This Stinks...

[thekavorka]

Suns are bringing the old, fun basketball back in to the league. They are so fun to watch.

With that said, GO MAVS

 

[DragonCowboy]

After watching the NBA finals last year basketball really made me sick.

I just couldnt believe how they were calling that game.

Sterns hate for Cuban showed up on the court and it was just not fare.

I'm a Mavs fan, but I'm not sure how much of that game was really "rigged" as we like to say. Flashy players always are favored to a certain degree.

But you can't say that we didn't cost ourselves some of those games (ie Game 3 and Game 5).

 

[thekavorka]

I'm a Mavs fan, but I'm not sure how much of that game was really "rigged" as we like to say. Flashy players always are favored to a certain degree.

But you can't say that we didn't cost ourselves some of those games (ie Game 3 and Game 5).

Game 5 was absolutely awful. D-Whistle had more free throws than all the Mavs combined.

 

[MarkBrunell]

David Stern is a grade A idiot. His man love for Dwayne Wade and LeBron James is sickening. The dude would probably give his left nut to sleep with both of them.

 

[ajk23az]

BB=WWF with a ball.

I could watch the equivalent live, by going downtown and watchin' a pick-up game.

Just because of the playoffs last year or what? You have got to be kidding...

 

[DragonCowboy]

Game 5 was absolutely awful. D-Whistle had more free throws than all the Mavs combined.

Yeah, Wade got a ton of calls, especially with his little "falls", where he just thrusts himself backward into the ground, with nobody near him, and the trusty whistle blows.

But still, if Josh Howard hits those free throws, we win that game.

 

[thekavorka]

Yeah, Wade got a ton of calls, especially with his little "falls", where he just thrusts himself backward into the ground, with nobody near him, and the trusty whistle blows.

But still, if Josh Howard hits those free throws, we win that game.

Isn't that the game where Josh called a timeout when we had none? Ugh, it still pains me thinking about that series. We were so close.

 

[DragonCowboy]

Isn't that the game where Josh called a timeout when we had none? Ugh, it still pains me thinking about that series. We were so close.

Well, I believe we were up 1, and then one of the Heat players got 2 free throws (was it Wade?). The Heat player hit the first, and then Josh called our last timeout, which meant we couldn't advance the ball. The Heat player hit the second, putting them up by 1.

Then, we had to heave it up from half court. If Howard didn't call the timeout, we'd have a better chance, as we'd be able to advance it.

Ever since that finals game, there is no player I hate more than Dwyane Wade. And it's not that he beat us, it's the way he beat us.

 

[thekavorka]

Well, I believe we were up 1, and then one of the Heat players got 2 free throws (was it Wade?). The Heat player hit the first, and then Josh called our last timeout, which meant we couldn't advance the ball. The Heat player hit the second, putting them up by 1.

Then, we had to heave it up from half court. If Howard didn't call the timeout, we'd have a better chance, as we'd be able to advance it.

Ever since that finals game, there is no player I hate more than Dwyane Wade. And it's not that he beat us, it's the way he beat us.

Yeah, I remember now. Wade is my most hated player as well.

It's going to be even tougher to get to the finals this year. If we don't make it, I just don't want to see the Heat there.

 

[DragonCowboy]

Yeah, I remember now. Wade is my most hated player as well.

It's going to be even tougher to get to the finals this year. If we don't make it, I just don't want to see the Heat there.

Well I'm thinking we'll get the 2nd seed, or 1st, depending on how the Suns finish their season.

I see us playing the Suns in the Finals, and I think we win that game.

I think this is our year, we've looked great so far.

 

[thekavorka]

I think this is our year, we've looked great so far.

We've played great defense so far (except for Anthony Johnson), but I don't feel like the team has been as aggressive as they were last year. I believe the mavs have the fewest points in the paint this year. That will not get it done in the playoffs. I want to see everyone attack the basket and not settle for jumpshots.

 

[THUMPER]

i guess u never watched the Celtics play the Lakers....they were doing things that the Pistons became famous for.

True but not to the same degree as the Pistons. Also, by the late 80s the rules, or at least how they were being enforced, had changed regarding physical contact and the Pistons exploited that to the fullest.

Physical basketball has been around for a very long time. So why you blame the Pistons, I have no idea. In fact, if you want an excellent example of team play, the Bad Boy Pistons are it. They had like 5-7 guys a night in double figures. They were unselfish on offense, and were superb at help defense.

The Pistons were an excellent team, no doubt about that, and they played great team ball but it was the physicality they brought to the game that made it possible for guys like Shaq (or those guarding him) to get away with murder.

I do blame Stern, MJ, and ESPN.

Stern marketed the one-on-one stylings of players like MJ.....MJ made it popular to be a one man army out there.....and Sportscenter made it to where the only way you get a highlight is if you are dunking on someone....nevermind the midrange jumper, the 3pt shot, FTs, crisp passing, or team defense....it is all about the one on one dunk fest.

Good Lord, how could I have left ESPN/Sportscenter off my list! You are exactly right and this is something that I have been shouting from my soapbox for many years now, that ESPN has changed the focus of sports from team play and winning games to individual highlights.

Jordan was very good....but he didnt become great until he learned to be a team player...until he learned to trust his teammates . Only then did he win 6 rings in the 90s.

I am not actually saying Jordan ruined the NBA....what I mean by that, is that his popularity, along with his style of play helped to ruin the product. All the wannabes who tried to copy his game, but couldn't.......guys like Vince, McGrady, Bryant, etc.....were the ones that ruined the game that the 80s made so fun to watch.

Jordan, and to an extent Julius Irving before him, brought an aura of one-on-one playground ball to the NBA. They were so incredibly talented that you couldn't take your eyes off them when they had the ball in the hopes of seeing something awesome! The problem is that everyone wanted to be the next Jordan and tried to emulate him so the game degenerated into what we have today.

If you watch games from the 60s or 70s you see a very different game than even what we had in the 80s. You couldn't travel, you had to dribble with your hand on top of the ball, and fouls were called very tightly for the most part. Dr. J brought the "extra step" in with his highlight-reel dunks and the NBA stopped calling traveling the way it always had in the past. If they hadn't, Irving would have been called for it every time he took off for a dunk.

Watching Magic Johnson "carry" the ball as he dribbled or Tim Hardaway with his famous "crossover" would have been a turnover in the past but not in the 80s and beyond. Michael Jordan, pushed off constantly to gain separation, carried the ball, and traveled. He almost never got called for a foul but got the calls if someone waved a hand at him or was within two feet of him. The "superstar" rules came into place during that era and the big names got the calls while the scrubs got the fouls.

Now you have Shaq taking a step (or two, or three), planting both feet, jumping, coming down with both feet, jumping again and dunking the ball. I'm sorry, when did that not constitute traveling? Or "up and down" as they called it way back in the day.

The rules have changed to accommodate the individual highlight and to appease ESPN.

The sheer marketing and entertainment value that Jordan brought to the table was huge and helped to save the NBA.

I disagree with the notion that Jordan helped to save the NBA. Magic and Bird had already done that long before Jordan came along. I do agree though that the NBA was on its last legs in the late 70s and that it needed saving but it wasn't MJ that did it. The league was incredibly popular in the 80s due to the brand of basketball that was being played.

What Jordan did was to bring the NBA into a realm of financial bounty such as the game had never seen before.

Good stuff Biggems