sonofabear51 said:
Agree. The NBA sucked back then.
Depends on what you mean by "sucked". I think the game was just physical, and teams had to have an enforcer to protect star players, in case things went too far.
My dad played a year for Cal in 1931, and when I was growing up in the 1950s, he and I would play hunch, or one on one, for hours, and I always came home pretty banged up, especially my hands and arms. Black and blue all over, and was sore for a couple days afterward. Back when he played, almost nothing was a foul. I played some hunch with one of my dad's teammates, and it was the same thing. The 1950s and 1960s were a gentler time in basketball. I remember watching a lot of basketball in those years, all the great Cal teams, Wooden's UCLA teams, and the Celtics and the Warriors. I much prefer the game of that day to today, because I like more physical play, and more defense, but I don't like dirty play, like Laimbeer, actually trying to hurt a player and get him out of the game. If someone like Luscotoff had been on the Celtics when Laimbeer clotheslined Larry Bird, it would have been Laimbeer who would have paid a price later, maybe targeted for some serious hurt. Tough defense often gets the stars upset, and sometimes fights erupt. I don't think fighting is dirty, but the stuff guys like Mutombo is credited with doing, is unacceptable, and that is why enforcers used to be needed. Nowadays, defenders aren't allowed to put hands on another player, so there are fewer fights.