Many NBA players are up in arms and showing their displeasure for late game meaningless buckets in games that are already decided.
First it was Washington guard, Brandon Jennings who took exception to JaVale McGee taking a late three by shoving the Warriors’ big man in a 139-115 blowout win for Golden State. A similar occurrence happened Tuesday night when a handful of Toronto Raptors lost their cool after Lance Stephenson strolled to the rim for one of the easiest baskets you will ever see in a 108-90 win for the Pacers.
DeMar DeRozan and P.J. Tucker went after Stephenson and received technical fouls in the process.
Tucker didn’t mince words talking about the late lay-up repeatedly calling it both tasteless and classless.
Stephenson’s take on the subject was a little different. He apologized, saying “I didn’t mean no harm,” before explaining why he did what he did. “The crowd was chanting me on, and I just wanted to do it for the fans.”
Finally, someone thinking about the fans. After all, they are the ones who paid ridiculous amounts of money to come and watch you play the game. Who cares that a guy got a meaningless bucket or took an unnecessary three at the end of a blowout game? I sure don’t!
If players have a problem with it, there is a simple solution – play until the horn goes off. The game lasts for 48 minutes, so feel free to play the whole time, and not just until the game is decided. And spare me all the talk about unwritten rules and playing the game the right way. That all got thrown out the window years ago when refs stopped calling travels and guys started stacking teams to go title hunting.
If you want to be respected on the floor, then do us all a favor and play until the whistle blows. That is what we paid to see, and what you are paid to do.
