NBA Ugliness

[Vraille Darkfang]

were beating the Knicks handily

If that's the case, I hope the Knicks start signing some Boxers, cause they are going to be having a LOT of fights on their hands.

I kid. I kid.

Wait. This is the Knick I'm talking about.

If they are frustrated about other teams running up the score on them...

Maybe they should actually TRY to play the game.

Knicks have failed to live up to (heck, even remotely approach) expectations for several years now.

Maybe they should take their anger out on the real source of their frustration...

Themselves.

As an aside. Basketball is still the Major Sport where the Fans & Players are right next to each other (In Hockey they have the Plexiglass). Fights on the Court can quickly move into the stands (as has been proven).

Fights on the floor can easily lead to injured fans. This is all sorts of Bad for the NBA. As the fiasco of a couple of years ago demonstrated.

I think the next on-floor incident that wanders into the Stands will result in Year-Long Suspensions for all involved.

Players hurting fans ain't good for business.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

The Knicks were getting beaten by another team who had their best team on the floor despite the fact that they had no chance of losing. Therefore it was ok for them to start a fight since the other team was obviously asking for it?

Maybe if they actually trained a little harder and starting playing a bit better they might not get their butts kicked and have a little more interest in the outcome of the game.

Olaf the Stout

 

[TarionzCousin]

It seems like for the past two seasons, the only question worth asking about the Knicks was "How could this get any worse?" Now we know.

I didn't see the game. But it does seem rather mean to have 4/5 starters in when you're up by nearly 20 with one minute to go.

...and didn't ESPN Magazine or Sports Illustrated have an article recently about LeBron, Dwyane, and Carmelo where it stated that Melo had matured? The write up I read said that he threw the first real punch....

 

[jaerdaph]

NBA basketball ain't what it used to be. The players today have no class. Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan were the last of the great gentlemen to play the game.

 

[Darth Shoju]

The Knicks were getting beaten by another team who had their best team on the floor despite the fact that they had no chance of losing. Therefore it was ok for them to start a fight since the other team was obviously asking for it?

Maybe if they actually trained a little harder and starting playing a bit better they might not get their butts kicked and have a little more interest in the outcome of the game.

Olaf the Stout

Perhaps I wasn't clear in my initial post, but I think there should be disciplinary action all around, not just to the Nuggets. The Knicks didn't need to commit the foul nor fight back to that extent. At the same time the Nuggets didn't need to try to run up the score and clown around, and Carmello didn't need to sneak up, punch someone and then run away. I think everyone one involved looked pretty foolish. If I was a Knicks season ticket holder I would be seriously reconsidering purchasing them next season.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Maybe it is just the way that professional sports in Australia is different to the US. In Australian Rules Football you might take off a couple of your older players if you are winning by an extremely large margin so that they don't pick up an injury. At the same time though, you want to see your team absolutely run this team into the ground. I don't see why that should be seen as a bad thing. Sometimes teams actually learn more from a thrashing than a narrow loss.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Darth Shoju]

Maybe it is just the way that professional sports in Australia is different to the US. In Australian Rules Football you might take off a couple of your older players if you are winning by an extremely large margin so that they don't pick up an injury. At the same time though, you want to see your team absolutely run this team into the ground. I don't see why that should be seen as a bad thing. Sometimes teams actually learn more from a thrashing than a narrow loss.

Olaf the Stout

Over here we (or at least I) call it bad sportsmanship. It is pretty standard practice to take your stars off the court when you have a commanding lead near the end of the game. This is both to avoid injuring them needlessly and to not embarrass your opponents. At that point no one is going to mistake it for a close game.

When I played basketball in highschool, out team got invited to a tournament in a smaller town. Most of the teams there didn't have particularly strong basketball programs so our coach sat the starting lineup for most of the tournament. I got to play in half of a game the whole time as opposed to playing the whole thing as usual. I didn't mind at all as I didn't see any point in pounding on a less talented team to show how good we were. We still won the tournament anyway.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It's what the second brawl in two years? That's really not a bad track record.

Its three if you count the fan brawl over in Europe a few weeks ago.

I'm of 2 minds about running up the score. Its one thing if the other team just isn't stopping you, its another if you're doing it for purposes of humilitation.

The thing is, I've seen enough stupendous comebacks to thing that there really isn't any such thing as running up the score in a PRO game in any league. Those guys are paid to win, and they're generally pretty good at it.

As for showboating?

This is entertainment. Those guys who are complaining the most generally fall into 2 categories:

1) Those Most Frequently Posterized.

2) Those Most Likely to Posterize someone.

The guys in the first category are probably just barely talented enough to be pro atheletes, so they get beaten more often.

The guys in the latter are generally pretty elite, and hate having their egos and images scuffed up.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Over here we (or at least I) call it bad sportsmanship. It is pretty standard practice to take your stars off the court when you have a commanding lead near the end of the game. This is both to avoid injuring them needlessly and to not embarrass your opponents. At that point no one is going to mistake it for a close game.

When I played basketball in highschool, out team got invited to a tournament in a smaller town. Most of the teams there didn't have particularly strong basketball programs so our coach sat the starting lineup for most of the tournament. I got to play in half of a game the whole time as opposed to playing the whole thing as usual. I didn't mind at all as I didn't see any point in pounding on a less talented team to show how good we were. We still won the tournament anyway.

I think that there is a big difference between high school basketball and professional basketball though. It is completely understandable to do what your team did in the high school basketball tournament. In a professional basketball league though I think that the kiddy gloves should be taken off. As Dannyalcatraz points out, teams have come back from big margins before.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Darth Shoju]

As Dannyalcatraz points out, teams have come back from big margins before.

Olaf the Stout

True. But we generally aren't talking about sitting your starters for a whole quarter. They just generally aren't standing on the court when the final buzzer sounds. While a coach may sit someone like Carmello for the last 5 mins he's going to leave enough talent on to stop a comeback.