Francis says media coverage is race-biased, defends Isiah

Stevie blindly lashes out and plays the race card when there is no validity thus diminishing and outright putting a slap to the face of those who have been wronged because of the color of their skin.

His frustration comes across like that of the child he is.

As far as Coach Karl.......the brawl,and Zeke.
I have the utmost grudging respect for ole Georgie boy.He has turned many a team around and of course vanquished our Rockets,keeping us from our date with destiny.Zeke could learn a thing or two from him.

 

Crack kills.

The funniest thing is that people are so willing to give George Karl the benefit of the doubt and rehab him because they hate Francis or Thomas so much.

Karl has always been an outspoken jerk, leaves destroyed teams in his wake, and doesn't have the level of success to back it up. This is not news if you've followed the NBA closely.

His "vengeance" of Larry Brown by trying to take it out on Isiah (despite knowing he had a bunch of jackasses on his team incapable of controlling themselves like Anthony) coupled with his profanity laced tirade afterwards to keep it alive show the kind of petty, vindictive persona he has made his calling card.

BUt you're right - Zeke COULD learn a thing or two - like how to get another coaching job after failing and getting fired twice from crappy teams like Golden State and Cleveland.

 

I know the history and much of what you say is true....to a point.
Karl has grown his teams to success only to have them self destruct eventually...But he DOES turn teams around and has made plenty of noise in the playoffs.

His personal relationship with Larry spills through when he feels like someone is demeaning the game or trying to get over...esp. Zeke.

Zeke must except responsibility for his team's actions.At the same time these are grown men who should be accountable to themselves,their families,the League,and the fans.These guys aren't animals and shouldn't be just written off as if " boys will be boys".

Bottom line...Zeke called the action down and he is responsible for his team's actions.


That said I stand by my comments.


As far as the malicious note on which you started your symphony of truisms,let's just say it was uncalled for.

 

Well he did after his first two coaching stops were abject failures.

Actually it spills through all the time when he feels like he and his boys aren't beign taken care of. Ask Doc Rivers. But anyway his penchant for sniping in the press rather than to the objects of his ire is another endearing trait.

That's the way it is in hockey and baseball - that's what Francis was saying. Why isn't it that way in basketball?

That Francis was "blindly lashing out" when he responded to Karl, who said that Thomas was "a jerk...full of sh-t....a total *******" by saying - I support my coach and my team, hopefully we can win some games?

You must have a different definition of lash.

 

Yes, and so does anybody with half a brain who knows anything about George Karl (who do not consider him living legend, ha ha ha.) He's got his starters in going all out, up 23, with 1:20 left - his line during his tirade, was - he thought the knicks were going to come back.

Which explanation is more plausible? Karl trying to rub it in on Thomas (who karl has been vocally critical of, in the past, especially with regard to Larry Brown, but alson on other occasions dating back years to his Doc Rivers tirade) Or New York coming back from a 23 point deficit in 1 minute? That's a complete no brainer.

Oh, and as for his "explanation", swearing on his children, in the next sentence, before he started showing his class and maturity by saying Isiah was full of sh-t and a total *******, he said he just wanted to "get a big win on the road" that's why he had his starters still in. He already had the win, it was that he needed a "big" win: Translation, I wanted to run up the score.

As Thomas takes the Heat, Karl avoids scrutiny

Losing his Carolina way

Get off Karl's jock. It's beneath you. In fact it's beneath all of us because the guy has a track record of being a vindictive jerk. You applauding his obscenity laced tirade against Thomas as a model of restraint while chiding Francis is simply laughable in all respects.


P.S....RocketsMac - where is your condemnation of David Lee for this outrageous remark?

crickets...chirp..chirp....

 

LOL - you don't "know" that Karl wasn't pouring it on anymore than you "know" that Thomas sent an assassin out to take down one of the Nuggets. (and as RM95 pointed out - it's not much different then him sending Frank Brickowski in the game to attempt to take out Rodman)

Anyway - a hard foul like that when a team is pouring it on in a blowout for no reason is unexpected? It's what a lot of other coaches would have done - whether explicit or implicit. You think Bobby Knight, Jerry Sloan, Greg Popovich (another of the larry brown/George karl fun bunch) wouldn't have been happy to see their guy commit a hard foul when a team is running up the score on them in the final minutes? That kind of tactic is common place and encouraged from the high school level on. If anything it's a lot more accpeted within the coaching ranks than running up the score.

Karl should have known that kind of thing can result from running up the score and when you make things personal. Does it justify it? No, that's why Mardy Collins was going to get a Flagrant 2, and a fine or suspension. But Karl should have also known that his group of hot-tempered idiots like Anthony was easily provoked and had them off the floor when he was trying to settle personal scores by running it up. Some discipline that Karl has instilled there, huh?

The players supporting Isiah have plenty of justification - they are showing loyalty to their team, as they have been taught for years, as society teaches them. They're certainly a lot more justified than exacerbating everything like Karl's immature, public b****fest.

 

That reminded me of a time I did that in junior high. We were playing our "rival" and pretty much the only team we couldn't beat. They were up 30 midway through the 4th quarter and still had their starters in shooting threes and what not. So, on a breakaway, I was happy to grab the guy's shoulders and pull him down. I expected to be in a lot of trouble with my coach, but I was actually complimented during the timeout for being the only one that showed any care out there. I'm not saying what I did was right and I did find the guy after the game to apologize (he even said he understood), but let's not act like something like this has never happened before and it the worst thing that's ever happened in sports.

Also, George Karl is a hypocrite.

 

Collins foul was hard, too hard, no question. But life-threatening? Certainly not. Worse than the Bruce Bowen jump-kick to Szczerbiak? No. Worse than the old Celtics clothesline-ing of Kurt Rambis or Bill Laimbeer? No. Those guys weren't even penalized for that. Further, I don't know where you get "dropping a guy to the ground and beating the sh-t out of him" from it - since that's not what happened.

EDIT: here's a snippet of an article on Collins, btw:

Stop being so dramatic. Nate's an idiot just as well. But Carmelo has never been the most mature player in the world and he showed why last week.

 

LMAO @ all those defending George Karl...

track record, folks, track record.

he is a hypocrite if I ever saw one.

in addition - what's so wrong about defending your coach and the team you play for? through everything? my respect for francis and lee just INCREASED.

 

You're right. Nothing like this has ever happened in the game of basketball. Ever. Never ever, in fact.

You obviously haven't been watching basketball very long if you don't remember what Karl did in the 1996 Finals sending in a thug with the sole intent to get the Bulls best rebounder ejected. Frank Brickowski was ejected not once, but twice in that series. Yet you defend this guy. Stay classy, RocketsMac.

 

He wasn't trying to get someone fouled out. He was trying to instigate a fight. Brickowski was ejected from one of those games after he elbowed Dennis Rodman in the throat.

It was just as bad as this, if not worse.

 

I don't agree with Isiah. I somewhat agree with Francis.

The media's coverage and the NBA's reaction to this brawl is so overblown. If this were hockey, it would not get more than 1 minute on ESPN. If it were baseball it might get 3 minutes. This brawl was very reminiscent of the Lakers/Celtics fight that happened after Rambis got clotheslined. The level of scrutiny now for a fight compared to back then is enormous.

I don't think you can pin it entirely on race, however I also don't believe you can rule race out as a factor in the NBA's strict punishment and the media coverage of the event. On one hand some of the kids like the image of a player like A.I. who the streets identify with, but on the otherhand having young black men fighting in front of millions of viewers probably hurts the league with corporations like Citibank. Obviously, the NBA is even more image conscious after the big Detroit brawl last year.

 

Franchise's definetely got a point. The coverage on NBA brawls are so excessive, you almost are forced to look at ulterior motives. I definetely think there's racism involved when it comes to NBA players fighting simply because they're mostly black.

 

The NBA is expanding globally...even bigger money about to come in.Guys are going to be under the microscope more and must conduct themselves accordingly....in a professional manner.

In a brawl,you have a mass of giant contracts who make up a higher percentage of who's out there.
THIS IS A BUSINESS.

You've got 10 guys out on the hardwood who are the most impressive athletic specimens in the world,quite a bit of damage can be done....serious injury.(esp. with the training for hoops and any additional martial arts training many have)Remember most of these guys are less accessible than players in any other sport...There is more of a trigger defense in the NBA.

It's not like it used to be when Rudy was punched.
Now you see dudes throwing right and left.

Football and hockey have pads and helmets...Baseball rarely has these deals other than the occasional rushing of the mound(when half the time nothing happens) or the once in a blue moon ruckus.
In hockey there aren't 6' 4 - 7' players who can generate bigtime killing power..Guys are often wearing helmets except for when they square off..and despite how it might appear the referees keep it pretty compartmentalized.It's been a part of that sport for a long time.

As far as the media goes,it makes for a massive spectacle when one of these things happens....... we don't want to kill the Golden Goose.

This isn't racism and Stevie needs to stop being an immature,unknowledgeable brat.

 

How many people were injured last saturday? How many at the Malice in the Palace brawl? Zero. Basketball brawls rarely result in any injury, let alone a serious one. In fact, the Rudy T incident, which occurred nearly 30 years ago, is probably the lone exception to this rule. However the hysteria unleashed by people whenever they happen is not commensurate with the general harmlessness of these events.

Lack of bigtime killing power? Ha ha ha, tell that to the guy whose neck Todd Bertuzzi broke. Or the fan who Tie Domi beat up in the the penalty box, or the next guy who has a 98 MPH fastball tossed at his head.

What would you rather deal with? Randy Johnson trying to even a score with a ball or carmelo anthony wildly swinging at you with 5 guys trying to restrain him? Bill Romanowskin taking a dive at your knees? I know which one is more dangerous.