth 2.5M a year and UA offered a 4M a year deal which Nike did not match. ( I am sure they are regretting this mistake) Of course the first year under UA Curry blew up and they have him signed now until 2024. Curry's shoe deal is probably one of the smallest in the league. Harden's 200M deal is for 13 years so it pays out a little more than 15M a year for comparison. Curry had the bay area locked down and KP owning NY I am not surprised Nike is going to try to get one of "their" guys in that huge NY market. Remember those reports that Durant regretting signing with GS at first and was yelling at his agent for convincing him? I am sure the agent was influenced by the Nike dollars for getting Durant there. If Kawhi is traded and goes to NY to play with KP of course as a basketball move its great for NY (not sure what of value they have for the Spurs of course) but Nike is able to get a big star they can market in one of the biggest basketball cities (if not the biggest) in the world. Right now its all KP. Its much harder with Curry since Nike didnt match the UA offer it was their mistake, my guess is that Adidas threw the huge deal at Harden so Nike would not match or offer more. Also with Curry blowing up and winning MVP and the title in year 1 of his deal makes it harder since he is already a champion. If the warriors didnt win the title in year 1 of Curry's UA deal I would guess there would be more of a "smear" campaign against him, but the one factor Curry/GS has is basically the entire Tech industry behind them with Silicon Valley. They were not going to allow their guy and brand to be tainted. (especially the new owners of GS from Oracle) Maybe Tillman uses his influence to help curb some of that but having a massive restaurant empire isnt on the same level of a corporation like Oracle. The unfortunate part is that I think it will require Harden to win a title but thats going to be really difficult with the Warriors. I mean if this was 2014 or even the Warriors prior to KD I would say the Rockets would be on par and beating Golden State would be a coin toss, but these Warriors are so stacked unlike any other team in NBA history its going to require history to be made to beat them.
I didn’t know that about Durant. Interesting. The prerequisite for any brand is that the player is actually good at basketball. Then you go down the list. Is he a nightly highlight? Does he dominate the court? Is his game flashy? It’s a problem for Nike when players on competitor brands check all those boxes. Curry checks all of them. Harden checks all but the flashy. Basketball highlight accounts HAVE to post about players that go off. They don’t have a choice. It’s great content from them. Even if Nike pays them not to show them, the plays will make its way. That’s why Curry is so unique in terms of branding and exposure. Honestly, UA is too small for Curry. They can’t make a nice looking shoe for him. So Nike latches on his coattails with KD. Harden’s game isn’t flashy. So it’s easy to downplay and degrade his game as cheap. But he makes up for it by being swag champ off the court. And his beard. He’s marketable. If he wins MVP, and the Rockets win it all this year, I’d expect swirling rumors of PG or LeBron to Houston in the offseason
I’ve come to the come conclusion that the media conspiracy is somewhat real. People don’t like Houston, for whatever reason. It shows big time. Chris Paul had a huge following before he left to Houston I’ve noticed his following has dropped off abd more hate has commenced.
