meh fuck that guy. Good thing I didnt tune in. I saw it coming down the pipe on their list but was to busy at the gym to plug in.
Tony Kornheiser: Let’s go backwards now to the most exciting single play of the weekend. Damian Lillard’s buzzer-beater in Game 6 to send your over-hyped Houston Rockets home. Michael Wilbon: My Rockets? Kornheiser: Chandler Parsons had just hit what seemed to be the game-winner but Lillard came back with .9 seconds to win. Wilbon, is Damian Lillard now a national star? Wilbon: Not quite, not quite. A game can do that, a shot can do that. We saw that at a different level with Austin Rivers. Austin Rivers people probably knew more than Damian Lillard because he’s the son of a famous coach. Kornheiser: That was a college game but that was the number one college game of the year. Wilbon: But that makes you a star, right? Kornheiser: That’s right. Right. Wilbon: This shot, which is being called — and you and I have been to Portland, we’ve seen great Portland teams and games in Portland — it is being called the biggest shot, the most important shot, in the history of that franchise. Not yet, Tony. Kornheiser: That’s ridiculous. Wilbon: I’m telling you what it’s being called in Portland. Kornheiser: That’s ridiculous! Because they won a championship with Bill Walton. Wilbon: But maybe there was no one shot associated with that team. Kornheiser: I can’t listen. Wilbon: I know that’s one of your favorite teams. But hold on for a second. Lillard can get to stardom from where he is now. Bill Walton has been a star in Portland. Clyde Drexler, lesser star, but a star. You can be a star in Portland. If Kevin Durant can be a star in OKC, Portland is a bigger place than Oklahoma City. Kornheiser: Damian Lillard is not now a star for two specific reasons. One, he went to Weber State, which is not Duke and not Kansas, not Texas if you want to mention Durant. He doesn’t come into the league with anything. Wilbon: He had no hype coming in. Kornheiser: And now he’s in Portland, which is an outpost. And they play their games at 11 o’clock at night Eastern. Now, you go down the coast, the Lakers have stars and the Clippers have stars, but in Portland, not a place with a lot of stars in the background other than Bill Walton, it’s harder. Wilbon: It’s harder. Kornheiser: Adidas has just given him about a trillion dollars. Wilbon: Adidas, like Nike, they’re right there. Kornheiser: And maybe because they’re afraid that Derrick Rose is never really going to play again, so they got somebody with the same color scheme and they want to make him into a star. But for Damian Lillard, now in Portland, to be a national star, they’ve got to get to the Finals. Got to get to the Finals. Wilbon: But if they beat the Spurs … Kornheiser: LaMarcus Aldridge is better known than Damian Lillard! Wilbon: You would think he’d be higher up the totem pole. Kornheiser: And he’s (Aldridge) not a star. He’s not a star! Wilbon: But there’s something about Lillard. The commercial, by the way, is very good, you admit, right? Kornheiser: Yes! Wilbon: They got THOSE people to be in that commercial. Pretty impressive. Kornheiser: Yes, but he’s not, no, not yet, not a star yet. Wilbon: Population theory or just northeast bias? Kornheiser: No, no, no. Outpost! Do you think it’s northeast bias when I say that the Lakers and the Clippers have stars? Wilbon: It was hard for you. The Lakers … Kornheiser: The Clippers have stars. Wilbon: You’re like all the other northeast writer, just annex the Lakers in like they’re yours. Kornheiser: Yeah, pretty much. Wilbon: Because you see some east coast people sitting on the front row. Kornheiser: I tell you what, go to Portland, live. Wilbon: Portland is a beautiful place. Kornheiser: Yeah, except when it rains 300 days a year. I love you Portland! Love you!
With complete objectivity, Lillard's shot beats it by a mile. Even a Houston fan can see that. Lillard was smart enough to pick up on the Rockets miscommunication, sneakily left Parsons in the dust, and then swished a beautiful leaning three-pointer with .9 seconds left, which is super-difficult even if he was mostly open. Considering how sloppy the Raptors/Nets play was, anybody could've blocked that Kyle Lowry attempt. Good instincts from Paul Pierce, but it wasn't marvel defense, by any stretch. I love defense as much as the next guy, but in terms of what's more impressive, dramatic, and jaw-dropping at the last second... Home run > Strikeout TD Pass > Interception 3-Pointer > Block (Generally speaking)
It's definitely close Pierce's came in a game 7. Lowry makes that shot the Nets are "gone fishin" Huge defensive play by Pierce. No one should seriously be upset if someone picks one or the other.
Tony Kornheiser doesn't even stay up to watch West Coast games..they talk about it on the show all the time. He's a fucking joke. Remember when they tried to put him on MNF? Fail.
Exactly It's one thing to throw the GW TD pass It's another to break up what looks like the GW TD pass That Sherman tip will go down in NFL history and will be played for decades. Lol at Kaepernick
Only if it's a particularly impressive defensive play. Consider how many potentially game-winning hail-mary passes have been intercepted; how many of them do you see replayed? Sherman's was special, as was Dame's 3. Pierce's game-ending block--not so much.
This is fair. Everything depends on situation. If Pierce had 1 on 1'd Lowry and denied him at the rim it would've been a lot more impressive/remembered than it was.
I don't think it's close. Even though Lillard's shot wasn't a game 7, it was an elimination game for the Rockets that could've easily led to a total collapse on Portland's end if we lost. There is a level of difficulty for both plays. Lillard's shot ranks much higher in level of difficulty (just go try it at your local gym). Pierce basically took advantage of Lowry's clumsy ball-handling by just lifting up his hand at the right time. Seriously, the Lowry layup was a TERRIBLE shot selection. Pierce basically doesn't have to jump to block it.
MAJOR PET PEEVE HERE: The LAKERS play at "11PM Eastern Time" too! So does no one watch Lakers games out East?? Same with the Clippers! They play at the same time we do! It's like when Stephen A Smith said it was bad for the league that Port and Seatt got the top 2 picks because it meant no one would get to see them because the games were so late. So does no one watch Lakers and Clippers games either? Grr makes me mad because it makes no sense. We play in same time zone as beloved LA teams!!!!
The original post was which was the bigger play, not more impressive play I feel like blocking a shot close at the rim to win the game is just as big as making the game winning 3 The Nets almost blew that game 7 with less than a minute to play The Blazers almost blew a 3-1 lead Both are huge plays
I'm glad Dame heard this though. More motivation to go further in playoffs. He doesn't need motivation like this but it adds fuel to the fire. The good news is that we have the national media talking about us. Doesn't matter what they say. We got their attention and they're talking.
On top of that, don't most of their games start at 7:30 instead of 7? Seems like whenever we play Lakers or Clips in Staples it is always later than 7. So their games are actually LATER than ours.
I hate when people complain about the rain here. As a native (who has family all over the US and has been to many places) the facts just don't support this silliness. Portland receives less annual rainfall than most cities on the East Coast, however rain often falls as a light drizzle for several consecutive days at a time, contributing to the high number (155) of days with measurable (≥0.01 in or 0.25 mm) precipitation annually. 155 is a far cry from 300 KornHolio!
I completely agree. This is what I think about every time I hear this argument. It holds no water, but no one ever calls them on it for fear of corporate backlash.
What was with all of the views/guests on this thread btw? Did someone important tweet this out, or does Denny need to pay me to be the site hype man?
