Rockets and Trail Blazers Get Feisty On Twitter

The NBA places a greater emphasis on social media than any professional sports league in the world. A few days back, the league released voting results – by fans, of course – for the 2014 Social Media Awards. Kyrie Irving and Blake Griffin are among the biggest winners so far, taking home awards for ‘Best Vine/Video‘ and ‘Best Hashtag,’ respectively. The winner of ‘Team Social MVP’ has yet to be announced, however, recently leading to pointed Twitter barbs from two of the esteemed nominees.

Reason 10 we should win #MVPTeamHOU – We're up against @trailblazers & any vengeance (no matter how small) would be cathartic. RT to vote.

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) June 21, 2014

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That’s actually pretty harmless from the Houston Rockets. Publicly pining for vengeance in the form of a social media award against the team that ousted you in the playoffs is hardly incendiary. The Portland Trailblazers are just sensitive, apparently.

@HoustonRockets We were busy in the second round. #MVPTeamPOR

— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) June 21, 2014

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Shots thrown! Why they were is anyone’s guess. Maybe the Blazers were just itching for some competitive fire after being so easily tossed aside by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals? The Rockets took advantage of that possibility in their counter-punch.

How'd that go? #MVPTeamHOU RT @trailblazers: @HoustonRockets We were busy in the second round.

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) June 21, 2014

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Eh. That’s a swing-and-miss by Houston from our perspective. Chiding the team that ended your season for losing to the eventual NBA Champions? Weak. James Harden defense-type weak.

Obviously, this is all in good fun. That teams feel comfortable trading barbs on social media like this is good exposure for the league and adds to meaningless offseason fodder. Still, these jabs are a reminder of just how epic a series the Rockets and Blazers played in the first round of the 2014 playoffs. We can’t wait to see them go at it again next season.