Just finished listening to Raptors Warriors. This 59 yo broad has been a b-ball fan since middle school. Just keeps getting better. I think a new scoring option should be the 4-pointer from from half court. MJ and others from the way back era are just that...way back. Time to move on.
Yes, fewer timeouts. The NBA is drowning in timeouts.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are the worst franchise in all major league sports. There is zero sign of improvement. Bonehead front office moves and being consistently on the back end of the secret draft lottery have been decimating to this team.
After John Havlicek’s death, I revisited game six of the 1974 finals and the triple-overtime game five of the 1976 finals. The play was superior in both games to the way the game is played today, and it owes to the three-pointer, the league’s overall emphasis on offense at the expense of defense, and the favoritism of stars over lesser players in the officiating. Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Havlicek were treated no better than JoJo White or Dick Van Arsdale by officials, there was much more physical play, and the players were more fundamentally sound. They knew how to box out for rebounds, they stayed in front of their man on defense, and they knew how to execute the pick and roll. Today, Marcus Smart is considered a defensive guru just because he hustles, and don’t get me started on the phantom fouls called on players who happen to be in the vicinity of a shot being taken. The slightest contact is whistled, turning players into constant whiners and show-boaters seeking to fool officials into calling fouls. As the game has become more like showtime, the production of games has followed suit with the endless, and sometimes pointless, jabbering of announcers, the superficial sideline interviews, and the halftime gallery of former stars who act more like they’re at home yukking it up than providing pinpoint analysis. Listen to Rick Barry and Brent Musburger during the ‘76 finals. No words wasted. No flashy graphics. The game spoke for itself.
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It’s partly because of good politics. When Donald Sterling was fired it made a huge statement to NBA players and fans. It said that what your seeing is the real thing. Those players are smiling for a reason, they’re expressing themselves. Go ahead and cheer for them, your cheering for a team and points, not just to make a wealthy white person more wealthy. The NBA is making a lot of money but at least we can sometimes see what’s happening when things get hot behind the scenes.
In the Bay Area, we are really feeling it, with the Warriors as stars on and off the court, we just signed bigoted Nick Bosa to the 49ers and more bigoted Innocenti to the Raiders, while Kapernick is nowhere to be seen. The NBA gives us cake and let’s us eat it too.
I still miss seeing LeBron in these finals. It’s just a little weird. But I am still enjoying the games. Silver is on the right track. I love football but it fills me with guilt for the impact of the hard hits on the players’ future lives. Baseball is boring as heck until the World Series - maybe. So, go Warraptors!! Enjoy!
Seriously what else would he say. Sorry, but the NBA is made up of incredible athletes ruining what once was a near perfect game.
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Nonsense. Basketball is better now than ever before. Every kid around the world either wants to play football (soccer) or basketball.
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I grew up watching Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, etc. I find today's NBA to be the Neverending Boring Activity. I will watch a few minutes here and there but find the product to be uncompelling. Maybe I am just too old for today's NBA.
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Too bad the East Coasters can't stay up late and watch all of the great b-ball in the West. Don't know how the Commissioner over comes that. It is hard enough to get to a game at 7 PM in Denver; can't imagine getting to one at 5 PM.
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Wow, what a difference in reporting. NBA tv ratings drop 5% and it's hardly worth reporting. The NFL has a slight ratings drop, and the media is reporting it as the apocalypse.
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@kjd i think that has to do with Americans being so offended by the kneeling protests and Trump's hate towards it lol
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I mean, everyone knew the Golden State Warriors were going to be in the 2019 Finals since roughly 2016, but sure, the league is great!
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Silver is a true visionary. More in tune with the digital age than his predecessor David Stern. By taking the lead in recognizing the benefits that sports betting brings to the NBA he demonstrates his connection to the younger fans who enjoy the opportunity to sports bet electronically and not in casinos.
I have played very little basketball, and so I maybe way off-base here, but how much talent really is needed to play basketball in the top 90 percentile, especially compared to other sports, and for the salaries the players command?
Once you are over 6 ft 5 in+, the odds of making it increase exponentially. That's the only attribute needed to get to 80th percentile.
I will concede on Steph Curry/ Klay Thompson. That's talent.
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@MS
Yes, I can confirm that indeed you are way off base. The things you don’t adequately understand obviously go well beyond just basketball.
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If you want a lesson in just how quickly a soaring sport can crash, just look at Auto-Racing. Nascar in particular.
15-20 years ago, they were building and expanding tracks with seating numbering, sometimes, 160-300 thousand seats. Now they are lucky to fill half of them.
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@John Vesper The auto-racing scenario is likely more to do with the declining numbers of whites in the country, than anything else; also people of color choosing more inclusive sports. As long as professional basketball stays diverse and hip, the NBA's trajectory looks great.
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