People are celebrating defeats instead of appreciating greatness

[Harry Garris]

Because that's what the TV and the social media do to people's minds. Instead of talking about tactics, plays, team spirit etc, people prefer stupid takes about choking.

There's a gazillion topics about Giannis and the Bucks falling out of the playoffs, but so few about the Heat and the incredible team they have.

Cuban summed it up perfectly.

Watch on YouTube

I wish he addressed the term choking used by media and fans here. Because quite frankly too many people never see the defense used or understand it and the same people never consider match-ups and just attribute any subpar performance with choking when it's something they don't even understand and a type of pressure situation they have never even been in. They don't even understand how pressure affects people or when it is present.

But I can never get enough of this video no matter how many times i watch it.

That's why I've been strongly arguing against the idea that Giannis "choked" against the Heat. When the Bucks offense stalled in 4th quarters, his coach asked him to take the ball on the perimeter, had everyone else clear out for him, and wanted him to create a good look for himself when the Heat where walling him out of the paint and triple-teaming him the second he got past the free throw line. There are players who are capable of creating a good look in that situation, but Giannis has never been one of them. It's not part of his game, or at least not yet. If a player is asked to do something he hasn't had to do before and isnt good at and he inevitably fails that's not choking, in my opinion. It would be completely different if Giannis regularly succeeded in that role and then failed in the playoffs under increased pressure.

[VancouverRaps]

People pin it on the media, but I honestly think it just seems like human nature, but that's just based on my own experiences when talking about sports with friends.

There's a reason why post game threads are almost always longer after a devastating loss compared to a big win.

[Richard4444]

Because that's what the TV and the social media do to people's minds. Instead of talking about tactics, plays, team spirit etc, people prefer stupid takes about choking.

There's a gazillion topics about Giannis and the Bucks falling out of the playoffs, but so few about the Heat and the incredible team they have.

Cuban summed it up perfectly.

Watch on YouTube

Talking about tactics, plays, matchups is too nerdy, boring. You need an intelligent audience that needs background deeper knowledge of the game of basketball.

The media prefers talking about the emotional aspect of the game. Who is chocking? Who is taking the game more seriously? Who has more confidence? Its more relatable to the common folks.

[thebigbird]

I have to admit, I enjoyed the Bucks losing and how they lost (not Giannis getting hurt obviously, but going down 0-3 before he did get hurt). He was hyped all season. Monster stats. Best record in the NBA. DPOY and MVP. And then he went down 0-3 with his shortcomings on full display against the 5 seed. He's a great player, but he's not quite there yet.

[Baski]

It doesn't make sense to always talk about the winners. Sometimes there are atrocious performances that deserve ridicule. For example, the general sentiment is that OKC lost game 7 more than Houston won it, and that both teams should be embarassed for that game.
If all posts were focused on praising the winner, forums like RealGM, insidehoops, hell even twitter wouldn't last long.
It's not even a basketball thing. It happens in every topic worth discussing. Look at how vitriolic fanbases/critics of certain shows/characters can be. Discussion thrives on a healthy dose of positive and negative.

[LightTheBeam]

Yeah, negativity seems to be more attractive than positivity for most posters. I get it. The forum is a good way to vent your feelings, but sometimes it goes overboard with the attacks on certain players.

People have a winner takes all mentality, which means that often when someone loses, they have to be ridiculed, even if they didn't play badly, even if their teams wasn't as talented as the team they lost to.

I personally think the "winner takes it all mentality" is problematic and doesn't let us enjoy sport enough. Achieving what you were supposed to or slightly more than you were supposed to shouldn't be seen as something negative. No one is a 51% favorite to win the title when the season starts.

This isn't even restricted to this board or sports in general. Spend an hour on twitter. You will see non-stop negativity regarding politics, sports, music, and everything.

As a teen growing up I hated Kobe, Shaq and the Lakers. Don't get me wrong, I still root against the Lakers, but i'm not as blind as I used to be. I regret not being able to enjoy watching their talents.

Most people just like to see people brought down. They are more happy by others failure because it makes them feel better about themselves, then to see people around them succeed.

[jason bourne]

I'm not sure what the OP means unless he's talking about fans favoring the underdogs. I think the top go to players such as LeBron, AD, Kawhi, PG-13, Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum, Nikola Jokic, Kyle Lowry, and Khris Middleton have delivered in the playoffs so far. Maybe Middleton was a surprise. As for the teams being eliminated, it could be because they did well in the regular season and sputtered in the playoffs like the Bucks and Rockets.

ETA: We found Giannis is a Pippen. He's not the go to guy in the playoffs. Westbrook usually fades in the playoffs and to some extent so does Harden. They just haven't gotten their team over the hump, but Harden did a great job against OKC. Was there a game Westbrook definitely won? I didn't watch all the Rockets games.

[OdomFan]

There is a difference between not liking a player and straight up hating him enough to spend most of your time on sports forums posting how much you hate that player.
Of course, you will not understand this given that you're not a fan of the game.

Being a NBA player comes with fans giving you positive and negative feedback. So again, nobody has to appreciate the same star that you or someone else appreciates. Deal with it.

You don't need to appreciate. You don't need to hate either. There is a big gap between disliking someone and hating someone.

Harden makes himself unlikable so that's on him.

[jason bourne]

Because that's what the TV and the social media do to people's minds. Instead of talking about tactics, plays, team spirit etc, people prefer stupid takes about choking.

There's a gazillion topics about Giannis and the Bucks falling out of the playoffs, but so few about the Heat and the incredible team they have.

Cuban summed it up perfectly.

Watch on YouTube

I don't think the majority of fans are bullies even though they may get the attention on forums such as this and others. Still, there are rules in place on social media. I would agree one of the things about social media is oneupsmanship. It isn't all fun and games and knowing stuff, but more about what can you say in 140 words or less. Some fans can impart a lot of info in that space.

[Benedict_Boozer]

No participation trophies given - you either win or lose, that's the beauty of sport. I agree with the OP premise that the hate can get a bit overboard, but the tribalism that sports creates is what makes it great. We live and die with these teams that are basically made up collections of players that aren't even from that city 99% of the time and ranking/arguing over the players and their legacies is what the players play for and the fans watch for. Will never change.

[Duke4life831]

If it bleeds it leads. Negativity sells. Just look at the Steve Nash getting hired thread vs SAS says Nash got the job because of White Privilege. The SAS thread had almost twice as many posts. This isnt just a RealGM or sports thing, this is pretty much how most things are talked about.

When it comes to sports, Giannis "being exposed" is just a juicer topic to talk about than Butler proving he is a top 10 player come playoff time. You get more hot takes in the "Giannis exposed" thread, those hot takes lead to people defending Giannis, which leads to more people criticizing Giannis and so on.

Put it one way, the internet is not a place to expect nuanced conversations.

[OGLife]

Because of the over the top trash talk that happens prior to the games.

If you remove the trash talk, opposing fans will appreciate the game.

[kobe_vs_jordan]

People pin it on the media, but I honestly think it just seems like human nature, but that's just based on my own experiences when talking about sports with friends.

There's a reason why post game threads are almost always longer after a devastating loss compared to a big win.

Absolutely , If the media / internet never existed these same conversations would still be happening at the bars.

[dc]

That's how it's always been. People have always celebrated when teams like the Yankees or Duke lose. It's basically tradition. It's the easy thing to do. Think about it: your team obviously isn't winning every year. And in the NBA's case, a lot of teams have never won. So to make up for it, you have to celebrate someone else losing.

And when Lebron joined the Heat in 2010, that really brought the "I'm rooting for someone (anyone) to beat them" mentality to an entirely different level.

[Emhoward]

Rooting interest -- rooting for or against. It makes the game better.

Also it's the desire to be right -- and when right, going "I told you so" about a player.

But I don't have an issue with people on this forum behaving that way, my issue is when it comes from "journalists" on TV. It's that they don't even attempt to breakdown the game, they go straight to this offensive psycho-babble because they don't do know enough about the game to be able to break to talk competently. The worst example of this came from someone I find to be for the most part entertaining, Shannon Sharpe. Last year before Paul George was traded to the Clippers, he said that the reason Paul George wouldn't go to the Lakers is because he couldn't handle the pressure of being #2 to Lebron, because if they didn't win he would get the criticism, but if he stays in OKC, no matter what people will blame Westbrook and he'll be let off scott free.

Now keep in mind, I'm not huge fan of Playoff P, but when he said that my reaction was... How could you possibly know that??? HOW? HOW?? You call the man a coward on TV and have no proof? I was gobsmacked.

[Fairview4Life]

Sometimes celebrating defeats is enjoyable.

[ElectricMayhem]

We're getting closer to that time of year when 29 teams have been exposed and the one remaining team wins the "somehow avoided getting exposed this year" trophy.

[BayArea408415]

As a Warriors fan, I’m just cheering on the Nuggets. Was rooting for them and the Rockets and now it’s just them left. It’s more fun to cheer for their success than LeBron or Kawhi’s failure.

[aj174]

Yeah OP I agree with you for sure. Although for the bucks and clippers, I get it, because those were big upsets with big ramifications.

Big shout out to the heat and nuggets! Great teams and I'm glad Jimmy butler gets to have his shine. Jamal Murray coming out too is great to see

[lobosloboslobos]

The league designed its brand of basketball to be about star talent, so fans just respond to that. The playoffs become the ultimate star audit. In other sports you'd likely put more pressure on the losing team, but here it has to be about the faces that won or lost. Every time they promote a match-up, it's one face put up against another face, as if it's just a game of one-on-one. And then if Face #1 loses to Face #2, the fans say either "Face #1 is worse than Face #2!" or "Face #1 needs more help!"

The broadcasters rarely discuss strategy or Xs and Os like they do in football, hockey or baseball. You have to find that stuff elsewhere, like online or in podcasts, so only the hardcores really end up appreciating the game more.

Bang on. Stern decided it would be good business (it was) to build his marketing campaign around individuals, and specifically charismatic superstars, beginning with Michael Jordan, with Bird vs Magic having been the prototype. Stern took this approach to an extreme that is not comparable to any other professional team sport in the world. In every other sport fans are fans of teams first and foremost, and teams are bigger than their superstars. Just look at how Tim Brady left the Patriots this year – the equivalent of Messi leaving Barcelona – and yeah it was a big deal, but the NFL world managed it pretty much without a hiccup. Compare that to The Decision and all the rest of the superteam nonsense that has been going on for years in the NBA.

And yes this cult of personality contributes to the starsucking talking heads in the NBA but it also perverts the actual on court competitive balance by giving superstars more favorable treatment from the refs than non-superstars. Again, there is NO other serious sports league in the world where this happens. It's laughable.

So the cult of personality - build em up and tear em down - is here because the NBA wants it that way, because it has built its entire business model on it, and to hell with a lot of other stuff, like giving teams credit instead of bashing celebrities.

Denver and Miami are super deserving of respect. They were better teams. The Bucks and Clippers were always vulnerable. The media just never looked past their own hype machines. And that's how the league likes it.