Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Put On A Masterclass In Being The Most Unwatchable NBA Super Star Perhaps Ever
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Way to go NBA. You did it. You crazy son of a bitch, you really did it. You took one of the most entertaining first two rounds of NBA Playoffs I can remember and took a massive dump on it in the first game of the Western Conference Finals. Just when the majority of the casuals fans might start tuning in.
For whoever out there has read my NBA blogs - I am in a true love/hate relationship with this game. And while the first two rounds (Round 1 especially) reignited a cozy lovey-dovey feeling, it kind of feels good to say the hate side has come back with a vengeance. OKC fans should be embarrassed. It's one thing to be skilled - which SGA certainly is - and use that skill to make defenders screw up and foul you. It's another to be have an absolute loser mentality like SGA clearly has and default to tricking the refs into calling fouls. What an irony? Shai is about to win league MVP while at the same time turn off numerous casual fans from giving the NBA another (or first) chance.
Now sure. You could argue "he gets away with it, why should he stop?". Fair. And I agree. Don't hate the player, hate the game. But that doesn't mean I have to respect the player. As for the game - Adam Silver is clueless and has showed zero sign of ever not being clueless on the real problems with the game he ruined. I don't really know what to say at this point. But I've tried!
I think what pisses me off the most is how the Big J's continue to prance around this like it's some light-hearted joke and not a serious cancer to their profession. At least Doris Burke mentioned the "Twitterverse" calling SGA the foul merchant, but that's as far as they went. It was sickening hearing how bland Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson addressed this. If I were rating Mike Breen on the game, I'd give him a double dang. Where the hell is Jeff Van Gundy when you need him? Oh. That's right. He's gone because he would have actually said something intelligible.
Shai's bullshit wasn't the only thing making this game unwatchable. From the same team that brought you classic hits like going 5/29 from three in Game 1 of the conference semis, let me introduce you to the Minnesota Timberwolves:
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Ah, there it is. The other reason people hate this fucking game. Monotonous threes with little ball movement leaving nothing to the imagination as to what a play is going to develop into. Bravo, NBA. You hit us with the two things we hate the most. Cheap fouls and lazy threes.
Please save us New York / Indiana. I'm already checked out of the West and will only be watching to fill up my hate cup which has been largely empty these playoffs. Give us some physicality and animosity. Give me some mid range j's every now ang again. And whatever you do - please don't let Jalen Brunson take any notes from SGA.
Way to go NBA. Way to go Adam Silver. You are a disgrace. This is on you.