Basketball Revenge

What is Basketball Revenge?

Revenge in basketball is a term applied when a team wants to avenge a loss or play from an opposing team or player. Players will seek revenge after losing a tight game, after a dominant play by the opposing team, if they lose in a blow out, and many other situations. Two teams or players who are constantly seeking revenge against each other may develop a rivalry.

Why Would a Basketball Team Seek Revenge?

In every game of basketball, anything can happen. The endless possibilities leave many chances for teams to become frustrated and enraged at another team or a player on that team. In cases like that, the frustrated team will tend to seek revenge against the opposing team. Here are some circumstances that may lead to revenge:

• The team lost in the final seconds of a game, possibly as a result of a bad call.
• The opposing team played an excessively dirty game, possibly injuring a player.
• The team got blown out by the opposing team.
• The team was trash-talked by the opposing team.

While these are not all of the circumstances that may lead a team to seek revenge, they are all possible situations.

Why Would a Basketball Player Seek Revenge?

Just as a team can feel that they were wronged by an opponent, so can a player. Here are some of the possible situations that may lead a player to seek revenge:

• The player was cut from the opposing team.
• The player had a bad game the last time he or she played the opposing team.
• One of the players on the opposing team celebrated excessively in front of the player.
• The player was trash-talked by the opposing team or a player from the opposing team.

Notable Examples of Basketball Revenge

After the Celtics beat the Lakers in the seventh game of the 1984 NBA Finals, the Lakers promised to get their revenge the next season. In the 1985 NBA Finals, they did just that by beating the Celtics in six games.

Reggie Miller was the star player for the Indiana Pacers during their 1995 playoff run. The team had been unable to beat the Knicks in their past meetings, but Miller got his revenge in that year’s Eastern Conference Championship by scoring 8 points in 9 seconds and winning the game for the Pacers.