Cultural reflections (6/13.07)
Last night’s 75-72 abomination in the third game of the NBA playoffs just narrowly missed breaking the all-time record for fewest total points in a final. You have to go back to 1955 and the days when Fort Wayne, Indiana was in the league to get a worse outcome and that was back in the days of set shots and supposedly far inferior athletes. What this current San Antonio Spurs/Cleveland Cavaliers mismatch is doing besides sending people racing away from their television sets is also spotlighting something that many people repeatedly miss when talking about and analyzing basketball at any and all levels. There is an enormous difference between being a great athlete and being a great basketball player. One doesn’t always equal the other, though when it does (people like Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, etc.) the results are phenomenal. But unfortunately so much of current pro basketball has become two-on-two isolation, walk the ball up the court and try to do a backdoor lob for a dunk. This in turn is pretty easy to defense, especially when you have a veteran, well-coached team that knows how to rotate people to open shooters quickly. San Antonio has simply decided to double, if necessary, triple-cover Lebron James and take their chances with everyone else. They also don’t fall off him the second he drives the lane the way the Pistons did. When James heads for the rim, people on both the weak and strong sides collapse, forcing him to either pass off or try to score over two or three people. (more…)
