Watched an NBA game tonight.

[YouKay]

That was a bad game to watch if it was your first. Knicks stink and Celtics phoned it in other than Kyrie and Horford. Watch the Celtics vs Sixers on Feb. 12 and you will see some great basketball. The Celtics tend to play down or up to their opponents. Most college teams do the same.

Sixers vs Warriors on Wednesday was a hell of a game. Nuggets vs Rockets was very entertaining last night. I love watching all these new foreign players.

I dont know how you can prefer watching a college game where nobody can shoot, bad teams play slowdown ball and zone defenses, scores in the 60s are common, and the refs control everything and do 20 minute reviews of flagrant fouls.

 

[floatingyou]

For the first time in my life. Boston and New York. Do people actually pay good money to watch that garbage? No defense, no fouls, no fast break, no press, no zone, no turnovers, no free throws, just walk down the court and shoot outside the three point line. All the excitement of a pile of dog$***

Lol good lord. 1/10

 

[floatingyou]

I love when people who never watch NBA games, then watch one random game, come back with the idea that they don’t play defense.

The defense played in the NBA is way too cerebral for college. And as a few have already pointed out, you can’t press an NBA team. They eat that shit alive. If not for my allegiance to UK I’d rarely watch a college basketball game. It’s vastly inferior to the NBA.

EXACTLY

It shows their basic lack of education about the game. Nothing else

 

[KRJ1975]

This is from the same crowd that probably enjoyed Kentucky's 56-47 win over Vandy earlier this year and chalked it up to "elite defense." LOL.

 

[GonzoCat90]

If you believe that someone who follows basketball enough to join a message board watched their first NBA game in this year of our Lord 2019, I don't know what to tell you.

 

[CatScratchFever88]

I realize most of America doesn’t like or understand hockey but the nhl is miles more fun to watch than the nba especially the playoffs

 

[KRJ1975]

I realize most of America doesn’t like or understand hockey but the nhl is miles more fun to watch than the nba especially the playoffs

Caveat, I grew up in Northern Ontario.

NHL playoffs are the best thing in sports, period.

There are pockets of the US that love hockey. Nashville for example has turned into a little hotbed, they love that team. Most of it is an access issue. Hockey is regional and very expensive. It can be tough for people who grow up with almost no exposure to a sport to get into it.

 

[MegaBlue05]

The NBA is a different level because just about every player is so damn skilled. I’ve watched some clunker NBA games. I’ve also seen stretches where neither team misses for 5 minutes straight.

I prefer the pagentry of college, but would rather watch offense in the NBA vs some of the college teams that score in the 50s or low 60s.

 

[Catzman]

Thats why Charles Barkley talked shit about it during our game with Auburn. Said all anyone wants to do is jack up 50 or more 3s a game like they're Golden State. Positions are meaningless because whoever the best player or superstar is will be the one to get the ball after a made basket, spend 8 seconds walking it up the court, stand still for 5 or 6 seconds as the "play develops" which ends up being a screen from the big man so he can get free to jack up a 3 or go iso. Its 9 players watching 1 player kill 24 seconds of their life at a time. 1 on 5 basketball. It's obnoxious, boring, and annoying. Only decent basketball is playoff basketball.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

My son wants me to watch it with him...ughhh. Hate it. I’d rather watch a high school game

How does it feel to have a lower IQ than your boy?

 

[It'saDoneDeal]

Go watch a game in person and tell me those guys don't play defense. God, what a dumb take.

If anything, they play that much harder than they did 15-20 years ago. If you're a big man in today's game you can't just sit your fat ass under the basket all day like they did in the 80s. If you can't guard out to 30 feet you'll get exposed with a quickness.

NBA basketball is incredible. If you actually love basketball that is.

 

[Ky_Bred_Cat]

I enjoyed the rivalries in the 80's and 90's. Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, Bulls, etc. The NBA has seemed flat to me since then, lacking personality. Maybe these superteam's that are beginning to form will lead to some rivalries worthy of earlier times?

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

I think there are two types of people who watch sports. Some watch it for the individual players or talent they see. Others watch because they like the game. I watch basketball, football, and baseball because I enjoy the game. The talent is secondary to the integrity of the game. I hate the NBA game. To me, they have put the integrity of the game secondary to the individual players. I hate that they have taken away several coaching options to try to beat teams with better talent. In other words, I don't like that you can't play zone. I don't like the defensive 3 second rule. I don't like the arc in the lane that college has now also implemented. I don't like the short shot clock. I think college is also making a mistake there. I despise the rule where you can call timeout in the last seconds of a game and get the ball at half court. All of these types of changes have really hurt the game in my opinion. They have helped great players dominate and stand out more, and some people love that. Personally, I don't. I like the strategy aspect of sports and how you game plan to beat teams that have more talent than you do. The NBA has taken away so many coaching options to counter teams with better talent that the game itself is just boring to me. I would watch college basketball or even high school basketball over the NBA.

Zone is allowed in the NBA, just no one runs it because NBA talent destroys zones.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

Thats why Charles Barkley talked shit about it during our game with Auburn. Said all anyone wants to do is jack up 50 or more 3s a game like they're Golden State. Positions are meaningless because whoever the best player or superstar is will be the one to get the ball after a made basket, spend 8 seconds walking it up the court, stand still for 5 or 6 seconds as the "play develops" which ends up being a screen from the big man so he can get free to jack up a 3 or go iso. Its 9 players watching 1 player kill 24 seconds of their life at a time. 1 on 5 basketball. It's obnoxious, boring, and annoying. Only decent basketball is playoff basketball.

Houston averages 44.5 three point attempts a game, everyone else is between 24.8 and 37.7 a game. The league average per team is 31.4 attempts.

There's a reason why NBA teams shoot so many threes. It works, and on a league-wide scale it's the most effective form of offense the NBA has ever seen. The NBA league average for 3P% is 35.4%, that's equivalent to 53.1% on twos. The NBA league average on two-pointers is 51.8%. The 1983-84 NBA season saw the highest leage average field goal percentage ever at 49.2%, the average two point field goal percentage was only 49.9%

Shooting so many threes at an effective rate from 3, 4, or 5 different positions spreads the floor, allowing for more space to penetrate and making it more difficult for teams to play defense because they have to cover more space.

This year's NBA has the highest effective field goal percentage and offensive rating in NBA history, and the three best years for both of those numbers is this year and the past two seasons.

It's not going anywhere until someone else discovers a more effective form of basketball. And you better get used to it because it's coming to college too.

 

[JDHoss]

If you believe that someone who follows basketball enough to join a message board watched their first NBA game in this year of our Lord 2019, I don't know what to tell you.

Yeah, the OP basically shot themselves in the foot with the opening statement. You've never watched an NBA game in your life, and suddenly you decide on a Friday night to watch the Celtics and Knicks, while the Knicks are fighting with a couple of other teams trying to tank their way to the bottom?

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

Zone is allowed in the NBA, just no one runs it because NBA talent destroys zones.

Technically, that is true, but not in practice. In other words, zone defense is not specifically prohibited, but defenders standing inside the lane must be actively guarding someone within arms length within 3 seconds. That rule pretty much makes zone defenses impossible to run. For all intents and purposes, they are illegal. The NBA wants to encourage one on one athletic plays and offense. That's fine, if that's what they want. I just don't think it makes for interesting basketball.

 

[germuk]

If you want to see an example of bad basketball, look no further than VaTech and NC State today. Yikes. Any NBA game is better than that

 

[UKWildcatT]

- Refs calling off the ball meaningless fouls alot
- Refs going to monitor all the freaking time...takes a game meant for pace and turns it into a football game with so many stoppages
- Teams teaching guys to flop...nobody in college can drive the ball to the hoop
- Zone defense...I'm fine with it...but it's turned some games into 3pt shooting crap fests

Can’t argue with any of this. I’d still watch college over the nba though

 

[BIGBLUE402]

Technically, that is true, but not in practice. In other words, zone defense is not specifically prohibited, but defenders standing inside the lane must be actively guarding someone within arms length within 3 seconds. That rule pretty much makes zone defenses impossible to run. For all intents and purposes, they are illegal. The NBA wants to encourage one on one athletic plays and offense. That's fine, if that's what they want. I just don't think it makes for interesting basketball.

The Dallas Mavericks ran a zone in the finals against a LeBron and Wade led Heat team and it worked, mainly because the heat were a bad shooting team.

Teams can work around the defensive three second call but zones are impossible to run in the NBA now because every player on the floor can be a threat from deep which is the biggest weakness of the zone

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

Technically, that is true, but not in practice. In other words, zone defense is not specifically prohibited, but defenders standing inside the lane must be actively guarding someone within arms length within 3 seconds. That rule pretty much makes zone defenses impossible to run. For all intents and purposes, they are illegal. The NBA wants to encourage one on one athletic plays and offense. That's fine, if that's what they want. I just don't think it makes for interesting basketball.

A zone can be run without someone standing under the basket for 24 seconds. College teams do it.

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

A zone can be run without someone standing under the basket for 24 seconds. College teams do it.

3-2, 2-3, and 1-3-1 zones all have a middle guy who spends a lot of time in the lane. That's not to say you can't work around that somehow, but it greatly diminishes the effectiveness of the zone. To argue that the rule doesn't discourage zones and the strategy of having people clog the lane to prevent elite athletes from driving the ball to the basket is just silliness. That is the very reason they implemented the rule. They want elite athletes driving the basketball because they perceive that to be more entertaining for fans. For some it is. To me it's boring. The rule effectively eliminates zone defenses from being a viable option in the NBA. That's pretty common knowledge. It's not really worth arguing about though.

Either way, for me, the NBA is just not very compelling. The options a coach has to counter better athletes is so limited the game is not interesting.

 

[Emarc]

Nba game is so top heavy. Golden State will win the title. Whats to watch?

 

[yoshukai]

For me Basketball ends at the college level . I've tried to watch their product a few times over the years , just not a fan .

 

[KRJ1975]

I hope all you lovers of elite defense at the college level watched the poetry in motion that was Va Tech vs NC State today.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

For the first time in my life. Boston and New York. Do people actually pay good money to watch that garbage? No defense, no fouls, no fast break, no press, no zone, no turnovers, no free throws, just walk down the court and shoot outside the three point line. All the excitement of a pile of dog$***

Imagine turning on a basketball game and WANTING to see fouls, turnovers, and free throws


Sounds like you would be a fan of bad women's basketball.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

3-2, 2-3, and 1-3-1 zones all have a middle guy who spends a lot of time in the lane. That's not to say you can't work around that somehow, but it greatly diminishes the effectiveness of the zone. To argue that the rule doesn't discourage zones and the strategy of having people clog the lane to prevent elite athletes from driving the ball to the basket is just silliness. That is the very reason they implemented the rule. They want elite athletes driving the basketball because they perceive that to be more entertaining for fans. For some it is. To me it's boring. The rule effectively eliminates zone defenses from being a viable option in the NBA. That's pretty common knowledge. It's not really worth arguing about though.

Either way, for me, the NBA is just not very compelling. The options a coach has to counter better athletes is so limited the game is not interesting.

All the person in the middle of the zone has to do is a move a couple feet to the left or right. If they can't recover in time to defend the rim from someone penetrating from the three point line, then they shouldn't be on the court in the first place.

 

[Hoskins91]

3-2, 2-3, and 1-3-1 zones all have a middle guy who spends a lot of time in the lane. That's not to say you can't work around that somehow, but it greatly diminishes the effectiveness of the zone. To argue that the rule doesn't discourage zones and the strategy of having people clog the lane to prevent elite athletes from driving the ball to the basket is just silliness. That is the very reason they implemented the rule. They want elite athletes driving the basketball because they perceive that to be more entertaining for fans. For some it is. To me it's boring. The rule effectively eliminates zone defenses from being a viable option in the NBA. That's pretty common knowledge. It's not really worth arguing about though.

Either way, for me, the NBA is just not very compelling. The options a coach has to counter better athletes is so limited the game is not interesting.

You exaggerating how difficult it would be. It wouldn’t work anyway. Good luck zoning a decent NBA team. Acting like talent isn’t always the most important factor is silly.

 

[jgodek]

The rules are set up so you can’t play defense in the NBA.

There’s no traveling. No offensive charge.
Nobody fights for rebounds, there’s always one guy rebounding and the rest of the players are already down the court.

It’s very boring to me. There’s no fight in NBA games. At least in the regular season.

 

[BoulderCat]

I watched the rockets vs the nuggets and it was an exciting game! Nuggets won 136 vs 122

I thought so to.

 

[JASUN74]

If they can keep the core together and add some veteran players still playing well they could make some noise!

Yeah buddy. Honestly the only kinda player they need is Montrez Harrell! Spelling on his name I’m sure is wrong! Lol. As far as the future of the team. Just my opinion of course but he has been the only player to really BE THE DIFFERENCE in their games against them this year. I do love the way they play though. Every kid on the team has bought in and are soo close to each other. Love it. It’s kinda like a senior college team or something. Ive been a Kings fan for 25 years probably but have when they got Chris Webber I really started to watch them a lot. This is the most they’ve ever really been truly serious about building a good team I think.

 

[clew84]

Can they just stop playing the organ on every possession?? Most annoying thing - the sound just never stops.

 

[sluggercatfan]

I get how you can not have the same emotional investment if you didn’t grow up rooting for a particular franchise. I’ll never understand the people who would rather watch a random college game versus an NBA game. If I wasn’t a Kentucky fan I’d basically be done with college sports, outside of obvious big matchups, and even then thate ’s only if I had nothing else going on.

Wouldn't give you two sh$$s for the nfl or nba...nothing but a bunch of over grown, overpaid crybabi$$ .

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

All the person in the middle of the zone has to do is a move a couple feet to the left or right. If they can't recover in time to defend the rim from someone penetrating from the three point line, then they shouldn't be on the court in the first place.

I think the lane in the NBA is something like 16' wide. You would have to move a lot further than a few feet to stay in compliance with the rules. If you love the NBA, that's fine. I really don't care. We all have our own opinions about things. I don't care that you love it. You shouldn't care that I think it sucks.

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

You exaggerating how difficult it would be. It wouldn’t work anyway. Good luck zoning a decent NBA team. Acting like talent isn’t always the most important factor is silly.

I don't think I am exaggerating it. Isn't the lane in the NBA something like 16' wide? That would make it virtually impossible to clog the lane with a zone because you would be required to exit the lane every 3 seconds or guard someone man to man inside the lane. In other words, zones inside the lane are explicitly illegal except in 3 second spurts.

Of course talent is a huge component of winning in any sport. I never said otherwise. But coaching also matters. Good coaches do beat more talented teams. In the NBA, that is more difficult to do because of how the rules limit your options as a coach.

I'm not sure why you care so much what my opinion of the NBA is. I certainly don't care that you enjoy watching it. To each his own. My son likes it. I would rather watch grass grow. Why does it matter?

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

You exaggerating how difficult it would be. It wouldn’t work anyway. Good luck zoning a decent NBA team. Acting like talent isn’t always the most important factor is silly.

Just a quick question because I am curious about your thinking on the matter. Why do you think playing zone would not work in the NBA?

 

[HagginHall1999]

I love when people who never watch NBA games, then watch one random game, come back with the idea that they don’t play defense.

The defense played in the NBA is way too cerebral for college. And as a few have already pointed out, you can’t press an NBA team. They eat that shit alive. If not for my allegiance to UK I’d rarely watch a college basketball game. It’s vastly inferior to the NBA.

NBA is terrible now.

I love when people who never watch NBA games, then watch one random game, come back with the idea that they don’t play defense.

The defense played in the NBA is way too cerebral for college. And as a few have already pointed out, you can’t press an NBA team. They eat that shit alive. If not for my allegiance to UK I’d rarely watch a college basketball game. It’s vastly inferior to the NBA.

Obviously the skill set is higher but NBA is terrible these days...it isn't necessarily their fault, it is more the embracing of the 3 point shot that has made it so bad along with the lack of parity and the NBDL or G League...God awful.

The two should work together to make the sport better as it is the best of all sports IMO...struggling now though.

 

[HagginHall1999]

If you believe that someone who follows basketball enough to join a message board watched their first NBA game in this year of our Lord 2019, I don't know what to tell you.

I would venture to guess people saying the NBA is good these days are of millenial age and never saw a game in the 80's or 90's.

It's the same Jordan vs LeBron argument. Jordan would absolutely eat LeBron alive...

 

[westerncat]

Todays NBA game is not for me. I use to watch Boston when Bird played with them. Had rather watch a good college game.

 

[zannmann]

Last NBA game I watched, Shaq and Kobe played for the Lakers. Have never seen LeBron play a game.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

The rules are set up so you can’t play defense in the NBA.

There’s no traveling. No offensive charge.
Nobody fights for rebounds, there’s always one guy rebounding and the rest of the players are already down the court.

It’s very boring to me. There’s no fight in NBA games. At least in the regular season.

I've watched parts of several NBA games today and saw charges called.