Remember when Jordan pushing off on Russell was a big deal?

[syrus3]

Miller did it during his infamous 8 points in however many seconds against the Knicks in ‘95

[magicman1978]

There’s a difference between a little subtle sneaky contact to clear space with the off arm and what Jordan did in Game 6. He literally shoved Russell as hard as he could and extended his arm all the way out flat. It was ridiculously blatant. That gets called at least 90% of the time in today’s game.

This is either sarcasm or an incredibly biased take

[LakerLegend]

Lebron bulldozers with shoulders while stiff arming and hooking

Yup.

[HEAT33]

Jordan hardly push him, Russell was falling and Russell trying to flop, Jordan had no force is in that

[TheGOATRises007]

There’s a difference between a little subtle sneaky contact to clear space with the off arm and what Jordan did in Game 6. He literally shoved Russell as hard as he could and extended his arm all the way out flat. It was ridiculously blatant. That gets called at least 90% of the time in today’s game.

The OTT bias is unreal.

"Shoved Russell as hard as he could"

[DoItALL9]

CP3 started using the chicken wing/push-off a bunch in the playoffs this year.
He's learned from Harden I guess and he's older now though so he needs every inch.

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[BR0D1E86]

Back in the ‘90s it was only Jordan who was allowed to get away with that. Now everyone does it.

Uh no. Reggie Miller got away with a even harder shove to MJ himself in the Eastern Conference Finals that year. No call at all and it cost Chicago the game.

Yeah. I grew up in Chicago in the 90s. After that game my friends and I legalized a huge push off as long as you yelled “Reggie” when you did it.

[bargnanimvp]

Lebron was the point where it got ridiculous for me. Lebron's are often full on offensive fouls not just push offs but they were not called now everyone has turned to doing it.

[HEAT33]

Lebron is the 2nd greatest player of all time.....
End thread

[oaktownwarriors87]

There’s a difference between a little subtle sneaky contact to clear space with the off arm and what Jordan did in Game 6. He literally shoved Russell as hard as he could and extended his arm all the way out flat. It was ridiculously blatant. That gets called at least 90% of the time in today’s game.

You don't watch a lot of James Harden, do you?

[madmaxmedia]

There’s so much hyperbole about that play. I just watched YouTube videos for 15 minutes and I don’t think you can tell for sure how much pressure Jordan puts on Russell, who looked like he over commit and bit on the fake. You can’t tell for sure that it’s an obvious shove, but you can’t totally discount the possibility either. AFAIK there are 2 camera angles we see the play. His hand definitely touches Russell, but then slides down his leg. It could have been a good push, it could have been irrelevant contact, it could have been somewhere in between (intentional or unintentional.)

It could have been inadvertent, minimal contact (non-push), and still been a superstar call in the sense that refs might have called a push off had they seen the same thing happen with a different player.

The other thing that happens is that Russell doesn’t complain at all, which I imagine would have been his immediate emotional reaction to getting pushed. But that’s not proof either.

[justme400e]

Is it just me or does every player push off when driving/crossing these days?

I never see the "fully extended straight arm" push off or the "top of the key to the basket"" euro four step layup called. At least MJ tried to hide it by doing the "bent arm"" version.

[og15]

CP3 started using the chicken wing/push-off a bunch in the playoffs this year.
He's learned from Harden I guess and he's older down so he needs every inch.

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No, Paul's been doing it before, but now he can't get by guys as easily so he just does it more

Most of these guys are doing some form of pushing off or hooking, etc, only the very blatant ones get called. It's not new, though maybe it's more common now, but I don't know if that's just some recency bias or reality

[tondi123]

No actually I don't recall it ever being a big deal.

[DoItALL9]

CP3 started using the chicken wing/push-off a bunch in the playoffs this year.
He's learned from Harden I guess and he's older now though so he needs every inch.

Sent from my LG-H872 using RealGM mobile app

No, Paul's been doing it before, but now he can't get by guys as easily so he just does it more

Most of these guys are doing some form of pushing off or hooking, etc, only the very blatant ones get called. It's not new, though maybe it's more common now, but I don't know if that's just some recency bias or reality

Do you think the league will try to rein it back in after this season?

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[OdomFan]

Lebron is the 2nd greatest player of all time.....
End thread

Duncan > Lebron

[og15]

CP3 started using the chicken wing/push-off a bunch in the playoffs this year.
He's learned from Harden I guess and he's older now though so he needs every inch.

Sent from my LG-H872 using RealGM mobile app

No, Paul's been doing it before, but now he can't get by guys as easily so he just does it more

Most of these guys are doing some form of pushing off or hooking, etc, only the very blatant ones get called. It's not new, though maybe it's more common now, but I don't know if that's just some recency bias or reality

Do you think the league will try to rein it back in after this season?

Sent from my LG-H872 using RealGM mobile app

I have no clue, I think it should be something they look at. I'm fine with subtle little push offs, though personally as a defender I hate my good defense getting killed because a guy pushes off and steps back. I guess it depends on how much complaining is done about it.

Sent from my SM-G955W using RealGM mobile app

[dhsilv2]

There’s a difference between a little subtle sneaky contact to clear space with the off arm and what Jordan did in Game 6. He literally shoved Russell as hard as he could and extended his arm all the way out flat. It was ridiculously blatant. That gets called at least 90% of the time in today’s game.

Jordan did the opposite of shoving, because Jordan didn't move his arm at all, he only moved his wrist.
How can a wrist movement have enough power to push Russell over?
All that happened was, Russell's feet slipped, and you can see it on the replay

LOL...this has to be the most unique take of all time on what was a clear FULL push through.

And keep in mind Jordan did this kind of stuff on offense and defense. He'd use those huge hands and the fact that he was one of the only wings in the NBA who knew where the weight room was to throw around players.

[dhsilv2]

Is it just me or does every player push off when driving/crossing these days?

I never see the "fully extended straight arm" push off or the "top of the key to the basket"" euro four step layup called. At least MJ tried to hide it by doing the "bent arm"" version.

Jordan "hid it" because he was much stronger than russel and russel was easy to move out of the way.

[dhsilv2]

There’s so much hyperbole about that play. I just watched YouTube videos for 15 minutes and I don’t think you can tell for sure how much pressure Jordan puts on Russell, who looked like he over commit and bit on the fake. You can’t tell for sure that it’s an obvious shove, but you can’t totally discount the possibility either. AFAIK there are 2 camera angles we see the play. His hand definitely touches Russell, but then slides down his leg. It could have been a good push, it could have been irrelevant contact, it could have been somewhere in between (intentional or unintentional.)

It could have been inadvertent, minimal contact (non-push), and still been a superstar call in the sense that refs might have called a push off had they seen the same thing happen with a different player.

The other thing that happens is that Russell doesn’t complain at all, which I imagine would have been his immediate emotional reaction to getting pushed. But that’s not proof either.

You need to keep in mind despite not looking it, MJ was one of the strongest players in the league and had some of the largest hands as well. Jordan was stronger than a lot of the power forwards of that era despite his slimmer build. He didn't have to exert himself to send a guy out of his way. Defenders literally would bounce off post weight lifting MJ. Jordan both moved Russell AND used him to stabilize on that play.