Trend in NBA favors offense
By David Aldridge
Inquirer Columnist
MIAMI - For the last two decades, just about every team that has won the NBA Finals has been the league's best defensive team. And on that team there has been a player - or players - considered among the best defenders at his position.
The '80s Lakers had Michael Cooper. The Celtics had Kevin McHale and Dennis Johnson. The Pistons had Dennis Rodman and Joe Dumars. The Bulls had Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen - and, in their second Threepeat, Rodman. The Rockets had Hakeem Olajuwon. The Spurs had David Robinson and have Bruce Bowen. And the new-millennium Lakers had Kobe Bryant and Rick Fox.
Which is why this season, in so many ways, represents a sea change in the NBA.
The defending champion Spurs have already been shown the door. And the defending Eastern Division champs, the Pistons, are about to join them. After a half-dozen years in which either Detroit or San Antonio set the standard for defense, and won four championships between them, both dropped noticeably this season. And both have been sliced up by superior offenses in the playoffs.
Which is by design.
It's a natural progression from a series of rule changes over the last few years designed to liberate offenses, combined with an influx of quicksilver guards and forwards capable of handling the ball and finishing at the basket. It has made players like Miami's Dwyane Wade even more unstoppable. And it's keeping more fans in front of their televisions, if the increased ratings for this postseason are any indication.
People love offense. And they're getting it, while defensive-oriented teams look to be going the way of the stegosaurus.
"I think that it is fair to say we went through a period where it became fashionable to get a piece of a player" on his way to the basket, commissioner David Stern said Monday night before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.
"If he didn't stop him, he slowed him up," Stern said. "And we made a decision to say we want to try it the other way. And I think our fans - and our players - are responding beautifully to that. It's giving people a chance to see how talented our players really are. And so we're pretty excited about that."
Exhibit A is Wade, who is rolling faster than a beer barrel down the Matterhorn. He's averaging 30.7 points against the Pistons. In the series, Wade is shooting 69.5 percent from the floor.
That included two baskets Monday that defy description: one a flip over his head as he fell to the floor after being fouled, the other a heave from the corner as he was hit on the arm.
Right now, he is stupid hot.
And telegenic.
And cooperative with reporters.
And rocking the Sean John clothing line.
And saying things like "I'm just a kid in a candy store" after busting the Pistons for 31 points on Monday.
Think Stern wouldn't mind this kid being the image people think of when they think of the NBA - instead of, say, brawling Pacers and Pistons fans - for the next five or six years?
"He's the reason I came here," Shaquille O'Neal said Monday after the Heat's 89-78 victory gave them a lead of three games to one.
"I know I was getting older," O'Neal said. "I knew I needed somebody of his caliber. I never really heard of him before I saw him, but then I saw him do what he did to Baron Davis that one year" - in 2003, Wade's rookie season.
"I was, like, this kid has potential," O'Neal said. "And with the secrets I have, I came down here and showed him stuff, told him stuff. And now he's blossoming very nice. But the good thing about him is, he's doing it the right way. He's earning his spot. Other guys have been given their spot."
O'Neal made it clear to Pat Riley that he would not OK his trade from the Lakers in the summer of '04 if Wade were part of the package that went back to Los Angeles. So Riley resisted the insistence of Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak that Wade be in the deal.
"I wouldn't have done it" if Wade had to go, Riley said this week.
So Wade stayed. And he has teamed with O'Neal to create a 1-2 punch that is rolling through the East, just as the Mavericks, with Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, have dominated the West and look as if they will ultimately wear down the game, but small, Suns.
That would set up a Miami-Dallas final, with everything the league could want - the Q rating of O'Neal, the style and scoring of Wade, and the international flavor of Nowitzki. And offense. Lots of offense, with scorers freed up to do what they do.
For that, the commish will put up with Mark Cuban for a couple of weeks.
Reply With Quote
