You remember the moment you gained an appreciation for a player?

[Kblaze8855]

We all know all these guys are good. The people we actually devote conversation to are pretty much always great. But for whatever reason all of us have had players who were great but we didn’t quite....**** with yet. Not that you deny they are good you just aren’t really behind it. You don’t buy all the way in. I’ve had several and I remember the very moment I went from mere acknowledgment of talent to actually liking a player. The first that came to mind?




https://youtu.be/Eot8wGjSz3g




I just hate I don’t have the full clip right now. Harrington shoved a guy out of the way so he could personally take Paul and got in about the lowest defensive stance someone 6’10” has ever been in. I’m not sure anyone has ever wanted a single insignificant stop more than Al wanted that one. That shot meant nothing. But he wanted that stop like the antidote.

I distinctly remember watching it and a feeling of recognition came over me. A “Ok....I see you....I get it. Paul Pierce is is fact the truth” kinda thing.

That shot didn’t actually...matter...but I still remember the entire sequence like it was yesterday and I didn’t give a shit which of those teams won.

You have any “No more questions. This guy is for real” moments?

[Mask the Embiid]

Al harrington talking big **** after ron artest bottled paul pierce up for 3 quarters...guards him for one play and splash. Pierce probably got going after that shot too :oldlol:


good ole delusional al.If i was Paul i would of told him to take that fake lockdown defense shit back to the parks in newark

https://media.tenor.com/images/4ebf022af3f110de48bcab7c642b08c1/tenor.gif

[Kblaze8855]

My Kobe one is weird because it was also a play that didn’t matter. Again....he was already obviously great as all these guys are at these moments. He already had a ring and big playoff moments. But I remember watching this with a bunch of friends and the sound everyone made at the play at 45 seconds:




https://youtu.be/pDC0tUJQuyc




That shot over Mutombo. And the replay made it even better. Mutombo coming at it hard and Kobe drilled it for the back, to back, to back late basket. That’s a shot where you just make a noise not words. I’d say it was something like a guttural scoff. The sound of “There’s nothing you can do about that”.

Again....shot meant nothing. But I remember thinking for probably the first time “This ***** nice.”. Not just good. “Nice” is different. It’s filthy. Putrid. You turn your nose up at it. Everyone has a few of those plays. Even us. Who hasn’t made an absurd floater or fade-away you didn’t deserve?

But you can tell the guys who make it off pure skill. Preparation. Where you can tell that they would probably make it 2-3 more times if they had to and yours was a fluke. I think that was my “This is not a fluke” Kobe moment where I just “got it” for lack of a better way to put it.

[tpols]

i know pierce is quick, but he really shouldve took a swipe at that ball. he was basically taunting him dribbling like that with no protection.

[Kblaze8855]

This one I don’t remember seeing live. I may have but if so I can’t remember it. I do remember seeing it on sports center and thinking “Ok...we can talk about him being next up” meaning next in the Doctor J and Jordan line.


The total ISO....time winding down....you never see this happen for the win:




https://youtu.be/I6FRrpDJW34


Thats the play VC turned to someone I felt a need to follow and not just check out highlights of. The wild 9 3 game vs Philly in the playoffs too but I was already pretty much in at that point. He did provide another moment of clarity that game though. That ball he tipped into the air and went to get it and bury the 3? I just knew he was gonna be somebody. And he was. He’s going to the hall of fame. But he never became what I wanted him to be at those moments.

[Kblaze8855]

This here.... the 8th 3 with the tap to himself:



https://youtu.be/78TDlsb3dTk




Thats his Jordan shrug moment. He had a disgusting hop step layup that looked like a glitch in the matrix that game too I think. Peak shooting/athletic VC was impossible not to **** with.

[Reggie43]

I remember a play in the Finals wherein Shandon Anderson I think was going for a dunk and Pippen I think was at the side providing help defense. Instead of slapping at the ball that would have caused a foul Pippen gently tapped the ball at the top for the clean block. Thought that was one of the smartest defensive plays I have ever seen at the time.

Going from memory so im not sure how accurate this is.

[Boki4MVP]

Nachbar vs Malone

[sdot_thadon]

For me it was Tmac we got him from Orlando and I knew he was a beast already but I didn't view him as a peer to Kobe at that point. I wouldn't even tolerate the conversation. He had the 13 points in 33 sec and from that point I was convinced he was that level until injuries took their toll on his game.


https://youtu.be/CxLyxqY3VUc

[iamgine]

I thought Steve Nash robbed MVPs from guys and then I really watched him play. Holy sh!t how he obliterates defenses like I've never seen.

[sdot_thadon]

Another one for me was Klay Thompson. 2016 Wcf, game 6. I knew he was a good player, he had already been all nba I believe and I couldn't stand him and his Shermar Moore with a J swag :oldlol: After he saved their season in such a big game he became the player I feared most on the Warriors in a big game. He proved it further in the seasons that followed, which is insane considering he's got Steph f'n Curry as a teammate......

[PeroAntic]

CP3 when he scored an impossible shot in the clutch against the Spurs in the playoff series. He was hobbling but still got the win on pure willpower. I still think he is a bitch but he got in my neutral book on that day, didnt hate him since then.

oh and Kyrie when he left Lebron

[j3lademaster]

I was like 15 when Lebron came to town. He poked the ball free from Leandro Barbosa Maybe 3 feet behind the top of the arc. Barbosa had a solid 7-10 foot head start chasing the ball down going towards the opposite end of the court and Lebron somehow beats him to it and takes off for a dunk almost immediately picking the ball up. Barbosa then... jumps after that for some reason? Poster.

This was around 2005 I can’t find any clips of that moment sadly. My dad got really good tickets to that game from his work too so I got the full magnitude of that athleticism.

[SouBeachTalents]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGv_Na2asCc

Wade had been playing great in the playoffs up till this point, but the Heat had blitzed through their first two opponents, not even dropping a game. But after a dreadful Game 1, and on the verge of dropping both home games to start the series, Wade lights up the Pistons for 40, and during a tense final quarter which could've all but ended their season, Wade scores 20 in the 4th, nearly singlehandedly outscoring the Pistons by himself

Wade was obviously on pace to be a great player by that point, but that performance, legitimately willing his team past a legendary defense like that and saving the season, that was the first time I really considered that he could be a truly legendary player, and it was a foreshadowing of what was to come the following year

[tpols]

2011 chris paul looked like a god in the playoffs.

at some points hornets looked like they might beat the lakers, he was taking turns putting every defender in a dribble blender :lol

[baudkarma]

Not exactly a moment, but an entire game. Jordans 55 pts vs the Knicks on 3/28/95. It was Jordans fifth game back after two seasons of baseball, and he scored 55 in New York against the Knicks team that had the #1 defense that season. I knew Jordan was great before that game, but afterwards I was ready to concede that he was the GOAT.

[Axe]

2011 chris paul looked like a god in the playoffs.

at some points hornets looked like they might beat the lakers, he was taking turns putting every defender in a dribble blender :lol
Really, you think so? :lol

[tpols]

Really, you think so? :lol

i mean i saw it with my own eyes but looking it up he averaged 22/12/7 on 55% shooting and 47% from 3, and more steals than any player.

that's pretty damn dominant.

[light]

I remember the exact moment I gained appreciation for Raja Bell.

https://i.makeagif.com/media/12-02-2015/vNDoAt.gif

[Axe]

i mean i saw it with my own eyes but looking it up he averaged 22/12/7 on 55% shooting and 47% from 3, and more steals than any player.

that's pretty damn dominant.
But that's godlike already? Lmao

[ralph_i_el]

Al harrington talking big **** after ron artest bottled paul pierce up for 3 quarters...guards him for one play and splash. Pierce probably got going after that shot too :oldlol:


good ole delusional al.If i was Paul i would of told him to take that fake lockdown defense shit back to the parks in newark

https://media.tenor.com/images/4ebf022af3f110de48bcab7c642b08c1/tenor.gif

That's probably exactly what Pierce was telling him lol.