NBA PLAYOFFS

I'm watching them. Why? I've always been bored to death with the NBA: send a big man down the lane, POST HIM up and when double teamed he passes the ball back to an open man. Not any more. I was talking with a bunch of my buds yesterday late as we were watching the ENTIRE Lakers-Jazz game and all of us admitted we were actually watching the playoffs and the games were good, the playing spectacular at times, and the scores mostly topped the 100 point level. So what is going on? Why is NBA basketball suddenly good? One answer is that there are a lot of dam good and exciting players--many from a lot of foreign countries--- making the strategy of over guarding just a single superstar futile--unless you mention LaBron James and the otherwise untalented Cleveland team---(proven false on Sunday) all of which means that two or three players end up scoring twenty or more points in a game. Then there is the fouling strategy invented by Pat Reilly that simply went "foul on every possession" thus rendering the opposing offense one of free throws and sending the game into a boring foul shooting contest. This strategy has now been thwarted by the "deliberate foul" rule that awards two shots plus the ball to the fouled team. But the big reason by far is the implementation of the three foot circle under the baskets, a rule that prevents a defensive player from just standing under the basket for the sole purpose of drawing a charging foul...a rule which makes 300 pound statues like Shaq useless on defense. Today if somebody is dumb enough to camp out under the basket a driving shooter can just run him over without the risk of incurring a foul. But the shooter will also get free throws because the "camper" is charged with blocking, a call that means that the driving shooter will be awarded a foul shot separate from the "layup" too. This has resulted in spectacular drives to the basket by superlative athletes who have now come to the fore as point guards on many teams. Many have pointed out that "way back when" spectacular point guards were the norm and not the exception.

Anyway, if you ain't watching the playoffs you are missing the best display of pure athleticism on the planet. Really entertaining.