Fantastic? No, NBA’s Pointless

Cleveland, 65 points. New Jersey, 62 points. Orlando, 57 points.

This ain’t my NBA, baby.

My NBA is a 48-minute game with a 24-second shot clock. Men shoot. Men score.

My NBA is what the Lakers did Sunday night--78 points by halftime, a 129-99 wipeout of the Washington Bullets.

In my NBA, Wilt the Stilt scores 100 by himself (March 2, 1962). Skywalker Thompson scores 73 (April 9, 1978). Elgin goes for 71 against the Knicks (Nov. 15, 1960). The Admiral sinks 71 on the Clippers (April 24, 1994).

In my NBA, the Denver Nuggets average 126.5 points per game (1981-82). The Nuggets score 184 on the Pistons . . . and lose, 186-184 (Dec. 13, 1983).

In my NBA, Walt Bellamy averages 31.6 points per night . . . as a rookie (1961-62). Oscar averages 30.5, his rookie year (1960-61). Rick Barry scores 57 in one game, as a rookie (Dec. 14, 1965).

Wilt scores 50 or more points 118 times!

Denver scores 100 or more points 136 games in a row!

Phoenix scores 107 points against Denver in the first half! (Nov. 10, 1990).

But now, I sit and watch all these guys who are supposed to be such hot stuff. Cleveland gets 70 points on a good night. I watched a Golden State game the other night, the score at one point was 47-13. NBA action . . . it’s fantastic. (Not.)

Here we have a game with the world’s greatest basketball players, few of whom have an ounce of humility. They shoot every 15 or 20 seconds. Some shots count for three points, and if three-point shot were any closer to the basket, some of them could dunk them.

Yet they can’t score 70 points in 48 minutes.

All those years I craved a little defense, because the scoring seemed so “automatic.”

I would watch Hal Greer or Dave Bing or Don Ohl make jumper after jumper, and shout at my TV set: “Somebody guard that guy!”

I would watch Earl Monroe spin, Adrian Dantley dip or Jamaal Wilkes aim that slingshot, and shout from the stands: “Put a hand in his face!”

I would watch Walt Frazier or John Havlicek or Gus Johnson guard his man like a dog guards a junkyard, but still the score would end up something like 120-119.

Because back then, the quality of the typical player was 24-carat. There were fewer teams. Only the best of the best survived. Teenagers were eaten for lunch. Fewer guys got rich in advance and lost their hunger.

From today’s scores, you might think NBA defense is better. It might be. But a lot of ‘90s players simply can’t shoot. Some don’t even work on it. And many think free-throw shooting is for wusses.

Today’s NBA players play defense the way Mike Tyson plays boxing. The centers maul one another. They do everything but pull out a blackjack. Shaquille O’Neal gets smacked every time he touches the ball. In return, rather than go under or around, O’Neal goes over. He overpowers everybody. He overpowers guys 7 feet 6. He is an offensive force. But he can’t shoot a lick.

Teams are averaging 10 fewer shots per game than they did 15 years ago.

According to Chuck Daly, who coached two NBA championship teams in Detroit, a change of philosophy is responsible. Daly says today’s NBA coaches rely on two options:

“Option 1: Walk the ball up the court and get it to a player posting up, who either creates individually or waits for the double-team and kicks the ball out to a perimeter shooter for a three-point attempt.

“Option 2: Walk the ball up and run the pick-and-roll with an interior player.”

Daly describes this as a clock-eating, two-man game and adds, “Even the coaches who run it say it’s monotonous and promotes a lot of standing around.”

They do it because it works, particularly for walk-it-up teams of recent years such as the Rockets, Knicks and Jazz. They also do it because many of today’s teams keep things so simple, they only have six or seven set plays.

Daly does not believe the NBA needs to change any rules (e.g., make zone defense legal, move back the three-point line, shorten the shot-clock to 20). In his opinion, “Slow-down is in vogue now . . . the reverse could be true in five years.”

I hope so. When I see an NBA team score 78 points, I want to buy popcorn and come back for the second half.