I’m a lifelong Lakers fan, coming of age in the Showtime era of Earvin “Magic” Johnson, James “Big Game James ” Worthy, and Kareem “Cap” Abdul-Jabbar. More recently I savored the Threepeat of Shaq and Kobe, but my favorite Laker player\u00a0of all time\u00a0is Robert “Big Shot Bob” Horry (a nickname he apparently dislikes).\u00a0 I\u00a0dig his style, the way he picks his spots during the course of a long season, and, of course, his uncanny ability to knock down a three-pointer when nothing else will do.<\/p>\n
Now that the Lakers have fallen on hard times (short-lived, I hope), I’ve temporarily transferred my play-off loyalties to Horry’s new team, the San Antonio Spurs.\u00a0 Imagine my outrage when Horry was\u00a0universally branded the bad guy in Game\u00a04 of the current Phoenix-San Antonio series!<\/p>\n
In the interest of fairness, I feel about the Suns — who have now knocked the Lakers out of the play-offs two years in a row — like I felt about the 1980s Celtics.\u00a0 They’re whiny cheaters … and an incredibly talented team who have redefined basketball.\u00a0 In short, they’re the perfect arch-rivals.\u00a0 Why couldn’t\u00a0the Lakers\u00a0have drafted Leandro Barbosa when we had the chance?<\/p>\n
That being said, I think Nash is more to blame\u00a0than Horry for the suspension of his teammates Stoudamire and Diaw and therefore for the Suns’ loss to San Antonio in last night’s Game 5.\u00a0 Here’s my man Rob’s woefully under-reported account<\/a> of the controversial foul, buried beneath the Phoenix reaction:<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Horry said he was an old school guy and that in his early years, his foul would have been no big deal. He said he bumped Nash when he realized he wouldn’t be able to get in front of him to draw an offensive foul.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘If it would have been anybody but Steve Nash, it probably wouldn’t have been two games,’ he said after the Spurs shootaround. ‘But you know Steve is a great player, MVP. He’s a focal point of the NBA now and they just have to protect their players.’<\/p>\n Horry said Nash over-dramatized the bump when he went flying into the scorer’s table.<\/p>\n ‘I thought I’d just bump him a little bit,’ Horry said. ‘As you know, the great acting skills Steve has, when he hit the floor, then flopped and did ‘Oh, I’m dying here’ it happens. I really wasn’t trying to hurt him. I had no malicious intent to hurt Steve. I like Steve. He’s a good person.’<\/p>\n Horry already was a target for Phoenix fans. When he was with the Suns in 1997, he tossed a towel in the face of then-coach Danny Ainge.<\/p>\n Now Phoenix fans have changed Horry’s nickname from ‘Big Shot Rob’ to ‘Cheap Shot Rob.’<\/p>\n ‘It doesn’t bother me,’ he said. ‘I was already hated here in Phoenix anyway, but the messed up thing is the boos were kind of disappearing. Damn, now I’ve got to start all over.’<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Now if you watch the replay carefully, that’s exactly what happened — Nash was bumped into the scorer’s table, then he threw himself on his back to dramatize the foul.\u00a0 But that doesn’t fit the “narrative”, does it?\u00a0 The Suns are supposed to be the brave, scrappy underdogs, and the Spurs are known as the wily, boring\u00a0old guard.\u00a0The Nash side\u00a0makes a better story,\u00a0whether it’s “true” or not.<\/p>\n No, I\u00a0don’t think Stoudamire and Diaw should have\u00a0been suspended for violating the letter (rather than the spirit) of the “don’t leave the bench” law. But I also don’t think Robert Horry, of all people, should be branded a dirty player because of a Steve Nash flop.\u00a0 If you ask me, the league should be looking for flops as well as dangerous play — Raja Bell got away with another\u00a0acting\u00a0job last night.<\/p>\n The bottom line is that the Suns are the story this year, and just about everyone would rather watch a Suns-Cavs\u00a0final than a Spurs-Pistons match-up. Me, I can’t wait for Game 6 tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m a lifelong Lakers fan, coming of age in the Showtime era of Earvin “Magic” Johnson, James “Big Game James ” Worthy, and Kareem “Cap” Abdul-Jabbar. More recently I savored the Threepeat of Shaq and Kobe, but my favorite Laker player\u00a0of all time\u00a0is Robert “Big Shot Bob” Horry (a nickname he apparently dislikes).\u00a0 I\u00a0dig his … Continue reading In Defense Of Robert Horry<\/span>