Good basketball - 1987

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Having said that, I'm going to take exception with a couple things in your post.

1) That series, and the NBA in general, had LOTS of physical play. Not only was the physical play there, it was an accepted part of the game.

2) Some of that stuff does filter down to games that I (we) do work. But part of it happens because that's just the style of play now.

And I'm going to take exception with a couple of things in your post.

1) I watched the same game yesterday on ESPN. I also watched Game 7 from the same series. Yes, there was physical play. But(big "but") the physical play was comprised of individual plays in which fouls were usually called. And the physical play of that era was completely different than today's physical play. What wasn't present back then was:
a) defenders bumping the dribbler all over the court.
b) defenders pushing cutters out of their paths.
c) hands, forearms and elbows not being used continuously by defenders to push offensive players out of position.
d) allowing the defenders double-teaming to whack the hell out of the offensive player with no call as long as the ball wasn't lost.
e) allowing contact on the shooter as long as he could get a shot off.
If you watch the defense, as I was doing, there wasn't really anything extra to call because they weren't bodying offensive players all over the court. Hands, arms and forearms were usually kept off of offensive players. Compared to today's NBA, the contact out there could almost be called minimal.

2) I agree that you can't really blame the officials per se, but the amount of contact that we, as officials, now allow is sureasheck one helluva lot different than 20 years ago. And yes, that's because the game has changed. However, that still doesn't mean that it's changed for the better. If it was, we wouldn't be seeing POE's issued every year at the high school and college level, pleading with official's to cut down the contact and rough play being allowed. One of the biggest thing that I've noticed from then to now is the amount of contact that we now routinely let go. What is accepted now wasn't acceptable back then. In those NBA games(and college games of that era also), if a defender whacked a shooter, they called the foul. Period. If a player got whacked on a double-team, they called the foul. Period. The concept of having a "patient" whistle on ALL plays, and not calling a foul if the ball didn't come loose just didn't exist.

It probably comes down to which style of play that each individual prefers to watch. I prefer the old style with less contact and more skill. Others prefer today's game. Who's right? Both of us. Ultimately you vote with your channel changer anyway.

Jmo.