Tapology Talks: Basketball

I've seen a Tapology Talks for everything else so wth.

 

With the playoffs approaching lets talk some basketball.

Some news from recently:

- Heat get 18th win straight over Indiana.

- Lakers beat Chicago to take 8th seed in the West.

- Durants 23 pts and 10 rebs get the Thunder their 5th win in a row against the Cetics.

- Raptors beat Cavs, Kyrie Irving injures shoulder.

- Magic gave the 76ers their 5th straight loss.

- Suns beat Rockets even though Harden gets 38 pts.

* Edited at 03.11.2013, 12:11 AM ET *

Rondo was good until all of his superstar teammates left.

Where or Where did LebRondo go?

Knicks legend Anthony Mason has passed away at 48. RIP! 

Hassan Whiteside's been workin on that double leg

Would have liked to see him follow up with some PRIME TITO ORTIZ HELLBOWS, but hey it's a start.

Watching a really good game between the Bulls and Thunder.  Anyone else notice a resemblance?

I've been watching the game as well, and Mirotic has been RIDICULOUS tonight.

EDIT: That shot was Ray Allen Heat/Spurs I-esqe.

* Edited at 03.05.2015, 10:39 PM ET *

I'd like to give a shout out to Mitch McGary, thanks to his effort in tonight's game he earned my fantasy team -1  points jesus f christ

The Bucks retiring Bob Dandridge's No. 10 jersey! 

http://www.nba.com/video/games/bucks/2015/03/07/0021400929-was-mil-play3.nba/

* Edited at 03.07.2015, 11:46 PM ET *

I got questions for you guys. Would player like Ray Allen and Paul Pierce be as good in the 80's as today? Ive discussed this with my friends who believe they do better, but my friends also have very bad habit of way overestimating todays players against past era's. Personally I think they both do worse and noticeably so.  I think Ray in my opinion would have much less accurate shot given the pressure you where allowed to put on people back then, such as hand slapping/and grabbing jersey's.  As for Pierce I think his points per game would be noticeably lower. He goes to the charity strike alot and would not nearly get as many free throws as he gets in today's game. Both would be good, don't get me wrong, but players like them I feel benefited greatly in the era that they played in.  Just wondering what other peoples thoughts are on this are?

* Edited at 03.24.2015, 5:07 PM ET *

I think Ray Allen would have been just as good if not better. Ray's a guy who was never too affected by pressure on his shot. I agree with Pierce though. A huge percentage of his game was predicated on getting to the stripe, so if he weren't getting the beneficial calls, his numbers would drop dramatically. 

See that where I disagree about Ray. Ray gets a little to much credit for his ability to shoot under pressure. Ray more of a get open and catch shooter. He does not really routinely shoot well when he being pressured hard compared to his reputation.  I mean Ray is a great shooter and good shot under pressure but he not nearly as good at it as people suggest. He made big shot for the heat, I will give him that, but he also numerous times missed key shots for the celtics. He also routinely falter in the play offs for the Celtics as well. Despite his hype, he not nearly the clutch shooter or pressure shooter as someone like Reggie miller. Ray biggest assets has been his ability to get open which is impressive and his ability to keep a shooting rhythm but there are a lot of people who are better shots when being pressured. I think ray could do well due to his ability to get open and catch/shoot, but I think he have a very hard time getting his shot off when he was covered. He also be dealing with taller defenders on average as well then in today's game who are far more aggressive. Ive seen ray have to much trouble with getting his shot off with one defender on him who can't even touch him while he shooting to think he be able to fair as well when he has someone actually grabbing at him and hand checking him, both of which are not allowed in today's game. 

* Edited at 03.24.2015, 6:24 PM ET *

^ Very true. I think this style of play would he harder for him to pull off in the 80's as effectively due to the fact the defense was able to grab your jersey to slow you down which would force him to take more contested shots.

* Edited at 03.24.2015, 8:00 PM ET *

Let's just build a time machine and send Jesus Shuttlesworth back to 1986. Problem solved. 

Bill Simmons was talking about how defenses in the 80s weren't that great, especially in the Western Conference. He said they get glorified because of the whole Jordan Rules/Bad boy Pistons and the Lakers/Celtics rivalry where everyone went after each other. 

To quote him, "Defense was pretty much non-existent until the last 6 minutes, there's been some revisionist history when it comes to NBA defense in the 80s"

I agree with that 100%, especially after seeing these numbers

Team Points per game and points allowed were WAY higher than they are today, even though offenses are way better today.

* Edited at 03.25.2015, 8:32 PM ET *

     I don't know that defense is made out to be something special in the 80's. It's more about the fact that the game was allowed to be played much more physical. If a player drove the lane and you tackled him and bounced his head off the floor it was a foul and that was it. Now it's a flagrant 1 and you're ejected, fined and possibly suspended. 

    What made the 80's great wasn't defense it was team basketball and true rivalries. Now you have guys like Lebron wanting to team up with every superstar in the league and guys being all chummy with each other. That takes a lot of the intensity out of the games when we watch them. Style of play was built around TEAM and not one guy taking 97 dribbles and then taking a off balance jumper or driving to the basket and falling down without being touched.

   And Bill Simmons should never be considered anything other then a village idiot in terms of basketball. The guy literally watches YouTube videos to scout players. 

I like Bill Simmons. He can be way too much of a Celtics fanboy, but for the most part he knows his ****. I really like what he's done with Grantland and the 30 For 30 Series