I don't want to hear boomers complain about the lack of physicality in the NBA anymore

[whitehops]

i think a big part of it is legal vs. illegal contact. there is a ton of legal contact now but the league has done a lot of work to eliminate illegal contact, especially with flagrants and technical fouls. anyone who has played knows how much physicality there is in setting screens and navigating them, and the number of screens are being set at an all-time high. young players are intentionally getting taught to initiate contact so they can be in control of whatever action they're doing. *legally* there are no huge impacts but physically fighting for space still very much exists.

You constantly hear it on here and other places. People always complaining how soft the NBA is, how these players wouldn't survive in other eras. Old NBA players say it all the time too.

The games this postseason have been physical AF. It's like a freaking rugby match out there. I get that a lot of people are insecure about modern players being better than their favorite players of the past, but enough is enough. These guys are taking absolute beatings and playing physical as hell.

Starting a post by insulting a whole generation isn't a particularly intelligent way to open up a thread if the intent is actually quality discussion, just FWIW.

you recognize and acknowledge the intent of the post and instead of helping reframe the phrasing to help generate quality discussion you just call them out. your post is just as useless towards a quality discussion as theirs. just FWIW.

[Showtime 80]

You constantly hear it on here and other places. People always complaining how soft the NBA is, how these players wouldn't survive in other eras. Old NBA players say it all the time too.

The games this postseason have been physical AF. It's like a freaking rugby match out there. I get that a lot of people are insecure about modern players being better than their favorite players of the past, but enough is enough. These guys are taking absolute beatings and playing physical as hell.

H

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You wanna know what the beautiful thing other than the actual intense physical play was? The players reaction and their cool demeanor when taking those hits because the attitude was “never let them see you’re hurt” because it would give the other team a physiological advantage. Sure once in a while they would get pissed and jaw at each other but even the refs knew how to perfectly handle those situations and not overact understanding that the intense nature of the contest enhanced the game experience and tried to stay away as much as possible.

Compare that attitude to today’s when it’s all about over dramatizing every little contact to try and get a 10 minute review and a flagrant 1 out of every little bump going down the lane. Unreal

[Showtime 80]

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Can you imagine Curry, Harden, LeBald, Doncic, Embiid, Durant, Lamelo or Shai taking hits like that or facing the threat of that type of contact? Me neither. Back then they just got up and shot their damn foul shots without complaining!

The cool thing about real enforcers like Mahorn (not the fake ones like Draymond) is they kept the opponents in check and trying to get too cute by making them think twice about going down the lane consistently. This is a factors that modern divas don’t have to deal with sadly

[jkvonny]

We, GenXers, will stay out of yall's battles (Boomers vs Millineals, Gen Z)

FWIW, I loved the '80s. '90s, '00s and todays era.

The milkmen, plumbers, TikTokers, etc you name it!

.....Lot of evolution took place over the years as well.

I thought the GenXers were leading the F plumbers crusade

I don't think its us lol

I think its mostly younger gen doing that (Gen Z)

[Lunartic]

OP exposing himself as a Zoomer if he actually thinks these playoffs have been "physical AF"

You have to actually watch 80/90s era fans before having opinions on what's physical and what's not.

And no - a 12 second robotic voice, narrated Tiktok highlight reel doet count as warning games.

Millennial checking in. This is pure malarkey. The myth of tough 80s defense is laughable. Watch some of the game below and say with a straight face that it was more physical. These playoffs you have Brunson and Doncic getting handchecked and bodychecked right when they cross halfcourt. Guys are getting smacked left and right in the paint. In the 80s they were literally untouched until they got a couple feet inside the 3 point line. Even then, the physicality is so freaking exaggerated.

People need to rewatch the 80s games before they describe them as a Mad Max installment.

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CIN-C-STAR wrote:
The league literally admitted that they changed the rules mid-season because the game had gotten too soft in terms of handicapping defense lol
But sure, all those years of critiques that the league admitted were right are negated because you watched two or three competitive playoff games AFTER the rules were changed to make it less soft
Just take the L man, the league was obviously becoming a joke under modern rules. Silver even said part of the reason they reinstated defense was so America's international teams could compete with FIBA players who are used to having to play with defense. It was getting absurd.

But yes, the NBA is totally physical AF now.

[thinktank]

I think sports, in general, were more physical in the past.

Society has wised up and doesn’t value other peoples’ pain like we used to.

That’s a good thing.

The NBA, and other sports, will never be quite as physical as they once were.

[Astaluego]

Times have changed and that is reflected in sport as well, testosterone levels in men are the lowest in history as well and I think that also influences... more comfortable lives (I'm talking about the 1st world of course) and in general a much softer population

[MavsDirk41]

Well im glad we have a Gen Zer on here to set up straight lol

[Knightfall]

I’m an Xer but we’re usually lumped in with the boomers for cool internet slangs sake. I can speak for them all when I say we love the new officiating. Should be much more complaining and flopping techs given out but flow of pace shouldn’t be meddled with too much more.

Regardless your age demographic we all should agree that foul calls that would get you ostracized from your local gym being called in the NBA was criminal. Which was at least 30% of the time before the radical officiating addendum after AS break. All older fans want is defenders being entitled to their natural space on the floor and when airborne and offensive players to finish reasonable shots through incidental contact without acting like their $65,000 chain was stolen by the road locker room staff.

We (GenX) almost always gets forgotten about.

Who cares?? Let the rest of the others battle this one out amongst each other.
We'll just sit back and watch, laugh it out.

They know once they start calling us gen X to the party were going to start ripping off their toe nails and setting them on fire to hear their screams just for the fun of it.

[rzzzzz]

Boomers have lived through a myriad of rule changes. Like always, we just want to see consistency in enforcement. Otherwise, we do hate to see the degeneration of the exchange between rival fans. Droll wit, always welcome, is much replaced by angry taunts. (Much like the political discourse of late.) What I really miss is the institution of the beat writer, covering a home team. The last of them for me was Kate Fagan. Man she was good. Getting her info straight from the players and then taking on Coach Quirky and getting right into Doug Collins’ craw. I also used to enjoy exchanging email with Stephan A when he was with the Inquirer. His responses were thoughtful and balanced. Not at all like the theatrics you see today, but you can’t blame the guy from excelling at a shtick that surprisingly brought him so much recognition and fortune. Still, it’s a shame to lose another good writer.

(By the way, Bill Russell used eat dinner that Wilt’s mom prepared when he was in Philly, even for the playoffs. And then they went to the game and laid it all on the line. Nobody was ever tougher (and smarter) than Russell. That was why he won all those titles. But there was nothing cheap or violent about his play. The ugliness didn’t come until later. I think of Detroit.)

[mastermixer]

Both sides are right.

The players in today’s nba coast during the season by playing no defense and just going up and down the court chucking 3s until one team makes more and they win.

But they also turn it on during the playoffs and the strategy and tough play really comes out.

TLDR

The regular season is unwatchable, the post season is great

[Quattro]

Come on man. The OP is totally right. Do you see how many times a big guy like Joel Embiid is knocked to the ground every game he plays? This league is physical as ****!!!!

[Shaka_Zulu]

Wasn’t a rugby match in game 3 for the Nuggets and TWolves.


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Tony Brothers was the ref. And Scott Foster was the ref game 4 vs Suns. Both games by them was huge contrast to rest of each series. Latter was super physical go at eachother ball.


While games by Brothers (especially 1st half) and Foster (entire game 4 vs Suns, booker lived at ft line with 22 fts him alone), litterally everything became a foul for big stretches of the games.


So as viewer you just have to be wary of that when they given the task to ref any games in these series.

[f l u r p]

You constantly hear it on here and other places. People always complaining how soft the NBA is, how these players wouldn't survive in other eras. Old NBA players say it all the time too.

The games this postseason have been physical AF. It's like a freaking rugby match out there. I get that a lot of people are insecure about modern players being better than their favorite players of the past, but enough is enough. These guys are taking absolute beatings and playing physical as hell.

Did they face these guys driving to the lane?

Hey! Great picks of Dort!

[IG2]

The NBA has basically reverted back to pre-2005 rules since the AS break and essentially pre-1995 rules in these playoffs. And guess what, ORTG is still higher than it's ever been pre-2019. Which is what I kept saying when people kept crying about the rules. Yes, ORTG will comparatively go down and more physicality will definitely lead to a better on-court product and viewing experience, but ORTG will still be higher than it's ever been pre-2019. And that's because offenses are just better today.

[Ainosterhaspie]

The cool thing about real enforcers like Mahorn (not the fake ones like Draymond) is they kept the opponents in check and trying to get too cute by making them think twice about going down the lane consistently. This is a factors that modern divas don’t have to deal with sadly

The cool thing about real enforcers...is that they stopped fans from seeing as many amazing feats of agility and athleticism and we got to see a bunch of poorly contested 10 foot jumpers instead.

[Dominator83]

You constantly hear it on here and other places. People always complaining how soft the NBA is, how these players wouldn't survive in other eras. Old NBA players say it all the time too.

The games this postseason have been physical AF. It's like a freaking rugby match out there. I get that a lot of people are insecure about modern players being better than their favorite players of the past, but enough is enough. These guys are taking absolute beatings and playing physical as hell.

Watch an All-star game from 30 years ago, then watch the joke that is the All-star game now.

[pipfan]

These playoffs have been a TOTALLY different brand of bball than what we have gotten used to. I have never seen such a change from the RS to the PS, in terms of physicality and the refs "letting them play"

I loved the Bulls-Knicks or Pistons series of the past, that were super physical. But game 2 of the Minny/Den series was SO rough-too much I thought. Let the guys play and don't call flops, but there has to be some consistency.

And I think players today play hard in the RS, just like before. It's just the way the game has been called has changed.

Finally, the skill level-especially shooting-of today's guys is SOOO far beyond what it was in the past. Of course Bird, Miller and other guys could really shoot before, but there are so many guys who can hit these crazy step back 3's now, it's amazing.

[Cavsfansince84]

Its not really that the league was so much more physical outside of a stretch of about 5-10 years from the late 90's- the early 00's. It's that offense is just too easy now. Guys get within 10 ft of the basket and can pretty much just pick up their dribble and run to the basket. Stuff like that has made offense too easy on top of the more optimized offenses with more 3 pt shooters.

[AleksandarN]

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Can you imagine Curry, Harden, LeBald, Doncic, Embiid, Durant, Lamelo or Shai taking hits like that or facing the threat of that type of contact? Me neither. Back then they just got up and shot their damn foul shots without complaining!

The cool thing about real enforcers like Mahorn (not the fake ones like Draymond) is they kept the opponents in check and trying to get too cute by making them think twice about going down the lane consistently. This is a factors that modern divas don’t have to deal with sadly

Mahon was a bully to those who wouldn’t fight back. I bet only a handful in todays game would fight back.