NBA fans ripped Dennis Schröder for taking Mike Conley’s garbage-time 3 way too personally
Imagine getting mad at Mike Conley, one of the nicest people in the NBA.
The NBA does not have unwritten rules. By definition, the rules technically don’t even exist — they’re all vibes, all standards players think should be upheld, most often made up with no consistency in their interpretation.
No one passed along this memo to the Brooklyn Nets’ Dennis Schröder.
With the Minnesota Timberwolves clocking the Nets in a blowout win on Saturday night, Schröder fully expected Minnesota to turtle with a late 12-point lead and just run the clock. When Minnesota’s Mike Conley took and drained a garbage-time 3-point shot instead, Schröder charged the point guard, taking exception to him not interpreting competition the way he does.
What resulted was one of the sillier “hold me back” scuffles of this entire NBA season:
What the hell is Schroder's issue here pic.twitter.com/K8vZ5DDYHq
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) February 25, 2024
Conley did not mean to embarrass the Nets by taking another shot with the win already secure. He was just playing until the final whistle. There is nothing wrong with Conley’s approach in this last sequence. Schröder is the player who should be reflecting. He’s the one who thought Minnesota should stop playing because they already won. He’s the one who was evidently ready to go just home instead of seeing all 48 minutes finally tick off the clock. He’s the one who unnecessarily charged Conley for breaking the “unwritten rules,” as interpreted by him.
For what it’s worth, Conley — who has never sustained a technical foul in his entire extended NBA career — explained that he was just making a simple basketball play. He didn’t mean anything more with his late shot.
Again, Conley was just competing until the game was actually over.
“It seemed like they were double-teaming Anthony Edwards… I thought, ‘30 seconds left on the clock, I’ll shoot it’… I wasn't even really trying to make it.”
Mike Conley on the scuffle between him and Dennis Schroder
(via @3swohlman) pic.twitter.com/nJ0LbCek1m
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 25, 2024
NBA fans were less amused with Schröder’s antics over an anodyne 3-point shot attempt.