Skip Bayless: I think Haliburton was faking

[SkyHook]

IMO, we've got to stop giving these arsehole hater talking heads sunlight here. Skip, SAS, Shaq, the whole lot

[Zukkoyaki]

I will say, Skip has absolutely mastered the art of trolling.

[Nuntius]

There were a couple of posters in the Finals thread who also accused Haliburton of faking it so I'm not shocked that Skip would have that take as well. Trolls are trolls.

Yeh that was me but it's plausible to think he was, to justify a bad game. He wouldn't be the first... Following game, he was moving fine.

You were indeed one of the people I was talking about. You do deserve credit for owning up to it.

But, no, it wasn't plausible to think that he was faking the injury. Plausibility implies a degree of reasonability. Just because he wouldn't be the first to do it, it doesn't mean that it's reasonable to accuse someone of doing it if they weren't the ones who did it in the past. It's like accusing someone of breaking the law with no evidence whatsoever, just because others have done it in the past. It doesn't really reasonably track.

The team's actions after game 5 made your theory even more implausible, by the way. What did the Pacers' FO did after game 5? We traded away this year's 23rd pick to get back our own pick in next year's draft (that was controlled by the Pelicans). The fact that the FO immediately moved to regain next year's pick (that was 1-4 protected) is a pretty clear signal that they considered the injury to be rather serious. And they were right to fear that.

Finally, claiming that Haliburton was moving fine in game 6 is not entirely accurate either. There's a reason why he barely run any pick and rolls in that game 6. There's a reason why he played off ball as much as he did and why he was primarily used as a decoy. As a Bucks fan, you must understand why a prolific ball-handler acts like a decoy, right? It was exactly what Dame did before tearing his own Achilles. That usually only happens when you know you're limited and you're trying to help your team as much as you can while not putting yourself in a position to be hurt even more badly. Sadly, it didn't work out for either of them.

If you want me to be frank, I believe that your take was solely influenced by your dislike for Haliburton.

[ImmortalD24]

I don't think Skip had any malice in his comments. Get over it.

[Coach Carter]

There were a couple of posters in the Finals thread who also accused Haliburton of faking it so I'm not shocked that Skip would have that take as well. Trolls are trolls.

Yeh that was me but it's plausible to think he was, to justify a bad game. He wouldn't be the first... Following game, he was moving fine.

You were indeed one of the people I was talking about. You do deserve credit for owning up to it.

But, no, it wasn't plausible to think that he was faking the injury. Plausibility implies a degree of reasonability. Just because he wouldn't be the first to do it, it doesn't mean that it's reasonable to accuse someone of doing it if they weren't the ones who did it in the past. It's like accusing someone of breaking the law with no evidence whatsoever, just because others have done it in the past. It doesn't really reasonably track.

The team's actions after game 5 made your theory even more implausible, by the way. What did the Pacers' FO did after game 5? We traded away this year's 23rd pick to get back our own pick in next year's draft (that was controlled by the Pelicans). The fact that the FO immediately moved to regain next year's pick (that was 1-4 protected) is a pretty clear signal that they considered the injury to be rather serious. And they were right to fear that.

Finally, claiming that Haliburton was moving fine in game 6 is not entirely accurate either. There's a reason why he barely run any pick and rolls in that game 6. There's a reason why he played off ball as much as he did and why he was primarily used as a decoy. As a Bucks fan, you must understand why a prolific ball-handler acts like a decoy, right? It was exactly what Dame did before tearing his own Achilles. That usually only happens when you know you're limited and you're trying to help your team as much as you can while not putting yourself in a position to be hurt even more badly. Sadly, it didn't work out for either of them.

If you want me to be frank, I believe that your take was solely influenced by your dislike for Haliburton.

It's true if you don't like someone, it provides incentive but my thinking was actually centered around social media and how much these young people care about what gets written about them. Also not once did I factor how the coaches used him, until you brought it up. When it's not my team, I'm not as invested. From what I saw though, he didn't seem injured. Also I had no idea that you traded picks lol.

[pinoy4lyfe89]

I remember Reggie Miller saying KAT was faking an injury when he was clearly hurt

[lambchop]

This narrative only really works with LBJ, but Skip thinks he could create the same drama regarding other players too.