NBA = Not Basketball Anymore

Many folks may catch the bottom line or watch the "exciting" SportsCenter highlights and get the wrong idea. Others will check out the 128-125 Knicks-Nuggets box score and assume this must have been NBA action at its finest. Call me an old-school cynic, but I strenuously object.

Last night I found myself back in the apartment post-Thanksgiving extravaganza with very little to do. It was a weird feeling. Don't get me wrong, weird and good. Friday night. Already two days off and we haven't crossed over into weekend territory. No doubt a hundred times better than a Monday. Still, something about it made it seem alternate universe. Hence, why for some strange reason I found myself watching nearly the entire Knicks-Nuggets game.

My viewing of an entire NBA regular season game, much less a Knicks game, is a very, very rare occurence these days. What I saw was disturbing. In short, this was a brand of basketball that was almost completely foreign. Not to get all "back in the day" here, but what was going on at the Pepsi Center was ugly to watch, no matter how close or palatable it looked on the scoreboard. Maybe this is just perception and was skewed because this was the Knicks and Nuggets (and their respective brands of basketball), but the game lacked any flow. There were no pretty fast breaks, no brilliantly-executed sets, very few nifty two-man games. Nary a pick and roll.

I guess for folks who enjoy one-on-one basketball it doesn't get much better. Melo is a bonafide mega scoring star and Al Harrington has some pretty unique talents in terms of putting the ball in the hoop as well. Add folks like Larry Hughes, Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith who've never met a shot they didn't like, and it was a get-out-of-my-way-I'll-create-myself-a-shot extravaganza.

However, if basketball was taught to you as any sort of a team sport...if passing the ball a few times in the hopes of improving the percentage shot attempted was part of the fundamentals you learned...should ball movement and defense be an element of what can make professional basketball potetry in motion...this game was a clinic in how not to play the game.

Is there a point to this rant? I'm not sure. I do know one thing. It's confirmd I can continue my hiatus from the Knicks for a few more years. Now, if you'll excuse me there appears to be a game of pigskin being played on Smurf Turf which I shall return my attention.

posted at 11:58 PM