concordtom;842699533 said:
Funny. Did you see LaRusso trip, fall down, then get up again and take a wild shot? Where are the refs? That's traveling?!?!
Lots of bad shot bricks, Bob Cousy was a one-handed (right-handed) dribbler, and the intensity was crazy mellow for a Finals Game 7 setting.
Tom,
I wanted to get back to you on Bob Cousy.
We have very little film available from the Cousy's era. That video clip was of a game at the end of Cousy's career. He retired as a player the next year at age 34. In his last two years he had several injuries, and his minutes, assists, and points were all way down from his previous good years of the 1950s. He did come back at age 41 and played a token 7 games as a player-coach. When you cavalierly dismiss Bob Cousy by watching one video, I feel I should point out a few things. First of all, Cousy dribbled the ball for a total of only 30 seconds in the entire 23 minute video. Can we judge a player fairly by watching him dribble for 30 seconds? It is true that he used his left hand far fewer times than his right. It was not that he could not use his left hand, he just did not need to use his left hand equally often to be the greatest playmaker of his day. He already was the best. He was so quick, and his teammates so good at getting open, that most of the time he took only one dribble and then fired a pass for an assist or took a shot. If he took a second dribble with his other hand, he would have missed the precise moment that his teammate was open for a shot.
Second of all, and perhaps most importantly, you are overlooking the fact that the rules of the game were very different in those days, especially regarding palming the ball. Players were not allowed to palm the ball and develop "handles" on the side or under the ball, as they are today. Players in Cousy's day did not dribble as much as today, because without palming the ball, it was too easy to lose it. Can you understand how hard it is to dribble a ball without ever palming it? You have to push the ball straight down to the floor, and you can't do the fancy crossover moves that you see today. You had to always keep your body between the ball and the defender, so he could not steal it. Not only that, but removing the palming rule makes it easier for players with small hands to dribble the ball, like many players today. The bottom line is how well did Cousy control the ball? The answer is he was nearly always in control of it. In that video, did you see anyone steal the ball from Cousy on the dribble? No, you didn't.
Third, you may not know that Cousy began to play basketball at age 13, and that same year, he fell out of a tree and broke his right arm. He had to learn to play only with his left arm, dribble with it, shoot with it, and pass with it. By the time his right arm healed, he was virtually ambidextrous.
Fourth, Cousy was an effective ball handler, but that was not his best skill, which was playmaking. Making his teammates better. He was the greatest playmaker the game has seen, IMO. Cousy had incredible peripheral vision. It was often said he could see behind his head. An ophthalmologist did some measurements on Cousy, and found that he could in fact see to the sides several degrees behind his eyes, or behind where the average athlete could see. It was amazing, and enabled him to run the most effective transition game of his day. Here is a collection of Cousy highlights. Give it a look. Didn't he look better there than in the game at the end his career? Can you name anyone today who could consistently make all the different types of passes which Cousy made?
Do I think Cousy was a better point guard than today's best point guards? You can't compare them, because the rules were so different. The game back in Cousy's day was one of more teamwork and passing and of less individual play and dribbling, while in today's game, the reverse is true. I have my favorites, and in terms of my enjoyment, I would rather watch Cousy play point than anyone except perhaps Jason Kidd. Jason was the last of the great passers, IMO, who valued the dish more than the shot, just like Cousy. Great dribbling doesn't float my boat, but great passing does.