Scoring Will Soar For A Day
Ah, the All-Star Game. Nothing like a good 140-138 shootout to make us all forget, at least temporarily, about the NBA’s nagging quality issue.
Scoring is down considerably; attendance is off almost 2 percent; the bad teams are really, really bad; and the Chicago Bulls seem to be so above and beyond everyone else that a record-breaking 73 victories isn’t out of the question.
This weekend, as the league’s power structure and the greatest players in its history gather for the All-Star Game, there is a slight identity crisis behind the scenes.
The NBA competition committee met Friday to try to figure out why the quality of the game is slipping and what can be done to correct the problem.
“We’ll talk about the state of the game, and within that context I’m sure the lower scoring will be addressed. I’m sure it will be a lively discussion,” said Rod Thorn, the NBA’s vice president of operations.
Today’s game tips off at 3:38 p.m., and most of the All-Stars will be back. Michael Jordan, Penny Hardaway, Dikembe Mutombo, Grant Hill and Scottie Pippen will start for the East. Karl Malone, Shawn Kemp, Hakeem Olajuwon, Gary Payton and John Stockton will start for the West.
Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning will sit out because of injuries.
It should be a run-and-gun game. The locals should get a big kick out of that, since it’ll be the only one of its kind this season at Gund Arena, home to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the coach, Mike Fratello, who has become the trendsetter for the philosophy of keeping the score in the mid-80s or lower.
Teams are tallying just 95.6 points per game - a 14-point drop from 10 years ago. Shooting percentages have dropped to 45 percent.
The dropoff has been constant as more teams have adopted the approach of the Cavs - milking the 24-second clock, playing a modified zone defense, trying to keep the games close in an effort to win with inferior talent.
“The league has lost a lot of offensive-minded coaches in recent years - Paul Westphal, Doug Moe, Don Nelson, Paul Westhead,” said Steve Kerr of the Chicago Bulls. “A lot of them were innovators that played uptempo games that people copied.
“Back then there was a definite contrast between teams. Some nights you’d play 130-120 games, and then the next night you’d go against a defense-oriented team and have a low-scoring game. Now the influence is coming from Pat Riley and Mike Fratello, and there’s a lot less variety now.”