If the NBA had a tournament-style contest for his or her model of America’s workforce, the Houston Rockets wouldn’t make it previous the primary spherical. There are fixed complaints by the nationwide media starting from Common Supervisor Daryl Morey’s analytical strategy, James Harden “dishonest the sport” and Mike D’Antoni’s offensive system, which all lead to unfavorable press for the Rockets.
At first blush, it looks like that is simply one other event through which the Houston Rockets‘ fanbase is pouting. Many basketball followers would have the take that every one high-profile groups obtain some degree of criticism and the Rockets aren’t the exception. The issue is there are various examples of how that is extra than simply Rocket followers seeing it by red-colored glasses. There are examples from nationally ran websites the place it’s virtually like they lather within the Rockets distress. Many of those examples embody preseason opinions which don’t James Harden on the frontrunner of the MVP predictions. On this article, we’ll focus on why the Rockets are public enemy primary within the eyes of the nationwide media.
The media’s disdain for the Rockets
The nationwide media needs to be relied upon to report information versus displaying a bias in opposition to a selected workforce or participant, which they’ve definitely performed to undermine the greatness of Harden. Over the previous few years we’ve seen many examples of what number of within the nationwide media take pleasure in watching the Rockets lose, particularly a nationally televised recreation. The newest instance of this was the Rockets’ loss to the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.
https://twitter.com/espn/standing/1209993939224334337?s=20
After all, this could possibly be seen as only a joke, however the situation right here is the truth that there may be little or no content material past the joke. The very fact of the matter is that the Rockets have already defeated the Golden State Warriors this season however you wouldn’t know that based mostly on this tweet. The Rockets may simply destroy the Warriors within the subsequent matchup and it most likely wouldn’t even make it on SportsCenter or any of the morning exhibits resembling First Take or Get Up.
ESPN is seen by thousands and thousands every day, together with a lot of which who solely depend on retailers such because the four-letter community and Bleacher Report for all of their basketball content material so this biased reporting prevents many from being completely conscious of what occurs within the NBA every day. Not solely that, when jokes are made such because the one following the Rockets’ loss to the Warriors, it creates a story which is solely based mostly on one recreation and completely disregards the end result of the primary recreation. Right here is one more instance of a false narrative being created out of skinny air.
There are a few issues with Jay Williams’ declare concerning mistrust between James Harden and Russell Westbrook. For starters, Harden needed to ensure that he pulled the second defender into his space. On prime of that, Harden does in truth cross to Russell Westbrook. This kind of two-minute clip makes it appear that there are points on the Rockets when in actuality there are none. Right here is yet one more instance of an pointless shot taken at Harden, though this time it comes from the NBA-on-TNT crew.
This was proven on Christmas Eve through which Ernie Johnson was compiling his record of vacation items for 5 choose groups on Christmas. Discover a key distinction because it pertains to the Rockets although, as practically each different workforce on this record has a optimistic remark or a joke of their favor. The Rockets have been the lone workforce to obtain slander, and this specific instance in opposition to Harden feeds into the narrative that Harden solely scores as a result of he shoots a whole lot of free throws. These are only a few examples simply from the final week because the Rockets appear to persistently be on the receiving finish of shade. At any given time, you could find Houston Rockets’ slander littered on the web, which is solely restricted to the Rockets’ franchise. It’s turn out to be the trending factor to do and it appears to turn out to be extra in style annually.
Inconsistency with MVP voting
With the entire media biases in opposition to the Rockets, it’s led to better issues, significantly regarding the MVP voting. For starters, it doesn’t assist that the MVP award is decided by the media, which nearly at all times means James Harden shall be slighted. Harden has been a runner-up on a number of events and the narrative appears to alter every time. In the course of the MVP voting following the 2014-15 season, Harden completed second to Stephen Curry and the most typical justification was that the Warriors had a greater total report than the Rockets.
In the event you quick ahead to the 2016-17 season, Russell Westbrook gained the MVP over Harden, and the reasoning was that Westbrook had the triple-double common since Oscar Robertson in 1966-67 regardless that the Houston Rockets had a greater report and Harden practically completed with a triple-double himself.
Harden’s workforce had the perfect report within the 2017-18 season, which pressured the media to vote for him, to not point out the truth that he additionally had unbelievable numbers as nicely.
In the course of the 2018-19 season, Harden narrowly missed out on the MVP award as a result of Giannis Antetokounmpo nabbing the award. The premise for Antetokounmpo profitable the MVP was just because Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks had the higher report, which discredited Harden’s historic season. Many individuals, together with Harden imagine that the narrative always modifications to make sure Harden doesn’t win the MVP. Harden mentioned this within the offseason on 97.9 The Field, which is Houston’s native hip-hop radio station.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkXrJaOBFcM?function=oembed
The cash quote is under:
“As soon as the media creates a story about any person from the start of the 12 months, I suppose they only take that narrative and run with it your entire 12 months…All I can do is management what I can do, and I went on the market and did what I used to be alleged to do at a excessive degree.”
The media’s fixed bashing of the Houston Rockets not solely impacts notion, but it surely additionally performs a component in who wins yearly awards as nicely.
When did the hatred begin?
The nationwide media’s disdain in direction of the Rockets goes all the way in which again to tape decks and VCR’s, no less than within the eyes of the Houston Rockets’ fanbase. In the course of the ’80s, the Rockets have been lucky sufficient to make it to the NBA Finals within the 1980-81 season along with the 1985-86 season, however many within the media thought the Rockets’ Finals appearances have been merely luck. As everyone knows, the Rockets gained two championships throughout the ’90s, however the generally accepted narrative is that the Rockets wouldn’t have these have been it not for Michael Jordan’s retirement. That is faulty as a result of Jordan truly performed throughout the 1994-95 season.
Now the media narratives are wide-ranging from Daryl Morey being a heartless common supervisor who treats gamers like pawns on a chessboard to how Harden runs different stars out-of-town. Perhaps it’s the fishbowl syndrome through which you might be restricted to solely seeing what’s in entrance of you however on this case there may be mounting proof that implies in any other case. Even the worst detective would be capable to put this case collectively.
