Have we overcorrected from the '90s?

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Rastapopoulos

Rastapopoulos

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Being old, I have very vivid memories of Heat-Knicks slugfests where each team struggled to make it to 80 points. That was the era of unfettered handchecking, and I guess people thought it was more wrestling than basketball. But now, I cannot help but think that the scores are out of control. This month had the most number of players scoring 40 in NBA history (see below for source). How many players are averaging over 20? It seems like half the league. This is like the steroid era in Baseball. I guess it's more fun than the alternative, but I honestly get tired of watching teams score pretty much every time down the court.



It's like half the league is the Westhead Nuggets
 
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Rastapopoulos said:
Being old, I have very vivid memories of Heat-Knicks slugfests where each team struggled to make it to 80 points. That was the era of unfettered handchecking, and I guess people thought it was more wrestling than basketball. But now, I cannot help but think that the scores are out of control. This month had the most number of players scoring 40 in NBA history. How many players are averaging over 20? It seems like half the league. This is like the steroid era in Baseball. I guess it's more fun than the alternative, but I honestly get tired of watching teams score pretty much every time down the court.
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The league FG% in 1985 was .491, and teams shot 29.4 FT/game. This season, it's .471, with 23.5 FT.

I think we're good right where we are.
 
It's not just the physical play, its that players are so good shooting and 3 pointers are worth so much more than 2's, even much more than was suspected ~30 years ago. 33% threes is much better than 50% twos for an offense as there is offensive rebound possible on a miss, but the opponents always gain possession on a make. Now the court is spread so wide open the offense gets easy open shots and sometimes layups all game long.

The 3 point heavy attack with 3-4 shooters at all time has taken over as basically an unbeatable strategy to win NBA games. I much preferred when there was a variety of different styles possible to win NBA games, slashing big wings, dominant big men in the post, teams that pass well for open shots, lower scoring teams with excellent defense, fast teams that run fast breaks primarily for layups.

You might find one unique star on each team that can break down his defender one on one in a different manner (Jokic, Curry, Giannis, Luka) but the other 4 players are all basically 3&D role players. There is no way to beat that strategy. If you had Jordan, Magic, Barkely, Olajuwon, and Shaq in their prime on a team together today they would likely get beat against any single one of todays stars with four average starting 3&D role players spreading the floor for open 3's. Thats just very sad to me as a fan of the 80's, 90s, 2000s.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
Being old, I have very vivid memories of Heat-Knicks slugfests where each team struggled to make it to 80 points. That was the era of unfettered handchecking, and I guess people thought it was more wrestling than basketball. But now, I cannot help but think that the scores are out of control. This month had the most number of players scoring 40 in NBA history. How many players are averaging over 20? It seems like half the league. This is like the steroid era in Baseball. I guess it's more fun than the alternative, but I honestly get tired of watching teams score pretty much every time down the court.
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Yes they are out of control. I think we should move the 3pt line back, and for added flavor let’s install some circular LED panels on the court at half court which light up every time somebody buys a chili dog at a vendor; worth 9 points. Basically like NBA Jam.

Think about how interesting that would make things!

How about this, what if a player can outright win the game at any point by chucking the ball over their head backwards full court from within their baskets protected area. We could see 3-0 victories. Would be so cool!!
First play of Game 7 in the NBA Finals
 
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basketball should be played outside, like football...but on grass, under the feet and in the locker rooms; at the concessions stands too
 
The holding and pushing of players who didn't even have the ball made the game ugly back then. So I am glad that has been cleaned up. But I do think there are a few "space" related rules on the perimeter that baby the 3 pt shooters.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
The league FG% in 1985 was .491, and teams shot 29.4 FT/game. This season, it's .471, with 23.5 FT.

I think we're good right where we are.
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He was talking about mid to late 90s, not 1985. Totally different eras.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
The holding and pushing of players who didn't even have the ball made the game ugly back then. So I am glad that has been cleaned up. But I do think there are a few "space" related rules on the perimeter that baby the 3 pt shooters.
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That foul against Hart pissed me off with that leg kick out.
 


Might work better in YouTube. Watching this though… I YouTube searched NYK VS MIA 1990’s but didn’t find anything.

This came up though. So far I’d say, watch it if you have time. It’s a solid blast from the past.

Ewing coming off of a huge 32/16 with 5 blocks 13-23 from the field.

Announcer saying that he thinks Payton should be an all-star. So far a career high scoring year for Payton, at like 16.3 points(?) up from 13 someth
 
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KSF-ERIC said:
He was talking about mid to late 90s, not 1985. Totally different eras.
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I'm aware of that. He was also complaining about the frequency of scoring today, but also acknowledging that the slug-fest 90's weren't really considered enjoyable basketball. And I pointed out that scoring was even more frequent in the mid-80's, which was supposedly the best era of basketball the old-heads have ever seen. If we've "over-corrected" from the 90's, and we haven't reached the pace/efficiency of the 80's, it begs the question of where we're supposed to be.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
No it doesn't.
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You know, without even hovering over your link, I'm quite certain I know exactly what it is. I'm actually well aware of the "technically" correct use of the phrase, and I don't care. I use it in the manner in which it is currently employed in modern English usage. Stop being so pedantic. Why not actually address the point (and question) I raised?
 
Rastapopoulos said:
That's got to be the series where Van Gundy grabbed Mourning's leg, right? Or was it the series where PJ Brown just flipped a guy with a completely deadpan expression?
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PJ flipped Charlie Ward. I’ll look for a link. I don’t remember if that was the JV leg series.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
You know, without even hovering over your link, I'm quite certain I know exactly what it is. I'm actually well aware of the "technically" correct use of the phrase, and I don't care. I use it in the manner in which it is currently employed in modern English usage. Stop being so pedantic. Why not actually address the point (and question) I raised?
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YES - you RAISED a question. And I don't care.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
YES - you RAISED a question. And I don't care.
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You don't care about the question raised in response to your original post in the thread you started? This one of those "typing just to see the pixels from your own keyboard" kinda things?
 
shooting is just that good right now. especially off the dribble. and trapping/zone defenses don't work as they have to stop multiple threats on the perimeter. Like right now, we have both Dame and Ant who are elite at shooting long distance threes off the bounce. And jerami can space at a top tier percentile in the league.

hard for defenses to cope with this many threats.

The way to mitigate this would be to reinstate the illegal defense rules of yesteryear, or allow hand checking on the perimeter..... but who wants that?
 
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