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Around SBN: Knicks Beat Lakers With Familiar Strategy

Yay For Sports Writing Incompetence

I used to really love FanHouse. They had awesome articles, awesome interviews, awesome writers. I still swing over there to read guys like Ziller and Matt Watson, who are among the elite in this whole blogging thing.

But then you get crap like the following. The bold is text from the article, non-bold is me.

Chris Paul is Overrated-- Brett Pollakoff

Anytime the guy does anything remotely above average, the NBA world stops to bow down and worship at his altar.

Fine, whatever. Success can oftentimes breed contempt.

Exhibit A: that bounce through Jason Terry's legs that Paul pulled off on Thursday night. Does... one relatively routine highlight have to get described as potentially the greatest play in the history of the NBA? Please. Someone get Tyson Chandler a Magic Johnson highlight reel, ASAP.

Tyson Chandler's exact quote: "He made one of the best moves I've ever seen in my life - on an NBA player." TC was born in 1982. He was 8 years old when Magic retired for the first time. Please explain to me where Tyson says that is "potentially the greatest play in NBA history." Please. Someone get Brett Pollakoff a "How to Read and Understand Basic English" Guide, ASAP.

Watch the replay again and tell me that Steve Nash, Deron Williams, or even Jason Kidd (six years ago when he could still play) wouldn't have done the exact same thing in that situation. If Paul wants to continue the fast break, bouncing the ball right through the defender's legs is the only option at that point. Otherwise, he has to run him over and pick up an offensive foul.

Yeah, very easy for you to say after the fact. This is like dismissing a Kobe Bryant game winner by saying, "if Kobe wants to win, shooting the ball is the only option at that point." Having an idea and actually implementing it are two very, very different things. If Deron's, Nash's, or JKidd's turnover rates suggest anything, it's that they would have been far less likely to implement it properly than Paul.

If a 37-year-old, seven-foot tall, 350-pound Shaquille O'Neal can do the exact same thing, sorry: the degree of difficulty just can't be that high.

Right. Let's compare a set play in the All-Star game against a center not even pretending to play defense to a point guard thinking on his feet in the open court against an infinitely quicker player in a game that actually matters. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Perhaps the ultimate irony here is that you could clearly hear Chris Paul instructing Shaq to perform that move in the All Star game before the play ever happened.

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SNAP!

Awesome. The play was amazing. No two ways about it. And guess what? If any of the point guards listed in Pollakoff’s argument had pulled the same play, it’d be amazing as well. Furthermore, it was (at the very least) slightly amazing when Shaq did it.

Is this guy a Mavs or Spurs fan or something? Why get so bent out of shape when someone makes an amazing play?

by hldomingue on Mar 6, 2009 8:33 PM CST reply actions  

That guy is an ABSOLUTE MORON!

It’s just so easy to bounce the ball through someone’s legs in the open court in full speed. Right, gotcha.

Devin Brown is a basketball God!

by chandlerfan6 on Mar 6, 2009 8:37 PM CST up reply actions  

Aren't there...

Aren’t there enough guys in the NBA who get a ton more attention than Chris Paul regardless of what they do? Kobe/Shaq/Whoever else gets tons of attention could fart into the camera and dribble a basketball and get praised.

Why hate on CP? That’s worthless – jealousy is a pain, I guess.

by HockeyJoe on Mar 6, 2009 9:15 PM CST reply actions  

Honestly, I'm cool with it.

Let people hate. Let the Jazz and Blazers fans be the ones to piss themselves when the media hates on them. As for me, I’ll just relax, know the truth, and wait for the Hornets to win a championship.

by m-W on Mar 6, 2009 9:34 PM CST reply actions  

I'm not actually too pissed about it

I don’t know Brett well—we’ve exchanged a few Tweets and emails, maybe—but I got the sense that he didn’t actually believe what he was writing. The whole point of the column, titled HATERADE, is to make inflammatory statements. Privately, I think he knows what he wrote is… incorrect, to say the least.

Don’t sweat it too badly, folks.

by Evan Dunlap on Mar 6, 2009 9:45 PM CST reply actions  

Brett who?

A lot of “ifs” in the article.

Reminds me of a saying I use at times…“If my aunt had balls she would be my uncle”.

by Swamp Dog on Mar 6, 2009 10:02 PM CST reply actions  

Wow...

You officially have the funniest/coolest avatar ever.

by hldomingue on Mar 7, 2009 2:18 AM CST up reply actions  

stick to the ziller feed

http://www.fanhouse.com/bloggers/tom-ziller/rss.xml

USE THE SOFTWARE. Actions-> Rec/Flag. Reply to comments with the reply button. Rec good fanposts/fanshots so the crud gets pushed down.

by your friendly BullsBlogger on Mar 7, 2009 3:36 PM CST reply actions  

Just a FYI

Rudy Fernandez did a through the legs of a defender pass twice in a game (yes it was preseason and yes it was against the Kings but still) He has done it in an actual NBA game twice this year.

Karma

by Sabonis4Ever on Mar 8, 2009 4:44 AM CST reply actions  

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