https://youtu.be/ljRnYVkNIco
Malachi Flynn hit four three-pointers in the last two minutes of this game to turn a sure Hawks win into a less-sure Hawks win. It was…dare I say it…Fred Van Vleet-esque, and I’m not just saying that because the two players share some important physical characteristics. I mean, I’m just as susceptible to making player comparisons based on skin tone, hairstyle, and other visual cues as everybody else is (see: comparisons between Montrezl Harrell and Kenneth Faried because of their hair, or between Khris Middleton and Troy Brown Jr. because of their protuberant, jumbo-sized teeth, or between Thon Maker and Aleksej Pokusevski because they both look like they don’t know what food is), but, in this case, the comparison runs deeper than that.
For one, both players are on the Raptors. For another, both players have a demonstrated ability to hit clutch three-pointers. They’re both point guards as well, but not the “pure” kind of point guard who will regularly get you double-digit assists. And, of course, both of them are light-skinned black men. Wait, I was trying to make this comparison based on things other than physical attributes. Forget that last point of comparison. Skin tone is irrelevant here.
When the real Fred Van Vleet comes back, then this Fred Van Vleet impostor known as Malachi Flynn will return to his smaller/nearly nonexistent role. But he’s played decently for the past couple of weeks (the three highlight videos I’ve made for him recently will forever be a testament to that fact), so he’ll be ready the next time he’s called upon. And I’ll be ready to make highlight videos when that happens, as long as he scores more than 22 points and/or gets ten assists.