People are asking: "Why is everyone in the media going in on Delly so hard?" Kizzle touched on it in post #2703 of this thread (above on this same page): everyone hates Cleveland. Or to be more specific, many hate LeBron. So this isn't even about Delly, it's about LeBron. And it's not about this series, it's about the next series. The people who are going all out to smear Delly now are thinking about the Finals, not the Eastern Conference Finals. Because the Eastern Conference Finals is essentially over.
Here's the bottom line: like Phil Jackson might have done in his time as a coach, those who dislike LeBron and Cleveland are trying to frame Delly as a "dirty player" before the Finals. Why would they do that? Because they want to get in the refs' heads and help Steph Curry and the Warriors all they can.
Delly has a huge impact on our defense (as PriceFTW helpfully pointed out in stats the other day here). He's had a major effect in the playoffs. He's our best defensive point guard. He's a guy that could possibly be important in the Finals and help slow down or offset Curry.
If you hate LeBron and Cleveland, you don't want Cleveland to win the Finals. So you start to plant the seed now that Delly is "dirty" so that he can't even breathe on Curry (or anyone else) in the Finals or else he's getting a foul, or worse.
This is mind games. Much of it is deliberate, too. Not all of it, but a lot of it.
Reggie Miller and Webber will just say dumb things. I don't think either one of them is a big Cleveland hater. They just want controversy and drama, because it's good for ratings.
Kenny Smith is a punk. He has never really liked LeBron, and I'm sure he would love to try to sabotage LeBron's chances in the Finals by having golden boy Curry get even more help from the refs when our best point guard defender, Delly, is assigned to him.
Anyone with an objective brain knows Delly isn't a dirty player. He's just an effort player who has to go all out on every possession just to stay in the league. And opponents get tired of it, just like they got tired of it when defensive hawk Avery Bradley would go all out on defense all game and disrupt opposing point guards' dribbles.
The Hawks are soft and mentally done. They are just looking for excuses as to why they're about to get swept. I don't even care what they think. LeBron basically said in the postgame that the Hawks are focusing on the wrong thing by talking about Delly. In other words, the Hawks' minds are basically already coming up with reasons why they are losing and about to lose.
The people who bother me are people like Kenny Smith, people who know what they're doing and who are trying to affect the narrative and potentially the refs in the Finals by talking this nonsense.
It doesn't matter. It might cost us a call or two in the Finals, but Delly isn't going to change a thing. Lebron went completely out of his way in the postgame to let the media know that "you're not doing this to Delly; and if you try to do it, I'm going to start bringing up plays like the Antic two handed shove on me while I was in the air in this series."
People who can't win or who aren't in the battle will often resort to arguing about how the winners are cheaters or dishonorable when they, the observers or losers, don't like the outcome of the competition. The Hawks are almost gone, we're going to the Finals and Kenny Smith and the rest of the haters can suck it.
Blatt, Delly, Lebron and Cleveland have got this.
Kenny Smith, just keep hating. And keep trying to convince yourself that your reality show isn't a ratings joke.
