As anybody who subscribes to my channel would know, I am obsessed with the idea of “revenge games”, where a player goes off on a team that he used to play for. If we’re being honest, I often will imagine there to be REVENGE where there is no REVENGE to be found. In my eagerness to nurture a storyline, I will attribute to REVENGE what could be attributed to what is simply high-quality play. My actions have directly led to the dilution of the concept of a “REVENGE GAME”, and for that I truly apologize.
However, all that being said, this game from Jabari Parker against the Bulls was definitely among the top-five REVENGE GAMES I have ever seen. Jabari was traded away from his hometown team not three days ago. Not only was he traded, which would be bad enough, but both coaching and ownership had clearly lost confidence in his ability to play winning basketball. His minutes ranged anywhere from “a lot” to “none at all”, trending towards the latter as the season wore on. Who wouldn’t want to get a supersize dose of REVENGE on a team that unfairly treated you like unplayable garbage?
If Jabari didn’t get one final act of REVENGE after the buzzer sounded by ambushing Jim Boylen in the familiar hallways of the United Center and hold him down on the floor while yelling “Now I’m the one holding you down, not the other way around!”, I consider that a seriously missed opportunity.