Crazy how much Harden gets away with shove off with his off hand. Surprised that no opposing coach has made a stink about this yet. A lot of those "great" stepbacks he basically shoves the opposing forward in the direction their moving so it's not as obvious as if he pushed them in a different way
Hilarious loss for the Lakers, but hey, at least they achieved their goal of holding Harden under 50
It's just different now. These guys just bounce around and ring chase and no one bats an eye. Totally bitch made behavior in my opinion but it is what it is at this point. It'll never go back to the way it was . . .
NBA ratings are down. I'm not surprised:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6605537/NBA-TV-ratings-hit-LeBron-James-Laker-move.html
In addition to LeBron's move, I think there's a demographic of 30+ adults who are tuning in less because we're tired of the out-of-control three-point circus and lack of defense. As I've stated on some other forums, it seems most fans prefer 90-110 point games. You want enough scoring so that it's not like the slowdown slugfests of the late '90s, but not so much that you're seeing teams fling over fifty threes in a game, and frequent scores of 130 or more. Warriorsball and Hardenball are played out with a lot of the old school fans, who like me would prefer more of a balance.
I admit, if it weren't for Luka, I'd hardly be watching this season -- it would be Thunder games, and that's about it (Love's ongoing injury in Cleveland has led me to watch them only once since it occurred). I catch maybe a game or so a week now. I used to watch almost every night, sometimes two games in a night.
Again I'll argue for moving the 3 point line back. It was a shot worthy of 3 points when they implemented it. Shooting is much better now. The shot is too easy. Move it back. Widen the court if need be, or remove corner 3s all-together.
Wouldn't that take away the corner 3 all together?
That's why I said widen the court if need be.
Jaren Jackson has a chance to be good, but like most rookies he has a major weakness. He doesn't rebound the ball for shit. 6'11 and would barely be a good rebounder for a shooting guard, let alone a small forward, let alone a power forward.
Again I'll argue for moving the 3 point line back. It was a shot worthy of 3 points when they implemented it. Shooting is much better now. The shot is too easy. Move it back. Widen the court if need be, or remove corner 3s all-together.
I don't think moving the line does anything except make the problem worse. It would give everyone even more spacing.
The real answer is to make every 2 a 4 point play, and the 3 a 5. That would make it not as efficient to hit the 3.
You could never compare stats that way, so it will never happen, but just making the 3 harder won't do anything. Guys will adjust a few feet. Now if a 3 was behind half court only... lol