I've got us at 4/25 for 16% (?). What am I missing? Oh, Barkley! I don't really count him as "we" haha... Don't consider him a real Rocket *shrug Like if Raptors fans saw Dream on there and counted him as theirs, kinda... Teams can share players, if they've spent significant time on multiple teams (like, who gets LeBron?), but... You could argue that since Barkley has some significant playoffs history while a Rocket, I guess... I see him as more of a soulless mercenary that the Rockets hired... Anyone else feel that way?
Barkley helped us beat Seattle and got us to the WCF. Barkley did more than Yao and Tmac or Steve Francis @heypart
I miss these days. Yes, back through the Malice at the Palace, the physical nature of the game mattered a lot.... and teams over the years had enforcers, and players would be somewhat dirty. If you were 6'0" and 175 lbs, you knew you could be physically beat up or hurt going to the basket. Fouls would be called, even objections but it was something to think about...... players like Isiah Thomas had to decide if they wanted to drive the paint in the first quarter because they may be sore and bruised by crunch time. I remember Karl Malone taking out Isiah Thomas after the Pistons started bumping John Stockton a little too hard. Big men banged as well..... they would throw elbows, step on toes, push.... and if a player feigned a foul, there would be retribution as well.... for example Barkley and Shaq fought each other.... Ben Wallace was given a dislocated jaw by Shaq...... a lot of the players today are wonderful, but would struggle playing in the game through the late 90's and early 00's....... Christian Wood would not survive physically for example. I am not one to claim that the old game is necessarily better, but the element of physicality is largely gone in the league. Teams do not have to worry about it anymore...... there is no hand checking now...... there is no having a fist fight and missing a game....
yep, it was all toxic masculinity back then. Physicality is being reduced in many other sports, NFL obviously… But also soccer. For soccer I definitely consider today’s game more watchable, protecting skill and letting skill shine. For NBA I am not so sure. People say skill level now is so much higher, and that’s true. But there was something about showing your skill through rough physicality and getting pushed and shoved up and down the court. Dream, MJ, these guys were harassed and still shined. It’s all ballet now, feminization.
The first time I saw Zeke play in person I watched him the whole game. I was not really impressed for most of it. Sure, he put up some points and assists but he didn't look All-World or anything. The guy was coasting. However, in the last 5 minutes or so of a close game he absolutely took over. He drove, he scored at will, he got steals, he was by far the fastest and quickest player on the court. The Pistons beat the Aguirre-led Mavs going away.
