Stephen A. Smith blamed hungry Raptors fans for that 18-0 run in Game 2, which is ridiculous
No, Raptors fans aren't to blame for this.
Stephen A. Smith gets paid a ridiculous amount of money by ESPN to go on TV and say ridiculous things.
Which is exactly what he did on Monday morning when he tried to blame Raptors fans for Golden State’s 18-0 run at the start of the third quarter of Game 2 that gave the Warriors control of the game that they ultimately won.
Stephen A. went on TV and said the reason why that run happened was because many of the fans inside the arena were off at the concession stands instead of being in their seats cheering on the team.
While yes, the lower bowl of the arena was half empty for the start of the third quarter, it’s not why the run happened.
Here’s his take:
Thoughts Raptors fans?
pic.twitter.com/dKNTAhErhx
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 3, 2019
That is quite a reach, and a bad one at that. First of all, this happens at every major sporting that has a halftime or intermissions. It’s not crazy to see a football stadium, basketball arena, or hockey arena half empty when play resumes after a break. Lines get long for food and fans get hungry after watching the first half or period. It’s OK to go get food.
And that shouldn’t have any impact on the home team. These are professional athletes that aren’t just going to look around and get sad that everybody is still getting food and then just let the road team run all over them.
The Raptors gave up an 18-0 run because they played really bad basketball and handed the Warriors the game after not being able to put them away in the first half, which stunned many people considering how poorly Golden State played in the first 24 minutes.
Also, I don’t care how loud the fans are, no amount of noise is going to help a player sink a shot, which the Raptors struggled at doing for large parts of Game 2.
To put any of that on fans not being in their seats is so absurdly silly. As are the takes by people who agreed with Stephen A., including the many people who said fans shouldn’t be getting food at halftime of a NBA Finals game. When are you supposed to go get something? Are you just supposed to sit in your seat the whole entire time?
Get that stuff outta here. That’s a losers’ mentality. The Raptors’ loss had nothing to do with their fans but everything to do with the lack of heart the team played with for much of the game.
It was easily the most disappointing loss in franchise history and it’s all on the players who choked it away.