Thierry Henry on the VAR check involving Lionel Messi:
🗣️ “I’ve seen a lot of people saying that should have been a red card, but for me, intent is very important when you analyse these situations properly.”
“When you watch it again, you can clearly see that Lionel Messi is focused on the ball and trying to make a football action, not trying to hurt anyone.”
“Yes, there is contact. Yes, it looks awkward. But not every collision is a red card.”
“That’s exactly why VAR exists — to slow everything down and determine whether there was any malicious intent or serious foul play.”
“The officials looked at it carefully and in the end didn't even believe it was worth a yellow card.”
“People are reacting because it’s Messi. If it was another player, I don't think there would be nearly as much controversy.”
“For me, it was accidental, unfortunate, and nothing more than that.”
“Football is a contact sport, and sometimes incidents look far worse in real time than they actually are.”
Becky Hammond’s point about small guards is still correct, OG Anunoby was their best player on both ends in the finals. Brunson just happened to score 40 in game 5 to skew the narrative but anyone who watched knows that OG was the game changer for them. Period.
Green still sounds like a bully & a punk for this foolishness. Mad how people will swear the dynasty swung on him being present but quiet when discussing how his stupidity affected how much more successful the Dubs could have been.
Draymond Green reflects on punching Jordan Poole: "For five seconds, I forgot where I was"
“I've had a bunch of situations like that growing up. Sometimes I was the guy who get hit, sometimes I wasn't. Regardless, we move on. That's how I've always approached it”
“So when that situation happened, I'm like, all right, cool. We move on. And then when we couldn't, I was like, huh?”
“For a while, it made me think, man, this dude nothing like me. Because when those things happen, you just move on”
“But it taught me so much. It taught me, you're right, he may not be like you. He ain't from where you from. The things you went through, the way you had to come up, he may not have came up like that”
“For that five seconds, I forgot where I was at because I immediately went to what I know. But what you know don't really work here”
“Everybody says, ‘Oh man, but you was 10 years in. You should know better.’ Still learning nine years in”
“It's lessons like that that ultimately make me who I am to this day because, man, I fucked that up”
If he wants to speak on himself for scoring & assisting, then have at it. But stop diminishing Steph to chat 💩, especially when in playoffs Steph avg 6.1 apg and Jalen 5.5 apg for their career to date.
“[Steph] Curry did it at 6’3 shooting [Jalen] Brunson and I [Isiah Thomas] did it scoring and assisting… Curry was more of a scorer.”
-Isiah Thomas 😳
(via @RunItBackFDTV)
Charles Barkley on this comment:
"I got a couple of NBA coaches call me and I want to be crystal clear: when I said it was really dumb basketball the other night, I was talking about the players. I wasn't talking about coach Johnson. I don't want to be criticizing young black coaches because we need more young black coaches in the NBA...if coach Johnson took my comments personally I want to apologize to him"
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 53 YEARS, THE KNICKS ARE NBA CHAMPIONS 🏆
New York defeats San Antonio 4-1 in the NBA Finals, capturing their third championship in franchise history!
SHA'CARRI RICHARDSON'S COLLEGIATE RECORD HAS BEEN SHATTERED!!! 🤯
Georgia's Adaejah Hodge runs a 10.63 in the women's 100m, setting a new NCAA record and running the fifth-fastest time in world history.
The commissioner himself basically gave refs a clear run to let SGA do his pushing off & foul baiting... so these numbers mean very little to us.
We've watched the games too.
Sam Presti just fired back at SGA critics with some eye-opening numbers:
He drew 415 fouls this season.
Only 11 were challenged.
Only 4 were overturned.
(Via @BrandonRahbar )