Lets get back to real NBA bball: 1993 Bulls-Knicks Game 2

[Senser81]

Here is what it is:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foaPMZxtzx4[/ame]

Here is what it was:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o8MUBHUJ3I&feature=related[/ame]

Very similar to Game 1. Knicks shot over 50% from the field and also shot an enormous amount of free throws (38). Jordan shot poorly from the field again (12-32), and its amazing to me that Starks/Rivers were allowed to place both hands on Jordan's chest while trying to guard him (2:50, 2:59). If you watch the game, it seems like Jordan can get around Starks/Rivers with ease, but when he goes up for his shot Oakley or Mason will barrel into him at the last second.

Scottie Pippen gets ejected (6:45) at the start of the 4th after one of the worst calls in NBA history is made against Scott Williams following yet another Charles Oakley acting job. Pippen evidently throws the ball in disgust at the ref. The Bulls make a run at the end of the game, but without Pippen they are just too short-handed. Still, with New York shooting so well, the Bulls probably wouldn't have overtaken the Knicks. Starks has a big dunk at 10:01.

Some interesting antics with Jordan and Greg Anthony (2:00, 7:24), which leads to Anthony clotheslining Jordan and getting ejected.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

People can argue all they want, but this was the golden age of the NBA.

Charasmatic players, intriguing matchups, heated rivalries, great games, five distinguishable positions (as opposed to playing your best four guys plus a PG) and the John Tesh NBA on NBC theme song.

 

[Liquidrob]

Knicks/Bulls were great series, Starks was the man, loved watching him play

I loved the NBA from the Bird/Magic era until a little after Jordan left, trying to remember when I just stopped watching, maybe when the Pistons won the finals, was that Ben Wallace/Rip/Billiups?

 

[spiker]

People can argue all they want, but this was the golden age of the NBA.

Charasmatic players, intriguing matchups, heated rivalries, great games, five distinguishable positions (as opposed to playing your best four guys plus a PG) and the John Tesh NBA on NBC theme song.

Seconded. The NBA was downhill towards the end of the 90s. I think NASCAR is a more popular sport in 2011.

 

[Saluki]

Knicks/Bulls were great series, Starks was the man, loved watching him play

I loved the NBA from the Bird/Magic era until a little after Jordan left, trying to remember when I just stopped watching, maybe when the Pistons won the finals, was that Ben Wallace/Rip/Billiups?

lol, that boring ass team being good mad me mad

 

[Houston]

The next MJ?

 

[FedEx227]

Seconded. The NBA was downhill towards the end of the 90s. I think NASCAR is a more popular sport in 2011.

:michaelscott:

So people hate the league when it's full of "thugs" ala Allen Iverson but are perfectly fine with people punching one another, tackling each other and fighting into the crowd?

 

[stevsta]

Seconded. The NBA was downhill towards the end of the 90s. I think NASCAR is a more popular sport in 2011.

nascar?????????????

:jonesy:

 

:gtfo:

 

[spiker]

:michaelscott:

So people hate the league when it's full of "thugs" ala Allen Iverson but are perfectly fine with people punching one another, tackling each other and fighting into the crowd?

Who said that?

nascar?????????????

:jonesy:

 

:gtfo:

Hey man, I don't watch NASCAR but I'm not going to ignore how popular it is.

 

[FedEx227]

Who said that?

Everyone hated the NBA in the early 2000s and the biggest thing I heard was because a) no more Jordan b) the most marketed players were "thugs" aka Allen Iverson.

 

[FedEx227]

Hey man, I don't watch NASCAR but I'm not going to ignore how popular it is.

This post would've made sense 6-7 years ago but they've had dwindling TV numbers and attendance for the past few years.

 

[Senser81]

Everyone hated the NBA in the early 2000s and the biggest thing I heard was because a) no more Jordan b) the most marketed players were "thugs" aka Allen Iverson.

I still don't get it.

 

[spiker]

This post would've made sense 6-7 years ago but they've had dwindling TV numbers and attendance for the past few years.

Couldn't find anything as of 2010 but 2008 is good enough right? Here's a Harris poll that they've been running since the 80s that asks people what their favorite sport is. Notice the NBA's peak in the mid-90s and huge drop off into the 00s. NASCAR eclipses the NBA's popularity during the NBA's dropoff and was rated higher during the most recent poll.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – January 27, 2009 – Whether it is the Super Bowl, the World Series, the BCS Championship Game or March Madness, every sport has its fans. But when asked to choose which one sport is America’s favorite, pro football tops the list with 31% of those who follow sports, followed by 16% who say baseball is their favorite. Rounding out the top five favorite sports are college football (cited by 12%), auto racing (8%) and Men’s pro basketball (6%).

There's charts in the article that show the year-by-year progression, too.

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/Harris-Interactive-Poll-Research-Fave-Sport-2009-01.pdf

 

[FirstTimer]

:michaelscott:

So people hate the league when it's full of "thugs" ala Allen Iverson but are perfectly fine with people punching one another, tackling each other and fighting into the crowd?

Not sure what the fighting into the crowd issue has to do with it? If you are referring to the Artest incident that was in 2004. During maybe one of the lamest and least exciting periods in basketball in recent memory.

IMO the quality of basketball and of the league was better back in the late 80's to early 90's. Much of it IMO has to do with what W2B said and even little things like 5 definitive positions etc.

There have always been a certain amount of fights in the NBA but for me what drove me away from the league in the early 2000's wasn't the "thug" image(Iverson was one of the few guys I actually liked watching at the time) but what I felt was sub standard basketball, the high schoolers entering the draft in droves, and some of the more boring NBA Finals I can remember. It just wasn't a good brand.

 

[FedEx227]

Not sure what the fighting into the crowd issue has to do with it? If you are referring to the Artest incident that was in 2004. During maybe one of the lamest and least exciting periods in basketball in recent memory.

I was referring to this:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md3rFQeCkAE[/ame]

And that's fine. I won't argue the basketball was sub standard in the early 2000s. If that's the reason you stopped liking it, I'm perfectly fine with that reasoning. It's when people come up with the really lame "it became a thug league" crap that irritates me because there wasn't a more "thug" era in the NBA then the 80s-90s by it's truest definition unless of course you're referring to thug as "black guy with tattoos".

 

[Woy]

Knicks/Bulls were great series, Starks was the man, loved watching him play

I loved the NBA from the Bird/Magic era until a little after Jordan left, trying to remember when I just stopped watching, maybe when the Pistons won the finals, was that Ben Wallace/Rip/Billiups?

Last year I remember watching closely; loved that Pistons squad. My interest slowly deteriorated after that though.

 

[Senser81]

I was referring to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md3rFQeCkAE

And that's fine. I won't argue the basketball was sub standard in the early 2000s. If that's the reason you stopped liking it, I'm perfectly fine with that reasoning. It's when people come up with the really lame "it became a thug league" crap that irritates me because there wasn't a more "thug" era in the NBA then the 80s-90s by it's truest definition unless of course you're referring to thug as "black guy with tattoos".

So the NBA marketed Jo Jo English? Thats news to me.

LOL at the David Stern shot at 0:27. A problem of his own making.

 

[FirstTimer]

I was referring to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md3rFQeCkAE

Got ya. IMO that's a far cry from the players going after fans. Defeinetly not good but players have had fights in almost every era...Hell, Kermit Washington almost got killed. It doesn't excuse fights in general it but the thug mentality thing for certain people had more to do with the going after the fans thing IMO then just simply "fights" in a general.

unless of course you're referring to thug as "black guy with tattoos".

I think that's what it mostly has to do with honestly. It was more the "street thug" image of the league for a time rather than "thug" in the sense that they were enforcers like Mason, Oakley and the like.

Not saying that the "street thug" image is correct, warranted, or whatever but I think that's what the term was being used to describe.

 

[FirstTimer]

For a while after the Jordan retirement the Western Conference Playoffs were the only thing worth watching in the NBA. The EC was shit during that time IMO. You could argue that even though Jordan's teams were so dominant that the WC was the stronger conference overall for parts of those Bulls runs. I think in some ways that was shown when Jordan leaves and the WC immedietly wins back to back titles.

Maybe my memory is off or my perception is wrong, but that's just the way I seem to remember it.

I remember watchign almsot every game of the Lakers WCF matchups during that time then barely watching the Finals because some weak ass EC squad made it through.

 

[red33]

wtf happened to my post?