Define Entertaining Basketball

Rockets basketball, except the opposite.

 

the Suns have been the most entertaining team in the league for quite some time. they were equally entertaining in the early to mid-90's. i think...if you did a poll...they would win, if you ask, "what team do you think of when you think of "exciting" basketball in the NBA."

they have one Finals appearance to show for it. that was 1993.

the Mavs have been really entertaining, too.


meanwhile, we all complain about how boring the spurs and pistons are. how plodding the heat were last season.

those teams win rings.

 

I probably think I'm the only one that enjoyed watching the rockets play. Not all the clanks off the rim, but the little nuances and things within the offensive and defensive system. The way the help defense comes over after a they double at the top of the 3 point line, then go back to recover once the ball is passed, back screens, the double repost for yao to swing to the other side.

I know I am in the minority and many will disagree, but these types of things you can actually learn from and improve your own game. Its nice to be recognized one day because you provide good help defense to a teammate that's been beat off the dribble, taking charges, playing a PnR to perfection. Its fun to see circus shots, dunks, quick crossovers, but those are things many of us will never accomplish consistently. Id rather see the simple things executed very well, cause it helps us learn how to do it correctly.

 

I admit i didnt like when the rockets were bricking shots either, but the whole 'entertaining' argument just bugs me. I hear the suns are the most exciting but to be honest i dont think its any more exciting than the spurs. As good as the suns are in transition, watching their halfcourt execution (especially without nash) is ugly. Watching parts of the game, i there was a great play when cleveland was making a push and tony parker came down, horry set a screen, parker peeled off and pulled up at the FT line for open jumper. Sure it wasnt sexy but dam that was a great play.

as for the mavs and 'exciting'...i dont get that either. The mavs rely a lot on their players individual talent to get shots after a play breaks down. But i guess it seems more exciting b/c they actually have a group of guys that can put the ball in the basket

 

Teams don't have to run and gun to be entertaining. At least not for me. What I do ask though is that we aren't subjected to a Finals series where the Spurs and Cavs average 86.5 and 80.5 points respectively.

As for the Spurs in particular, there are many reasons they're not entertaining. They play a methodical, grind-it-out style that not very pleasant to watch. Tim Duncan is bland and frankly b****es way too much about foul calls. Manu flops all over the place on both ends of the floor. Bruce Bowen is dirty and has intentionally injured enough players to make up a decent All-Star roster. And this may be nitpicking, but their PA guy has always annoyed the piss out of me.

 

don't we say this nearly EVERY year, though?

i mean it seems like year after year we hear this complaint, with some exceptions.

this "boring" style turns off certain people. but it seems to win. which is hardly boring for the fans of those teams.

 

It's not just the Spurs being boring. It's the many things:

1. The noticable talent between the two teams. Spurs-Suns was between two of the best teams in basketball; two juggernauts going at it if you will. Spurs-Cavs, it was like watching a pre-season game.

2. The unexpected factor. Was the outcome really in doubt? Look at the Mavs-Warriors series. Even though many predicted the Mavs to win, once the Warriors took Game 1, you just knew this series is going to be special. Then there was Baron Davis's dunk on Kirilenko and Lebron's 48.

3. No drama and excitement. There are barely any great highlights to the series. You can play the 'defense' card all you want, but the Cav's bricking wide-open shots is not exciting. And unlike Kobe (who is watched to succeed or fail), you can't just feel for Lebron. He just isn't that guy you can just turn on the TV for and hope for something exciting to happen.

Of course that's just part of why the Finals blew. I could go on to why nobody wants to watch a San Antonio and Cleveland team, but that's pretty self-explainatory.

 

Style does not matter to me, entertaining basketball is all about the drama, close games, big shots etc.

 

For a casual fan now probably brought up on Sportscenter, entertaining basketball would be the Suns/Warriors, high risk high reward type basketball. Credit to Nash for reducing the Suns offense less risky due to being a great decision maker.

As we've seen, high risk type teams don't do well in a seven game series. Consistancy is what wins basketball series.

For me personally, entertaining basketball is execution, ball movement and hitting open shots. Defensively watching good defensive rotations, box outs and defensive positioning.

Granted the highlight play is exciting, and I can always get into a game where the crowd is really into it (see Warriors home games, NCAA tourny/rivaly games). However, sloppy play to me is a huge turn off (WNBA).

 

I really liked watching the team play this year. When we played well, that is.

The Spurs are not boring, maybe to the casual fan, and I guess some not-so-casual fans, but to me that's great basketball to watch. Consistency, experience, poise, excecution under pressure. Tim Duncan murdering most opponents in the post, Tony Parker every now and then slashing the lane to ribbons, Manu always (and I mean always) attacking the rim (and flopping). There's more to it than just those 3, but the Spurs are just a great franchise basketball wise. They make good decisions, bring in foreign players relatively cheap and get them to produce, and sometimes over produce (Parker, Ginobili).

Damn I hate them.

 

Warriors vs Mavs was the best series of the playoffs.

1. Super underdog vs best record
2. Tons of emotion, technical fouls, screaming
3. lots of points
4. Jessica Alba
5. Villans = Dirk, Cuban
6. Crazy plays = all those crazy shots and dunkage
7. Better TV analyst (The Charles Barkley factor vs the Warriors)
8. insane fans = Warrior fans

 

Exactly right. Warrior fans were great in that series. Stephen Jackson and Baron Davis' beard were kickass too. Not to mention my man Andres Biedrins.

 

I acutally like watching Spurs play, especially watching Duncan. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I love watching big men with great low post moves, beautiful footworks, that is entertaining to me.

But I gotta agree that this final is boring. Loopsided match ups, over the top defense, and LeBron and Duncan sucking.

 

I sort of like to watch the Spurs, but the most entertaining basketball to me isn't the Suns or Warriors or Mavs.

To me the most entertaining basketball is played by the Pistons, especially the Championship Pistons. There you've got a team who plays methodically, with precision, but all the parts work. They share the ball well. They sacrifice to get each other good shots. They collapse and rotate well on defense. Five guys knowing what they are supposed to do and executing it is beautiful basketball.

 

For sure it was boring in terms of basketball artistry but it's time that folks face the fact that the players coming into the league today are as fundamentally skilled as in past decades and that has a lot more to do with the bad basketball than who was or wasn't playing in the Finals.

I'm with you on Duncan as I'm simply in awe of that guy. Cleveland played some of the best defense on him I've ever seen and he still managed to get the job done. The guy is greatness personified. Watching him play, how he goes about his business on the court harkens me back to the days when Hakeem was in his prime. I will never understand why so many in Houston and Dallas want to disparage the guy because he is truly a class act. He conducts himself with class and he wins with class and that's the highest compliment you can give to a professional athlete.

 

I have to go with the Suns, they play the kind of basketball I would love to see win the NBA title because it showcases the skills of their players in offense.

 

for me it a team has to be able to rack up points, play defense and at times go on an impressive 15-0 run. i think that last season much like the past few seasons went like this, we would get stops and while we were running our half court offense i would cringe on the thought of missing because with everything brick or airball that was tossed up i knew for sure as easily as we could get stops we would surely have the chance to lose the game if the team was as one of the elite teams of the west. i hated watching my team shoot such a low percentage because i knew that deep down inside we had the chance to choke when the time called for us to score. the only exception to this *boring style of play* was when yao went down and we started to implement a more offensive minded style and we were still able to play team defense. what does it matter when you hold your team to under 35% shooting when you're barely about to keep your FG% over 35%? we as a team were one of the poorest shooting teams and when it came down to us having to get rebounds and play defense we really choked it up. we couldn't handle other teams that had more than 2-3 good offensive players and our defense was really lacking during the Jazz series. i just like to watch a consistent winning team and over the past few years when healthy our team has showed that it can beat the teams it should beat and contest games with teams that are far superior. thing is though i still hate watching them play halfcourt offense because i always knew that more times that not we would either turn it over or just fail to get the offense going and get burned for it.

/rant over

 

the rockets. no matter who the players are or whose coaching.

that's entertaining basketball for me.

 

anything that doesn't involve the Spurs or Pistons (THE 2 more boring teams in the history of basketball) is entertaining.