ONLINE — A basketball fan used a player’s most recent 11 minutes of action Tuesday to settle a debate that had previously lasted nearly five years.
“Case closed,” he wrote after the player made four of five shots during a strong second-quarter stretch.
The fan dismissed career averages, playoff history, lineup context, injuries, role changes, and thousands of prior possessions as outdated information compared with what had happened since the last commercial break.
When another user pointed out the limited sample, he argued that recent performance is more relevant because it occurred more recently.
The player then missed two shots, briefly threatening the conclusion before a teammate secured an offensive rebound and allowed the discussion to continue uninterrupted.
By halftime, screenshots of the 11-minute split had circulated widely as definitive evidence in several unrelated arguments.
The five-year debate is expected to reopen immediately after the next bad quarter.
