Last nights game acted as the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I love basketball. I have played for approx. 17 years now. I am very good and have no problem admitting that. But, what is played in the NBA is not basketball by any stretch of the imagination.
At no other level of the sport can someone drive the lane with less than 2 minutes left, shoot, get knocked to the ground, and have no foul called. I won’t go so far as to say the refs (and, by extension) the NBA wanted the Lakers to win. But why, if something is a foul on every other level of a sport, is it considered OK on the pro level? A foul is a foul. Screw make-up calls. Screw no-calls because a star player did it. Has Reggie Miller ever traveled? According to the rules - Yes. According to the refs - apparently not.
I am sick of it. Call the freaking game by the freaking rules, or amend them to say “Don’t call a foul in the last two minutes if Shaq commits it. Otherwise, maybe call it. But there had better be blood or an injury.” When Patrick Ewing gets the ball, he takes more steps than the cast of “A Chorus Line”. Enforce the rules and you will actually have a watchable game (and season) that the common person can relate too.
Is it any wonder that college basketball is a much better game to watch? And, is it any wonder that NBA ratings and attendance are suffering? Get a clue and have the rules represent the game and have the refs make the players adhere to the rules.
Otherwise, continue to say goodbye to fan and television revenue.
I no longer watch pro basketball, for the reasons mentioned in the OP as well as the whole strike/lockout fiasco last year.
I used to be a big Celtics fan during the Bird/McHale years; and then followed Orlando b/c of Shaq (LSU connection) and Anfernee Hardaway (MSU: I lived in Memphis for 5 years).
But no more! Teams can’t keep players; players refuse to play for tens of millions, too many teams in the playoffs (where 4 of 7 is too many games until the final), horrible attitudes exhibited by the players, etc…
And now it is becoming clearer that there is some kind of influence on the outcomes of games. I won’t say overt conspiracy, but something is going on, however subtle. I know the TV Gods would rather have certain match-ups than others for ratings sake. Refs ignore violations depending on the player or game situation. Enough!
Give me the college game any day. These kids really want to play and win. I seems to me that many professionals don’t care whether they win or not as long as they pick up that million dollar paycheck. Wealth beyond comprehension has to sap the incentive of work ethic to some extent.
I realize many of these problems can be applied to other sports, including my beloved baseball. However, pro basketball just doesn’t have the inherent beauty of baseball, or the dramatic intensity of football. (I think the college versions of these sports are more interesting as well).
It seems to me that the refs are too aware of who the “superstars” are and make calls accordingly. My ideas to rectify this?
-Put several refs in cryogenic stasis at the beginning of the season and only bring them out for the playoffs, especially the Knicks/Heat series.
-Get one specific ref to watch only Reggie Miller, John Stockton, et. al. and sock em with a delay of game when they start the flopping.
-Gag Bill Walton. I know it doesn’t have anything to do with the OP, but it should be done anyway.
I’m not a Blazers fan but they’ve been the victims of some bad calls recently. IMHO, “Rasheed was staring at me!” and last night’s no call for Steve Smith were probably the two worst offenders. The reffing and the poor performance of my beloved Bullets have really decreased my desire to watch a basketball game.
I still watch, but certainly don’t enjoy as much as I did 5 years ago. Watching Shaq play is painful. Everytime he goes to the hoop he bangs the opposing center out of the way with his elbow. They NEVER call it unless he goes to high. Ugh!
Jordan used to get the same treatment. Reggie Miller walks every time he catches and shoots. Ditto for Ewing when he tries to drive.
It did get better this year though…I watched a lot of good games on cable.
And by the way. Bill Walton…could be the worst sports announcer ever. Even worse than John Tesh.
Walton is either criticizing somebody far too harshly or saying that a player, timeout, coach is “essential”. Goddamnit Walton! A timeout is sometimes just a frickin’ timeout.
Not a big Larry Johnson fan, but I would have loved to see LJ knock Walton out last year when the two were going at it.
If anybody works for NBC, I want you to know that I have started watcingh all the games he calls on mute.
Hey, as long as we’re fixing pro basketball to make it enjoyable again, can we have the zone defense back? All those guys are just too good for man-on-man, and it’s too easy to score. Allow zone defenses and up the shot clock to 30 or 35 seconds, and then we’ve got an exciting game again.
I haven’t been a big fan of the NBA since my Bad Boys of the Motor City were finally subdued by the evil horde from Chicago. (And I can say with pride that we were the last ones in America to stop hating Michael Jordan and finally accept him as the greatest player ever.)
What you’re talking about, Mully, unfortunately goes on in other sports, too.
A penalty is a penalty in the National Hockey League – until the third period or overtime comes along. Or the playoffs. Then it’s not.
High-sticking of any kind will not be tolerated – unless Jaromir Jagr or Pavel Bure are the stick-swingers.
Ditto for baseball. Reputation factors in WAY too much. The strike zone isn’t finite. It’s arbitrary, depending on whether you’re Greg Maddux or some pitcher for the Twins. It’s also dependant upon whether the batter is Derek Jeter or some guy for the Tigers.
What’s to like about the NBA anymore? All the players stand around so one can go one-on-one with another half the time. Oooh. Fluid. Exciting.
Maybe it’s just unfortunately the way he looks, but the NBA’s premier player, Shaquille O’Neal, looks like he could give a fuck about playing 95 percent of the time, like it’s a struggle to even keep him interested in the game.
Players aren’t players anymore. They’re salary cap slots. You can’t develop an emotional attachment with the players on your hometown team anymore – unless your team sucks, ironically. Then the players will be sticking around, but you have virtually no chance of building a winner. And if you eventually do, kiss it goodbye because of money.