There were a few takeaways after Game 4. One of them was that Giannis Antetokounmpo might have intentionally slid his foot underneath Kyrie Irving’s body which led to the Nets’ guard’s terrible ankle sprain. This is a cause of replay and seeing something so many times that you believe it to be true. Antetokounmpo is not known for being a dirty player in any aspect of his game. He had one notably dirty play when the Greek Freak decided to become a middle linebacker for the Green Bay Packers and tackle Mike Dunleavy (For good reason, that prick). This idea that Giannis could have intentionally injured Kyrie falls short for me.

The reactions on Twitter were all over the place. In the moment, I get it. You’re a fan. The best player of the team you root for just went out and this dream season flashed before your eyes. We all tweet emotionally. That’s why I keep losing followers versus gaining them. That said, we have to understand the game of fucking basketball. How many times does that happen in a game or close to it? Antetokounmpo was going for a rebound. That is all he tried to do there. It is unfortunate that Irving landed directly on Giannis’ ankle causing an injury.

Some people thought it was revenge for Giannis for his brother getting crossed up. While that would be believable since Giannis is a loyal family member, it is also fucking stupid. Again, this is basketball. We see things like this happen all the time. Even the coach of the fucking Nets said that it would be a pretty ‘big stretch’ to think that Giannis intentionally tried to hurt Irving here.

We’ll see if the Nets will have Irving in Game 6.

Charlie.