GSW - "greatest team ever" ?
- Thread starter dawgduice
- Start date
I'm not sure I understand the intent of this post, but to answer the topic question...NO, the Warriors are NOT the greatest team ever! If it's the NBA you are focused on, the Celtics, Lakers, Bulls and Sixers all had better teams at some point in their histories.really ???? Why no thread on how GREAT they are ?? Quite honestly if Embiid can stay healthy he might break Wilt's 100 point game against them
Sam Jones (a former BB player) thinks we need a 4 point shot
I would say not even top 5....I would take the Bulls in the 90's....Lakers from 80s, Celtics from mid 80's, Celtics of the Bill Russell area....hell I would probably take the Detroit Pistons bad boys with Thomas, Dumars, Laimbeer. I think the Lakers of 99-2000 are better...with Shaq, Kobe, Horry, Fisher...
The intent was that "I" was so tired of hearing "experts" claiming they, in fact, were the best ever. Actually, it's the overuse of the word GREAT for everything sports.
The Warriors are a team built for the 3. Kind of interesting that the 3 was introduced because the game was becoming a "Big" man's game (and being dominated by the 2-3 bigs), now it is a "shooters" game (dominated by a collection of long distance shooters). Having been a HS BB coach in Philadelphia for 14 years (many years ago) I do not see "this" game as basketball.
I agree....when a team is getting around 80 points by halftime like last night...I ask this question??? Where is the defense? It feels like someone dribbles up the court (sometimes double dribbling or walking) and then just shoots up a three. I do not care for the NBA at all today.
It's become a one on one game today and I see that it's trickled down to even the high school level. The best team players don't play...many schools out the five best one on one players on the court, at least that's what I saw for the four years my son played high school ball.
I loved Sam Jones, one of the all time great Celtics. Nobody has ever used the backboard for jump shots like Sam.really ???? Why no thread on how GREAT they are ?? Quite honestly if Embiid can stay healthy he might break Wilt's 100 point game against them
Sam Jones (a former BB player) thinks we need a 4 point shot
Pistol Pete would've loved a 4 point shot. He'd throw it up from anywhere when he was at LSU.
It's hard to compare today's basketball to the basketball played 10, 20 and 30+ years ago.
The officials ignore the simple rules of the game..... they allow players to carry the call, to travel, to mug each other, to camp in the lane and step into the lane well before a shooter shoots his free throw.
They miss SO MANY OBVIOUS calls it's sad. Heck, the last game one of the players was doing his back-and-forth show off dribble between his legs at the top of the key and bounced it off his own foot/leg into the backcourt, no over and back call. The defender never even made a move towards the dribbler yet all THREE officials ignored the obvious violation.
The officials ignore the simple rules of the game..... they allow players to carry the call, to travel, to mug each other, to camp in the lane and step into the lane well before a shooter shoots his free throw.
They miss SO MANY OBVIOUS calls it's sad. Heck, the last game one of the players was doing his back-and-forth show off dribble between his legs at the top of the key and bounced it off his own foot/leg into the backcourt, no over and back call. The defender never even made a move towards the dribbler yet all THREE officials ignored the obvious violation.
Put the old Celtics KC Jones and John Havlicek or Knick Walt Frazier on Curry and he wouldn't be throwing up 3s at will.
I haven't watched the NBA in decades and only watch college ball once in awhile and only Villanova. The refs are the worst plus they've made the game much easier as you've documented above. They also moved the free throw lane positioning out more towards the free throw line, making blocking out on free throws easier. The carrying of the ball (palming) is just ridiculous, the difference being vast from when I played, making handling a breeze.
One of the worst non calls I've seen was in a high school game...point guard receives the pass and gets ready to bring the ball up the court. He hasn't started dribbling and he has the ball in his hand. He proceeds to wipe the bottom of his shoe off with his hand then switches ball to the other hand and wipes his other shoe off with out ever taking a dribble. The ref was standing there watching him and counting for a 10 second violation. Multiple pivot feet are apparently okay in today's game.
I can understand the original poster's position.. hearing how great a team is non stop is always annoying. But this Golden State team deserves to be recognized among the greats as long as they finish it off tomorrow night. Their 15 straight playoff wins ended on the road against a team that had gone 12-1 in the playoffs leading into the finals and is the defending NBA champion. I think that's their second loss since early March in a game where they played their starters and tried to win. Refs were at their worst in game 4 but for the most part I haven't noticed them in the playoffs. If anyone's been watching, Golden State plays great team ball. They may shoot 3's, but they're moving the ball quickly to get those open shots. They have an enormous number of assists each game. I'd argue there was much more iso/one one one play in the past when the post game was more in play. Zoning up has made it more of a team game. The game is physical and moreso in the playoffs but in the past hand checking was allowed and it was a much more physical game. Golden State has been great defensively throughout the season. Friday night was an aberration. Their d will be better Monday and that'll be the difference.
Golden State is changing that. Their offense is predicated off passing and team basketball. They led the league is assists this year with over thirty a game, over five assists more than second place Denver.
http://www.espn.com/nba/statistics/team/_/stat/miscellaneous-per-game/sort/avgAssists/seasontype/2
As the Warriors are successful expect more teams to start copying them. It's already happening as more teams are looking for 'stretch 4' type players like Draymond Green who can shoot and pass making the defense spread out and defend more space.
In my mind a lot of this one-on-one basketball started with Michael Jordan. When he came on the scene everybody wanted to be like Mike. Everybody wanted to beat his man in isolation. Of course there is only one MJ but that's the direction the game went and the NBA encouraged it by promoting stars like Kobe and LeBron. So as great as Jordan was he set basketball back in some ways. Hopefully GS is moving it back to more of a team game and what is old will become new again.
I agree GS plays better team ball, but not many teams can stock pile that kind of talent on one team, so I don't look for their style to be a trend. And they played team ball last year but lost to a one man show. Then they added Durant.
GS absolutely deserves a world of credit, their passing is at times phenomenal and their play is exceptionally unselfish. All time best, not yet, but could certainly make a case going forward.
Despite the handchecking that was allowed years ago, the game is MUCH more physical today. Tons of contact (at times boardering on muggings) are allowed on drives, on rebounds and especially on screens / pick and rolls. And, to be honest, the players in total are bigger, faster and much more solid than years ago. So it's a combination of the players themselves and the officiating (or lack thereof) that's led to the basketball now being a contact sport. At times it looks like a rugby game has broken out!
Despite the handchecking that was allowed years ago, the game is MUCH more physical today. Tons of contact (at times boardering on muggings) are allowed on drives, on rebounds and especially on screens / pick and rolls. And, to be honest, the players in total are bigger, faster and much more solid than years ago. So it's a combination of the players themselves and the officiating (or lack thereof) that's led to the basketball now being a contact sport. At times it looks like a rugby game has broken out!
really ???? Why no thread on how GREAT they are ?? Quite honestly if Embiid can stay healthy he might break Wilt's 100 point game against them
Sam Jones (a former BB player) thinks we need a 4 point shot
Yeah, they lost a game, they must suck. Forget last year's team winning more games in a season than any other team before, forget being the first team to ever start the playoffs 15-0. Forget having the best shooter in the history of the NBA. Forget having a forward that will go down as one of the top 20 players ever, and a top 3 forward. They lost once, in the Finals, against a team featuring one of the 3 best players in the history of the game and another future Hall of Famer. Yep, any talk of GSW being the greatest ever is completely undone by that one time they lost a game.
Well, their team-ball style was taken somewhat from the Spurs, who also play a great brand of basketball. And you can see the Celtics doing the same. The Cavs actually play a good brand of offense as well (just not D). Really the only teams where you see the complete one-on-one style are team's that aren't really competing for titles (Thunder, Knicks types). There's also nothing wrong with plenty of one-on-one. It's not like Wilt and Kareem scored so many points because of schemes delivering them wide open back door layups. They got them the ball inside, then let them beat their guy.
As a 76ers fan for MANY MANY years (of late not so much) I am REALLY looking forward to Embiid. IF (a gigantic IF) he can play, especially at playoff time, he will be unstoppable. He really could score 100 on this GSW team
That is only because he (potentially) is the best BIG since Shaq (the number 3 Center of all time).
That is only because he (potentially) is the best BIG since Shaq (the number 3 Center of all time).
