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Bob Cousy - Master of the Fast Break

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by CavaliersFTW, Jul 22, 2014.

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  1. CavaliersFTW

    CavaliersFTW Member

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  2. bobloblaw

    bobloblaw Contributing Member

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    [youtube]_8IXS49q1DE[/youtube]

    Cousy was such a showboat. Back in my day you'd get an elbow to the groin for those passes.
     
  3. CavaliersFTW

    CavaliersFTW Member

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    Interesting, when did you play? I've read testimonial that that's how players reacted to dunking in the NBA until the ABA-NBA merger, the ABA actually encouraged dunking to set itself apart from the NBA and the "merged" NBA that resulted afterwards adopted not only the 3 point shot, but also the high flying theatrics of wing players that dunked. I suppose trends of what is acceptable or frowned upon by players runs in cycles.
     
  4. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    Pretty good for a guy that could only dribble with his right hand.
     
  5. vator

    vator Contributing Member

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    Haha...I was thinking that exact same thing while watching this video. Very little going to the left. He had tremendous court vision, imagination, and passing ability though. Can't take that away from him.

    Thanks for the vid.
     
  6. CavaliersFTW

    CavaliersFTW Member

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    According to a Celtics fan from another board whom I believe watched Cousy play, most of the footage of Cousy is playoff footage from the very tail end of his career (I can confirm this), and according to him Cousy dropped his usual flamboyance during the playoffs, and even in this footage we aren't even seeing a lot of his trick plays or flashes of brilliant ball handling. As for his left hand he pulled up this quote:

    "When Cousy was 12, the family moved from Manhattan to St. Albans, Queens. There, he learned to play basketball for the first time when he was 13. His early years were inauspicious. While attending St. Albans' Andrew Jackson High School, Cousy was cut two different times from the junior varsity squad. However, he was welcomed back after he broke his right arm, and was forced to learn to dribble and shoot with his left. His ambidexterity made him valuable. By the time he was a junior, Cousy was the team's star. As a senior, he won New York City's scoring title."


    So Cousy had the ability but just lacked the need to dribble equally well with either hand. Magic Johnson played like this too. Could use his left, but kept the ball in his right hand most of the time, probably so that he could pass better right off the dribble. As long as the ball is under control and you can go where you want to go, it shouldn't matter which hand you use, it only matters how you react when your dominant hand falls under pressure.

    He does shoot with his left hand two or three times in the small amount of footage and though he rarely goes to his left hand, he does use it when going left or to shake a defender in the odd situation where one presses tight on Cousy's right side. Or he's already found a player to pass too.
     

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