Paul George has been one of NBA Twitter’s targets for his playoff P proclamations. But they still sprung to his defense for a horrible ESPN mistake.
Advertisement
The Clippers and Sixers played one of the more exciting contests of the month at Wells Fargo Arena last night. Joel Embiid and Paul George had a veritable duel, going off for 36 and 37 points respectively.
Embiid’s ability to draw free throws kept the Sixers’ offense alive when their shots stopped falling in the second half. The two teams exchanged leads several times before a late surge took Embiid and co over the line.
Embiid recorded his 3rd straight game of 35+ points to help the @sixers snap the Clippers win streak #HereTheyComehttps://t.co/uVagjKifPB
— NBA Australia (@NBA_AU) April 17, 2021
All in all, both teams will return from the contest relatively satisfied with their overall performance.
NBA Fans react to an apparently faulty ESPN graphic
It was Paul George’s 5th straight game with 30+ points – a career high for him. But the moment that stuck in most viewers’ minds was a graphic that came up in clutch time.
Paul George had 37 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks on 48% shooting tonight. His 5th straight 30+ point game, tying a career-high.
ESPN on that final play: pic.twitter.com/VbTJp9Vnt8
— Tomer Pfizarly (@TomerAzarly) April 17, 2021
One viewer was a lot more inquisitive about the graphic than the average fan. He went ahead and looked up go-ahead and game-tying shots by PG, compiled them in sequence and posted them on Twitter. The response generated a tidal wave of discussion regarding what may have caused ESPN to mess this thing up.
Okay so I can confirm that these are literally made up numbers by “The Worldwide Leaders in Sports” (ESPN)…. pic.twitter.com/HtSovmBZPL
— Lightskin Phil Dunphy 🇸🇴 (@adanadelmi) April 17, 2021
Another fan took it upon himself to understand where the sports network may have messed up. He realized that ESPN may have used different criteria – they were looking only at shots made in the last 20 seconds of regular season games.
I did an investigation on ESPN’s supposed fake Paul George stat, and here’s what I found.
They didn’t make it up, but they removed A LOT of context that made for a wildly misleading and inaccurate graphic. pic.twitter.com/IUZTE1zJiL
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) April 17, 2021
All in all, the internet triumphed once again where mainstream media failed.