Bias or just something completely stupid?

How do you explain this: Nash attempts only one field goal in second half and he's injured, unselfish and well-defended (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dailydime-060527). Lebron doesn't score enough in second half and he chokes (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=bayless/060522). Kobe attempts only three or so field goals in the second half and he's a quitter and a cancer. What the hell is this? A bad case of media bias against certain players? How is Nash distributing the ball different from Kobe trying to do the same thing? Why is Nash being excused from everything he does wrong? They play good D on him? He's to unselfish? He's hurt and tired? Bullshit. Why is he not accused of choking?

I don't always agree with Bill Simmons, but he wrote something good on this subject:

I hate to keep harping on Steve Nash's faults because he's such an extraordinary offensive player to watch, and he was spectacular in back-to-back Game 7s ... but when you play 35 minutes a game during the season, followed by a seven-game series against the Lakers in which you didn't have to play any defense at all, followed by a couple of tough games against the Clips, I don't want to hear how tired you are. Especially if you're a two-time MVP. The fact remains, Nash played only two good games in that series -- Games 1 and 7 -- and the Suns still won the series. If Nowitzki goes 2-for-7 against the Spurs, Dallas is going home right now. So who's more valuable? You tell me.

Agree completely, but I think media bias has been around for like a hundred years. Everyone wants to make excuses for the good guy, and Kobe (rapist) and LeBron (overhyped) aren't quite Steve Nash (long hair, MVP, fun to watch) in that department.

No I'm not saying Kobe is a rapist. If you have to ask this I suggest you shoot yourself afterwards

Yeah I gotta agree here too. But don't call me a Nash Hater.

Nash didn't choke because scoring isn't required from him like it is from Lebron and Kobe. Sure they usually do better if he has a huge scoring game, but his abilitiy to set his teammates up is what got him the MVP two seasons in a row, not his shooting.

He single handedly won last night's game. I don't hear you talking much about that... wonder why.

Nash didn't choke because scoring isn't required from him like it is from Lebron and Kobe. Sure they usually do better if he has a huge scoring game, but his abilitiy to set his teammates up is what got him the MVP two seasons in a row, not his shooting.

He single handedly won last night's game. I don't hear you talking much about that... wonder why.

I have to completely disagree with you. How exactly is scoring not required from a guy who is second leading scorer on his team with 19 ppg, shooting over 50% from the field and 44% from the free throw line? Your telling me that their coach would be much happier if he forgot about his scoring and just concentrated on getting assists? His ability to set up teammates isnt the only thing that won his MVP, there are so many guys out there who are good at setting up guys for buckets for it to be so simple. Take away his ability to score and he is nothing, so many of his assists come from the threat of his 3pt shot and him driving. Phoenix needs his scoring for them to win games, he cant just disappear.

BTW what game did Nash win because I see that they lost.

It's debatable. Yeah, if Nowitzki isn't playing well they'll probably go home, but if Josh Howard doesn't perform well they're bound to go home as well. BUT, saying Nash only played two good games in that series isn't true. He still was always on the floor to push tempo and distribute the ball. That's something no one else on that team has the ability to do.

44% from the free throw line?

It's a typo, but I just had to point that out.

I think Axel also made a typo and meant to say that they won the first game.

nash is gay plain and simple kobe or lebron should have gotten mvp nash is good but because people keep saying oh he is so good he has an excuse to play bad.

nash is gay plain and simple

LMAO, I didn't knew that

On-topic: I can't believe this. Media bias took it to another level

It isn't over the top media bias here. Nash should've been more agressive, but at the same time his strength is setting up his teammates. In that last game he just needed to mix it up more.

I don't even think there's much of a correlation between the Kobe and LeBron situations. Kobe just stopped shooting, LeBron got shut down by one of the best defences there was been in the league.

I have to agree here, and the point that Nash is more fun to watch isnt a good one, while Phoenix is fun to watch (i thought they were more fun to watch last year with Amare and Q-rich), Kobe and LeBron are human hilight films that are incredible to watch because of what they are able to do on the court.

the situations are different imo. kobe simply dissapeared in the second half. he wasn't doing anything, I hardly remembered he was on the court. lebron on the other hand was shut down by detroit's defense (and his jumpshot)... he didn't force it, but he still quite obviously tried. as for nash, i didn't watch the dallas game, but i'm sure it was something akin to they were doubling him hard off the screens so he just passed off... that and sticking to their men when he did drive in.

funny how you are all screaming "oh god the media is bias!".... after reading an article.

Nash wasn't slammed because he was never proclaimed as the Basketball Jesus like Kobe & LeBron were/are (and quite honestly, i didn't read any negative LeBron articles at all, all of them were amazed he could take Cavs to game 7 and score as well as he did against Pistons defense...they were all complimentary).

I never read any "Is Steve Nash Better than Wilt Chamberlain?" threads.

A LOT of people jumped on the Kobe bandwagon when he broke 80, where's that shooting display in the playoffs, where real basketball is played?

Kobe, as scoring champion & because of that record breaking game, has very high expectations set for him.

Nash was predicted to falter and have all his stats dwindle because he didn't have Dirk or Amare anymore. He exceeded all critics and predictions.

It is a bit of a double standard but given the expectations of Kobe and LeBron as explosive scorers (not to mention where most people rank them amongst the top players in the league right now) it's understandable.

It works both ways though. If a player like LeBron, Kobe or Wade racks up 6 or 7 turnovers, it receives attention but isn't necessarily a huge knock on them because you want the ball in their hands and when a player has the ball in their hands a lot they are probably going to pick up a few turnovers. Obviously the same logic should apply to point guards seeing as though they handle the ball a lot but if Nash was to rack up 6 or more turnovers it would be seen as a much worse offense. But again that comes down to different expectations.

I agree with Andrew on this one....whilst I didn't see any of the games in question, I can't really give a proper analysis of the games, Kobe & Lebron are seen as scorers so for them to only attempt a couple of shots in a half, they're going to hear it....whereas Nash is a pass-first PG whose role is to get everyone else going first....Nash showed displeasure after the game to himself because he didn't look for his own shot enough....

all this being said, I've never bagged any of these players for these respective games as I didn't see them & I wasn't privy to each team's respective gameplans....

Yes there is a double standard. I'd leave the job of defending lebron to any cavs fan out there. Now, let me defend Kobe.

Kobe scored 23 points in the first half in game 7 versus phoenix. At the end of the half, can anyone amuse me and point out who was leading? The suns.

Yep, that's right. Despite kobe's 23 first half points, the suns were still leading and were in total control of the game.

Halftime break: Phil and Kobe chat it up. Kobe agrees with Phil that he needs his teammates to trim the phonix lead to single digits.

Kobe runs the tri, returns to his role as initiator ala 1999-2003. Looks for his teammates, teammates cant hit a single wide open shot. Game over for the lakers.

How again did he quit? Kobe's 23 first half points was not enough to even make the suns shiver? What makes anyone think that doing the same in the 2nd half will magically cause the suns to slow down. Phil knew better. Kobe knew better.

as Kobe said many times, he held back and created opportunities because in the past thats what had worked. They'd done that exact thing against the suns before and comeback from deficits, he felt that if he held steady and kept it up it would eventually work, like it had before, but it didnt this time.

i thought this thread was going to be about len bias and his stupid drugs

Very good article. Hits the mark right on. Time to lay off those two, they both carried a huge load for their respective teams during the playoffs. Steve Nash played well in the Lakers series but struggled against the Clips except games 1 and 7.

I admit that I don't like Kobe that much, but come on... If the guy just refuses to shoot the Lakers are going nowhere... They wouldn't be in the play-offs if Kobe shot 3 shots in 2 quarters...

The initiatior role isn't just giving up the ball... It's about getting guys going... He has to lead the pack and show them the way and distribute it from there...

You just can't just turn your game around 180 degrees at the half and expect the guys who weren't hitting nothing in the first half to magically start producing points like crazy even if the only guy who was hitting some shots would be giving up the ball! Who the hell does come up with that... Kobe needs to score for the Lakers team to go anywhere... Odom, Kwame, Luke, Smush etc. are complimentary players that can't always get it done so Kobe and Phil dropped the ball whey they trusted that these guys would get it done.

And it the game advertised that it was a good thing to get the rest going, I bet you Kobe shot more than three shots in the last couple of quarters! I bet he shots at least like 10 shots or something in the second half in every other game...

Kobe dropped the ball... So did Phil...

On what comes to the hype of LeBron and Nash... Nash is a sympathetic guy who we can all relate to... He is a guy who is always fun to watch and gets his team mates involved everytime... And doesn't make a big deal about how he gave over the ball so much to his team mates... Nash is just incredible... He trusts his team mates as he knows they can get it done... And that just maybe is the difference here between Kobe and Nash... Kobe is like "okay, I have to distribute the ball to get my team mates going so I'll have to stop shooting so I'll play it like that" where Nash and LeBron see it more of a natural state of the game... LeBron and Nash know they cannot win without their team mates and Kobe thinks he can... LeBron is young... His game is still coming and he will be shooting better next year and that's a guarrantee...

Nash is the MVP and he deserves the credit fully... Phoenix were ranked as contenders for the #1 draft pick before the season began with Amare hurt... They weren't supposed to win. Nash picked up the slack and did some awesome damage even wihtout his pick-and-roll partner. He made a bunch of nobodys into a team that made you forget that they had lost three great players over the summer...