In NBA of the ‘90s, Tough Defense Has Kept Scores in 70s

Scores in the 70s are popping up everywhere, teams are getting shut out for entire overtime periods and Dennis Rodman makes the All-Star Game averaging less than nine points.

What’s going on here?

Defense is “in” in the NBA.

With the defense-minded Detroit Pistons making the NBA Finals twice and winning a title by holding teams under 100 points in 15 of 17 playoff games, the rest of the league has discovered that defense wins games and championships.

“The closer everybody gets to parity and teams feel like they have a shot at winning, theygre going to do whatever it takes to get over that hump,” says Joe Dumars, a Piston sparkplug at both ends of the court. “They realize that playing defense gets you over that hump.”

“In the early 80s, we knew we could outrun and outscore you,” the Lakers’ Magic Johnson said. “That’s not the way we look at the game anymore.”

“Teams have found out you can win with defense,” Detroit Coach Chuck Daly said. “It gives teams with not as good offensive players a way to compete.”

The Pistons are leading the league by giving up fewer than 98 points per game this season, but it’s unmistakeable that defense has spread beyond the defending champions.

--Five years ago, no NBA team allowed fewer than 104 points per game. At midseason this year, 12 were giving up fewer than 104. Twelve teams gave up fewer than 110 points in 1985-86, 23 of 27 are allowing fewer than 110 this year.

--There were only three games in 1985-86 in which a team scored fewer than 80 points, with a low of 76. Halfway through this season, there already were 21 games in which a team scored under 80, with a low of 68.

--An average of 220.4 points were scored per game five years ago, nine more than this season.

--Only Denver has scored more than 90 points in every game this season.

The Pistons and Lakers, who met in the last two Finals, are making defense glamorous.

The first time they met this season, on Dec. 1 at the Forum, the Pistons held the Lakers scoreless in overtime of a 108-97 victory.

It was only the second shutout in NBA history since the 24-second shot clock rule started in 1954, although it happened again last week when Philadelphia beat Seattle 100-96 and the two teams combined to go 0-for-14 from the field in overtime.

In the Lakers-Pistons rematch at Auburn Hills, Los Angeles held Detroit to 44 points in the second half of a 107-97 victory.

“I was stunned by the way the Lakers took it to us in the second half,” Daly said.

“Detroit has created a defensive mind-set around the league, and teams copy success,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “In the early 80s, transition defense was non-existent. When a team was running, a coach would say ‘Just get back.’ Now there’s sophistication to defense.

“Points scored and shooting percentages have dropped and it’s not because of a decline in talent, it’s a rise in defense.”

Johnson said defense has changed dramatically in the 11 years since he came into the NBA.

“Detroit won because of defense and once somebody wins using a style, everyone wants to use that style,” Johnson said. “You can’t run free through the lane. The last couple of years, you find you’ll be body-checked when you do that. Bodies are bigger now.”