Paul Pierce is playing the best basketball of his life as the Celtics beat the Lakers in what sounds like an exciting game. Unfortunately, I missed the game because I was watching Iron Chef America.
I wouldn't have missed a Celtics Lakers game in the eighties, but then again Iron Chef wasn't on back then. The Godfather and Patriotsy2k have commented recently on the poor state of the NBA. The Godfather complained about the lack of teamwork and passing while Patriotsy2k pointed out how expansion watered down the talent. They're both right for a change.
The NBA will never be better than the eighties NBA; we should stop comparing the game to that era. It's like trying to compare the girls of Hampton Beach in New Hampshire to South Beach girls. Appreciate what you had in the eighties (and at South Beach), and make the best out of today's game (try to find that 1% of NH girls under 200 pounds and with all their teeth).
That being said, today's NBA is better than their product from about five years ago. The Godfather pointed out how teams that actually play like teams (Spurs and Pistons) are the most successful, and I received a drunken phone call from Patriotsy2k from a bar room telling me that he was watching some exciting Western Conference basketball.
So there is some good NBA basketball. The Suns and the Mavericks play an exciting team game. Wade, LeBron, Iverson, and Pierce are great to watch. The key to enjoying the NBA is to ignore the bad stuff (which I have mentioned repeatedly) and pay attention to the good stuff.
2 comments:
Patriotsy2k obviously hasn't seen the Iron Chef America yet; it's outstanding television.
Defense shmevense Godfather, the great Tommy Heinsohn once said if your team can score 125, then all your defense has to do is keep the other team at 124 or under (something like that)
Defense is important; there was some undetected sarcasm in my "defense shmefense line."
However, I do think several NBA coaches have gone overboard emphasizing defense and ignoring offense.
I believe the Celtics and Lakers of the 80's weren't considered great defensive teams, but their offenses were great, and they had the ability to play good defense at important juncture of the games.
I don't know if the Mavs are capable of playing defense when they need to (they haven't yet); the Suns big problem is their best offensive player, Nash, is their worst defender at a position where you need at least average defense.
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