The 2009-2010 NBA Season has entered its final stage with the NBA Finals starting on Thursday June 3rd. The two most successful franchises will once again battle each other for the championship trophy. Both the Lakers and Celtics defeated their opponents primarily for putting the focus on the defensive aspect of the game. Defense always has been a winning formula in the playoffs – some teams played a ‘dirty’ defense like the Pistons or Knicks in the 90s, some play a tough one-on-one team defense like the Celtics in recent years.
As an editor or beat writer, you try to find the story behind wins or losses. Often, it’s the players that step up their game (surprisingly) and be a factor in a playoff series.
J.J. Redick for example impressed me with his hardnosed defense and good decisions on offense. On many occasions, he drew charges or harassed Ray Allen on the perimeter while taking good shots on the offensive end. Redick is a good example for an intelligent player who knows the rules of the NBA and adapts his game to the philosophy of the referees.
However, these rules have taken a negative turn recently in terms of the overall game, the flow and enjoyment from a viewers’ perspective. By the time you see Glen Davis taking a charge from Jameer Nelson in the paint, you know that there is something wrong. If you start to take a serious look on how many of these charges will be called you get the notion that the game simply changed. In fact, you see players like Derek Fisher flopping all over the place trying to draw an offensive foul or implying that the opponent just elbowed him to death.
This negative development draws comparison to soccer. Especially here in Europe, certain teams have the philosophy to dive and flop all the time. This not only frustrates the fan, it destroys the flow of the game and the opponents’ concentration.
The only positive difference is the English Premier League. British fans in the arena do not appreciate this kind of behavior. Every time, a player is acting after a foul of flops, the audience reacts.
In fact, this reaction made players change their attitude resulting in a more fair and hard game that is great to watch.
Transporting this into the NBA is rather difficult though, since the audience has no true influence on the players or referees – in fact, you won’t find a single person in the STAPLES Center, throwing f-bombs towards Derek Fisher. The NBA needs to react and apply some rule changes. The game should not get out of hand, don’t get me wrong. But wouldn’t it be better if certain behavior of certain players simply vanish? Every time I see Fisher falling to the ground I hope that the opponent is performing a Vujacic on him … several times. It just frustrates me a lot.
So please, Dear NBA, find a way to remove these cheap flops and theatrical performances by the players.
If you don’t put a stop on it, the wheel will continue to spin and the game gets more and more tough to watch.
Robert Jerzy is addicted to basketball and analyzes the game beyond the usual stats and figures. Robert is a regular columnist for the biggest german speaking magazine BASKET and his own site nykjournal.wordpress.com.
