Saturday, February 9, 2013

NBA Trash Talk: 'Bad Person' of the Week; 1st Edition

Known in the NBA for being a punk, Stiemsma had this coming for a while now.
Who's deserving of the ADEDS NBA Trash Talk 'Bad Person' of the Week?  Is it Matt Barnes for taking out his tough guy aggressions on obviously the most threatening big man in the NBA, Minnesota Timberwolves F/C Greg 'The Steamer' Stiemsma?  Is it Metta World Peace for once again disturbing the peace with his QB-manhug and chin inspection of Detroit Pistons G Brandon Knight?  Maybe DeMarcus Cousins being T'd up for the 732nd time this season on his way to being ejected for arguing a call while both teams were walking towards the lockerooms for halftime?  I got it; it has to be Kobe Bryant for calling out Dwight Howard for missing games while nursing a torn labrum, very unsurreptitiously telling 'Superman' that AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!  All of those people, make no mistake, are very bad people, and they should feel bad, but they do not win the ADEDS NBA Trash Talk 'Bad Person' of the Week award.  That honor goes to former NBA point guard and current Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson.
You see, Jackson's Warriors were getting lit up from 3-point by the Rockets in Houston last week, to the tune of an NBA-record tying 23 makes from distance that contributed to a 140 spot on the scoreboard. Towards the end of the game, however, when Coach Mark caught wind of Houston being one 3 shy of setting the record, told his players to intentionally foul the Rockets so as to put them on the line and avoid getting the record set against them.  After the game, Jackson had this explanation to offer:

"We're not going to lie down," Jackson said. "I was an old-school basketball player. I'm an old-school coach. If you can't appreciate that, that's on you.
"If you're going to try to get the record, we're going to stop you. ... I would expect nothing less if I was on the other side."

Jackson signalling Draymond Green to injure a Rockets player.
Okay, I can't disagree with any of that. You can't 'lie down' against anybody. Gotta play hard to the end. And if guys are jacking up 3's trying to set the record on you, especially when you're already down by 30, you just can't let that happen.  But the way you stop them from getting that record is by playing hard defense throughout the ENTIRE GAME; not intentionally fouling at the end so that the other team has to shoot free throws.  That's not 'old-school basketball' Mark, that's bush league.  That's like if a guy is coming up to bat in a blowout with 4 homeruns already and then you intentionally walk him.  Can you imagine Chuck Daley ordering Bill Laimbeer or Dennis Rodman to intentionally foul at the end of a game to stop a team from setting a 3-point record?  No, you can't imagine it.  Why? Because those Detroit Pistons never would have let you sniff the record to begin with.  Because they played 'old-school basketball' the whole game.  Mark Jackson, you're a bad person for what you did, and you should feel bad.

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