Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry sued what was happening in about a tenth of a second while he was recovering from a Kevon Looney blockade in the fourth period of a game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks dedicated themselves defensively, sending three players up to Curry, who already had 25 points. When you hear about the gravity your throwing creates, that’s what people are talking about. If Knicks pivot, Mitchell Robinson, would not advance to challenge curry, the shipowner could stop for a long throw or back down to one of three. But Robinson also had to keep an eye on Looney going to the basket.
Robinson stepped toward Curry, which was all the space that Curry needed. He then ended the game, not with a turning throw, but with a pass between Mikal Bridges and Robinson who found Looney moving to a buried.
It was a wonderful basketball in just another Tuesday night in the NBA. In the best basketball league in the world, there is a move every night that makes you stop and watch with admiration.
No serious person can argue that today’s NBA players’ skill level is not much higher than the 20, 30 and 40 years ago. More players can do more things with a basketball ball than ever. More people throw better and from a greater distance.
“I think we are at the height of basketball, in my opinion,” said Kevin Durant recently, 15 times all-star and twice more valuable player of the NBA finals.
He added, “I think the game is always evolving, and if you complain too much, you won’t see the beauty of what is happening.”
The game, in Durant’s view, was never better. This is the apex of over 75 NBA seasons: the most athletic, most efficient era in the history of the game and, apparently, one of the most democratic. Although Golden State won a fourth championship in 2022, surpassing the Boston Celtics, the Warriors dynasty really ended when Durant broke the tendon of Achilles and Klay Thompson broke the previous cruciate ligament in the 2019 finals against Toronto.
Since then, when Kawhi Leonard dos Raptors took his team to the first NBA title, different superstars led their teams to the top – LeBron James (2020), Giannis Antetokounmpo (2021), Curry (2022), Nikola Jokic (2023) and Jayson Tatum (2024).
You could not find six more disparate talents that dominate a game in which they play in different ways. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, from Oklahoma City, is ahead to win the league’s MVP award this season. He is in a race with Jokic, which had a triple-double, including a 61-point career record, a NBA player’s highest score this season, in a dual defeat for Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. There is, every night, something for everyone.
So why aren’t we all celebrating?
Why do you look like we are perpetually discussing each other, divided when it comes to our NBA fans? Many of today’s players and coaches think the modern game is great, while many of those who criticize today’s game think the modern player is a spoiled and superpaga diva who needs to prepare and play more than 75 games for the season, as most stars did in the past.
Why do so many lament all the ‘time -time’, coaches’ challenges, load management, and the avalanche of throws of three? It’s not just Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal in the “Inside the NBA”; It looks like it’s everyone. Why are NBA audiences falling?
Financially, the NBA has never been better. The League is about to start a 11 -year media rights contract and $ 76 billion (R $ 426 billion) with ESPN/ABC, NBC and Amazon, almost tripling its previous contract. Corporate America does not believe the league is too boring or very politicized to do huge business with it.
“You know how it works,” said Curry. “Sometimes a narrative begins, and everyone starts in the middle of feeding it, without really having an informed perspective. And if you’re not watching night after night, and kind of dive and watch a game, you can say, ‘Oh, yes, this is different from my father or my parents’ NBA.’ Yes, it has evolved.
But the division between present and past, between efficiency and visual test, remains. No larger example of the division is exemplified by what you think about three points throws.
What Golden State started with Curry and Thompson a decade ago and Houston Rockets took ahead with an attack around James Harden is now the norm in the NBA. There is no end in sight for how many throws of three are many throws of three. Boston has an average of more than 48 attempts to throw three per game, which would break the record of 45.38 throws of three per game set by Rockets in 2018-19.
“The game is evolving to what is most efficient, which is better, which is more successful,” said Cam Johnson of Brooklyn Nets during All-Star Weekend. “And our job as players and coaches in the league is simply winning games, for any way. So if that requires throwing 50 out of three, and that makes you win a championship, then I’ll throw 50 out of three.”
Three’s throw is just a way of how the game has changed fundamentally. The game is more open than ever. This was designed by changes in the rules in the late 1990s and early 2000s, designed to take the NBA out of the essentially physical game had become. The defenses were dominant, and the defenders could push, push and mark at ease. The score fell to a minimum of 91.6 points per game in the 1998-99 season.
Rick Pitino was still saying, “We need to have freedom of movement,” said Billy King, a longtime NBA executive who served at a Pitino’s rules committee, then president, main coach and general manager of Celtics.
After nearly two decades of changes in the rules that eliminated all contact, except the most rudimentary, between defenders and ball bearers, the score shot. The average score has increased more than a dozen points per game in the last decade. With so many people now likely to throw from afar, and more teams making 40 and 50 attempts to throw three per game, the defenses have to cover more space on the court than ever. They are failing.
“The big skills set really opened the court,” said Knick coach Tom Thibodeau, one of NBA’s leading defensive strategists. “In the 1990s, you had wings playing in the position of pivot wing, and it was really physical. And there was no spacing. As you evolved, with changes in the rules, you started to see wing playing as a pivot wing. And now, each team has a pivot that can throw away from the basket, so that opens the court.”
“So when you add a great throw to this, with each lock that is defined, there will probably be a slip. If your body position is not correct, you will give up a tray. This puts a lot of pressure on people.”
There are some who still believe that stopping the other team has value. No one wants to go back to 86-84 finals regularly. But it is not negative to point out that it is much easier to mark now than for 30 years. It is not being a hater to want to see big men are not taken from the game if their perceived value is limited only to if they can throw three.
Slowly there has been some movement back to the game before. Rockets feed Alperen Sengun in the block. Jokic has won three league MVP awards displaying his elbow ability much more than his ability to throw from afar. But they are still the exception, not the rule.
Most of the time, NBA games seem the same: there are dozens of high pick-and-rolls, throwing three and throwing three of the corner. Repeatedly.
The reason is simple: the throw of three from the corner of the court is the most efficient throw in basketball, and the throw that produces the most points by attempt. But even the best, most productive three -point throwsing make many throws of three. And not everyone is as good as Curry or Thompson in the wings or Jrue Holiday in the corners. Watch throws of three hitting the rim, night after night … Well, it’s not edifying for everyone, let’s say so.
“Mathematics is math,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr. “I know that for us we need to make a lot of throwing three.”
Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers has agreed that there is a resemblance to NBA -style style, but only to some extent.
Although fans probably can’t realize the difference between bad teams, he said, they certainly can see the difference between good teams. “You know exactly how they play – ball moving, attack, reach the free bid line, make three throws,” Rivers said. “Make the right throw. It’s an absolute difference when you watch.”
Curry agreed.
“Overall, Okc, Denver, La, Memphis, there is definitely variation there,” said Curry. “Teams know how to create advantages and use their talent appropriately. Like, watching us and lakers is totally different.”
There is no doubt that sports media generally fails to convey how difficult it is for the elite in any sport to do what they do every night. We make it seem that what curry does is easy if you just make enough throwing during training. It is not.
Still, while many people in today’s game love the current style of play, it’s not for everyone.
Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, acknowledged that his league may have to look at additional changes in the rules to bring attacks and defenses to better balance.
Whatever the NBA invent is irrelevant to Durant. The basketball lover celebrates the game, with all its flaws.
“It’s good when basketball is around,” he said. “Regardless of how it is over, we must be grateful for having such a beautiful sport to follow. Because I have been around for so long, this game never goes anywhere. I am always in favor of enjoying the progression of the game, and stop complaining all the time about what could be better and what we should be doing different and all the nostalgia you get from the 80s and 90s.”
“Okay, I understand, but let’s just enjoy what we have before us. It’s an important and amazing game. The game needs everyone’s support if we want to continue.”
