In a previous post, I dissed the NBA as being a haven for ugly pseudo-basketball. It does serve a purpose, though, as a sort of methadone program to ease the way down from the hoops-jukie high of March to the Great Sports Desert between the end of the NBA and the start of the NFL.
As I was feeling generally cruddy yesterday (side effects of some medication, I think, and we’re going to be getting that dosage tweaked just as soon as the doctor’s office opens), I wound up watching a little of the NBA playoffs, specifically, the Indiana Pacers playing the New Jersey Nets. Now, granted, these are not among the teams anybody expects to win it all, but I was struck by the fact that five of the last seven possessions in the first half featured a clear-out one-on-one move– exactly the sort of ugly basketball I complained about earlier.
I was busy doing other stuff as well, so I didn’t watch the entire second half, but I did take notes for part of the fourth quarter. The findings are below the fold:
Looking for a decent proxy for team play, I counted the number of passes made in the half-court offensive set for each team. I didn’t count fast breaks (of which there were few), or quick scores off offensive rebounds. The results, from about 10:30 in the fourth quarter to about 5:00 remaining (“t” indicates that the play ended with a turnover, rather than a shot):
NJ: 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3t, 1, 3, 1
IND: 4t, 2, 3t, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 3, 1, 1t
That’s 16 passes in 11 possessions for the Nets, and 17 in 11 for the Pacers, for a whopping 1.5 passes per set average. Which is inflated, if anything, because Vince Carter doesn’t bring the ball up the court– most of those “1”‘s were passes to him.
All in all, pretty much exactly what I remember hating about the NBA. Lots of people bouncing the ball, looking to make a one-on-one move, and relatively little motion form anybody else. And possessions involving three or more passes were as likely to end up with a turnover as a good basket, because it usually meant that somebody had dribbled into a tight spot, and hucked a desperate pass across the court.
Again, these are not teams renowned for their high-quality basketball (Steve Kerr’s repeated references to “Princeton offense” aside), but this was exactly the sort of ugly crap I dislike. I meant to try to watch a little of one of the other games, for comparison, but got busy with grading papers, and didn’t get to it. Maybe later in the playoffs.
Had you watched the Suns/Lakers game, you would have seen some beautiful passing from Steve Nash.
The Clippers and Pistons games also featured some nice passing, along with some ferocious defense. The Heat and Mavericks games showed off the motion offense you missed out on. It’s easy to find the answers you want if you choose your sample carefully.
Me, I watched all 8 games. What can I say, I’m an NBA junkie. I needed, and got, my fix. A couple of blowouts, but only one real dud, entertainment-wise — the Nets game. Seven out of eight is a pretty good deal if you ask me.
In contrast, what proportion of March Madness games from the first round were contested as closely or provided half the entertainment?
I’m willing to believe that I just happened to land on the weekend’s worst game– God knows, I wouldn’t want to see an uglier game between two playoff-caliber teams. There was no conscious attempt to bias the sample, though– this is the game that happened to be on when I was brain-fried enough to feel like watching the NBA.