78-77 Games Not Quite Fan-Tastic

If it’s the ‘90s, how come they’re headed toward the 80s? According to the pattern in this 50th anniversary season, the game has turned into a high-flying, slam-dunking art form, etc.

OK, so what happened to all the scoring?

Despite the hype, NBA scoring isn’t increasing or even plateau-ing. It has been trending down since John Kennedy was president, peaking at 119 points a game in 1962, dropping below 100 last season for the first time since the ‘50s.

Compared to this season, last one was the Good Old Days. In the first week of play, scoring tumbled all the way to 94, the low mark since 1954 when they put in the shot clock.

Contrary to popular opinion, shooting has been trending up (percentages are lower only because players take more long shots in the three-point era.) The actual problem is as surprising as it is long-standing:

No one wants to shoot the ball anymore.

Item: On opening night, the Lakers took 63 shots. When Wilt Chamberlain scored his 100 points in 1962, he took 63 by himself.

Item: The New Jersey Nets took 58 shots the same night.

Item: It wasn’t only opening jitters. When the Lakers beat the New York Knicks, they took 64 shots.

Item: In the NBA’s peak scoring season, 1961-62, teams averaged 107 shots a game. This season, they’re averaging 78.

Item: In 1946-47, the first NBA season when a bunch of runts stood outside and took two-handed set shots (and shot less than 30% from the field), teams still averaged 93 shots, meaning about 30 shots a game have disappeared since then.

League officials are monitoring this development closely, even if they aren’t sending out any releases on it. (How’s this for a ‘90s marketing slogan: Come see the world’s greatest athletes play Hank Iba ball?)

“We’re very aware of it,” says basketball operations head Rod Thorn. “I’ve been in the league office for 11 years and scoring has dropped every year except one. . . .

“The question is, is the game evolving and becoming more defensive minded? Or is it less exciting?”

You’ll notice he didn’t answer the question. Behind the scenes, NBA officials are more than “very aware” of it. They’ve been trying to loosen up the game through the ‘90s, moving in the three-point line, proscribing hand-checking and thuggery in the post, but nothing’s working.

“Don’t kid yourself,” a team official says, “they’re real concerned. People pay to see action. Games in the 90s, that’s OK. Games in the 80s and 70s? I don’t think so.”

Thorn and assorted general managers and coaches agree on the array of problems they face:

FASHION

If the fastbreak isn’t dead, it’s dying.

The irony in the Laker shot totals is that Del Harris is one of the few coaches who wants to run (this isn’t the way Harris always approached it, but he has horses now and works for entertainment-minded Jerry Buss, besides).

However, teams are so determined to keep them from flying up and down, they’re careful to keep defenders back against the break, producing waltzes. The Lakers’ burden will be to play pressure defense well enough to turn up the tempo.

Today most coaches say they’ll “take the break when it’s there,” leading us to the next problem. . .

COACHES

With younger and richer players, million-dollar salaries of their own, percentages of ownership, lavish per diems, etc., they face more scrutiny and feel more pressure, so they try to create sanctuaries to work in.

In other words, they’re control freaks.

If they have little else they can control, they can close practice (Why? Playbooks are so well known, NBA teams have never even bothered to spy on each other.) and keep their players on a tight rein during games.

This is especially important if the players aren’t that good, placing a greater premium on defense. Aces like Cleveland’s Mike Fratello and Detroit’s Doug Collins keep scores low, games close and win more than their share.

The sharp coaches don’t play against the game or against the other team. They play against. . .

THE RULES

The NBA’s peculiar zone defense rules purport to keep the game exciting. In fact, they make it mechanical.

Teams can’t double-team a player without the ball so it’s easy to get it into the post. The defense doubles so the offense kicks it out. Defense rotates. Offense reverses the ball trying to beat the rotation. After about 20 seconds, someone shoots from the perimeter.

Meanwhile, two offensive players are parked atop the circle, forcing their defenders to stay near them. They could be statues, as much as they figure into the offense--but after the ball is shot, they’re already halfway back on defense, enabling them to choke off the fastbreak.

How to fix it? There’s growing support for something like the plan advanced by Indiana’s Larry Brown: Let teams play anything, use the international 20-foot 9-inch arc to discourage zones.

UPSHOT OF ALL THIS

Everything will be OK as long as Michael Jordan is around and TV ratings are good. When he leaves, they’ll face another drop-off, as in 1993-94, and everyone will run around saying “Where has all our scoring gone? How come no one wants to shoot?”

Meanwhile, see the world’s greatest athletes trudge around like Hannibal’s elephants.

IN WESTWOOD AND INDY, FAMILIAR SPECULATION

Barely had that swinging door at UCLA closed on Jim Harrick when speculation turned to that twice (and future?) Bruin coach, Brown.

In a talk-show world, this is inevitable. Brown has a thing about UCLA and Los Angeles in general. Four years after the Clippers, there are rumors of flirtations between Brown and Donald Sterling.

Brown looked antsy at the end of last season, the first in which he couldn’t improve the Pacers. This season’s 0-3 start can’t have added any glow to that Indianapolis skyline.

You wouldn’t want to rule out anything in such a remarkable career, but it’s a longshot for two reasons:

--The Bruins can’t come close to his pay, $2.5 million a year, with a contract guaranteeing he’ll be paid the average of the top three coaches.

--UCLA Chancellor Charles Young, who would surely sign off on any hire, has been through two departures. The first, when Brown’s agent negotiated with the Nets during the UCLA season, was upsetting enough. The second, when he took the job, appeared at a news conference and then resigned, was worse.

NAMES AND NUMBERS

Taking charge: Boston Celtic owner Paul Gaston, told on opening night that Dino Radja had a sore knee and wouldn’t face the Chicago Bulls, went off in the dressing room, reportedly yelling, “That’s it for him!” Radja refused comment. Gaston would only say, “I think, just like all Celtic fans, that we’d like to see all our players playing in every game.” Comment: Hard to find the good guy here. Radja has a reputation for loafing, typified by his Olympic laydowns for Croatia last summer. Gaston is the man who made a coach and general manager of M.L. Carr. . . . This just in from the Brian Williams negotiations: Clippers raise their offer from $12 million over three years to $16.8 million over four. In reply, agent Fred Slaughter raises his offer from $35 million for seven years to $36.4 million over seven. The Clippers say he’s going the wrong way. Slaughter, as usual, says nothing.

How great is the Philadelphia 76ers’ Allen Iverson? The league sent a memo to officials, ordering them to call palming on his crossover move, making him the first rookie to be so honored. Iverson’s shots-assists ratio is a little lean (50-10 in three games), but he’s averaging 23 points, shooting 50% and is seven for 13 on three-pointers. “I thought I could play defense,” said the Bulls’ Ron Harper after guarding him. “Now I don’t know. This kid is quick as hell. Here I am 32 years old, two bad knees, chasing him all over the court. Not fair. The kid can flat-out play. All the hype about him is true. I’ve played [Tim] Hardaway and all the guards out West. No one is as quick as him. The kid is going to be something special when he learns how to play the game. I hope I’m retired by then.” . . . How bad are the Denver Nuggets? After posting their first victory, over the David Robinson-less San Antonio Spurs, Bryant Stith asked, in all earnestness: “Do we play these guys again before the Admiral comes back?” . . . Phoenix Sun center Joe Kleine, who fainted during Jesse McGuire’s rendition of the national anthem in L.A. last spring, asking who was playing before this season’s opener: “I don’t believe in deja vu, but if that guy is playing the trumpet, I’m not going out there. I can’t handle the Forum, the trumpet guy and Shaq in the same night.”