The NBA - Where Faking A Dramatic Injury Happens

The recent Paul Pierce game 1 debacle has made me realize one (of many) great big flaws with today's basketball media analysts and "experts": The Sports-Movie-Comeback Comparison.

Since Willis Reed did it in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals, numerous basketball injury "comebacks" have been labeled "Willis Reed-esque". Notwithstanding the fact that a large percentage of today's fans don't even know WHO Willis Reed is, this comparison needs to go. I hate the fact that the media automatically has to compare an event that just happened, to an event that happened 38 years ago, DESPITE the fact that the present event does not even have REMOTELY the same significance or influence that the original event did. I know that sounded confusing, but I'm sure most of you know what I mean.

What Paul Pierce did was not heroic. If you really are injured, you come back and you limp or show signs of your injury. When Steve Nash had a gash on his nose against the Spurs in 2007, you knew he actually injured his nose because he was profusely bleeding from that location. If you suffer a severe injury, you don't play the rest of the game in the same state you were in before the "injury" happened. Even if you do play fine the rest of the game, it is revealed AFTER the game that you did indeed injure something, hence you were heroic in playing with an injury.

The only known example that I have heard (not seen) of successfully completing the Sports Movie Comeback is by Kareem Abdul Jabber in Game 5 of the 1980 NBA Finals wherein he injured his ankle, but still managed to finish off the game and inspire the Lakers to a 3-2 lead against the Sixers. This, of course, was the injury that set up Magic Johnson playing all 5 positions in Game 6 and winning the Finals MVP as a rookie. Nevertheless, THAT is a heroic performance. Jabbar was a heroic performer considering the circumstances of his injury being one that was season-ending (even though there were only two more games left at the maximum of the NBA Finals). Oh yeah, and did I mention that he didn't need to be CARRIED OFF the court by two of his teammates despite severely injuring his ankle?

Paul Pierce came across as being softer than a European soccer player with that debacle he pulled, and this is the same guy that was throwing up Piru Blood gang signs?? All I have to say is that had Kobe Bryant pulled off such a thing, he would be showered with so much hate from the media and observers alike that we would STILL be hearing about it even after the series was over. I hate double standards, and I hate people faking an injury even more. If you hear a "knee-pop" and have to be CARRIED OFF the court, only to return 2 minutes later and start draining threes, you weren't injured in the first place. Anyone who thinks he DIDN'T fake it is either Bill Simmons (aka a Celtic homer) or basically has never played a pick-up game in their life. I've heard my ankle "pop" a billion times while playing basketball, and not once have I actually injured it. If you can walk or you can shake it off, you can play. Paul Pierce obviously can only play with the help of the Rocky theme to inspire him. What a load of bullshit.

No, my friends, that is not a player who just suffered a torn ACL, nor is it a player who severely sprained an ankle. Rather, it's Paul Pierce, the player who heard his "knee-pop", only to come back two minutes later and managed to (impossibly) play through the pain of a "popped" knee. The NBA - Where Faking A Dramatic Injury Happens.