Huffington Post: LeBron Makes Nicolas Batum Fall Down With Amazing Crossover

Well at least he didn't end up with a Napoleonic complex! I don't know what we would have done with a 4' tall french small forward!

 

ESPN makes no pretense of selecting their programming (which includes cutting together highlight films for SportsCenter) to appeal to the greatest number of people possible. They're not looking for "objective reporting," they want the largest audience and will program for that. That's why they show so many Yankees and Red Sox games...because they believe those teams generate the best ratings. In a Portland-Miami game, more people want to see James and Wade highlights rather than Aldridge or Miller highlights. So that's what ESPN is going to show. I read one of their ombudsmen make this point (confusingly in an attempt to argue against ESPN being biased).

So you just have to accept that that's ESPN's mission statement. They're a company and they're aiming for greatest audience and therefore greatest profitability. Not most objective sports reporting.

 

It's always nice to see a self-avowed socialist recognize the realities of the free market.

Welcome to the dark side, Minstrel.

 

Batum seems to flop when actually, he guards people so closely that he loses his balance. James made a sudden stop to throw off Batum, Batum tried to duplicate the sudden stop and stay in front of James, and Batum lost his balance. James didn't push him off in anger--he softly pushed him away to create space to shoot.

I see something similar was said earlier.

 

I'd say he's a versatile defender in who he can guard, but an average one in terms of actual defending.

 

I've never had a problem with businesses trying to maximize profits. I simply think that government's role is to define the boundaries that companies can go to in that pursuit. I believe in both capitalism and socialism, and every democratic nation is a mixture of both. The debate always has been, and always should be, how much of each should be in the mix.

And I don't think Batum flopped. I think when you play defense that tight on a guy, you run the risk of occasionally overcommitting and looking silly. It's an occupational hazard of good defense. Ewing was a great defender and endured endless mocking for his famous "posterization" moments...because he actually challenged dunks whereas many lesser defenders conceded them.

 

Excuse me?! I believe your narrowed minded thought process is all wrong sir. You are forgetting a very important French reflex, which is to then spread their legs.

 

I think Batum was anticipating LeBron driving to the hoop and had all his momentum that way. When LeBron stopped, Batum couldn't. I don't view that as a flop.

 

It's hard to tell, but with Batum's latest "highlights", flop is what came to mind for me. Not that it's a big deal, I just hope he keeps the flopping to a minimum.

 

I like the Huffington Post for a light sampling of what's going on nationally, but their sports section is all about little highlights picked off of YouTube for entertainment value. Whoever wrote that article probably never even saw the full highlights of that game. Clips like these are fun when they have another team's players, but they're really stupid.

 

Regarding economic opinions - I think I should always make the most money of everyone. Just my opinion.

Regarding Nic flopping - when I saw the video it looked like he was anticipating LeBron driving on him and started to run backwards and then tried to recover when he realized he was going to shoot. It almost looks like he tripped on the heal of his own shoe and fell with a lot of backward momentum... that's why he slid so far. The slide doesn't look like a fake flop to me at all. Usually the floppers fall right straight down on the ground so they don't hurt themselves (this is why Vlade was able to do this successfully as a chain smoking 70 year old center without fear of arthritis). If he really did intend to flop someone needs to pull him aside and tell him he doesn't need to be so enthusiastic about it... he's going to break his arse if he keeps doing that.

 

I think that economic theory is called onanism.

 

No it's called Spudonanism because I don't think anyone deserves onanism besides me. Or maybe that's called a Spudictatorship.

 

What's wrong with us right here? Did we hurt your feelings?

 

What's wrong with all of us uninformed newbs right here?

(If you have to explain it, don't bother...)

 

I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult. I'm leaning toward insult but I'm not 100% on that. The one thing I am 100% on is that if I was smarter I'd be able to figure it out.