Forget what you’ve always been told about defense and let the waves of NBA super performance wash over you.
The NBA at the moment feels like a barrage of mixed tapes.
The regular season is 82 games long. Players and their teams have to navigate back-to-back rides, long haul trips, and rodeo road trips. Hotel rooms become home. Honing one’s skills and bolstering one’s weaknesses in the midst of such a turbulent travel schedule required the use of opponent’s facilities. Sometimes those areas are not welcome, and stairs have to be thrown. Keeping up with it all as a fan requires more eyes, ears, and hours than is currently available to a life lived on this planet. And keeping up with him as a player seems almost unfathomable. The league’s MVP appears for discussion on any given night, and the hats thrown in the ring are different almost every night.
Luka scored a triple-double highlighted by a 60-point miracle minute to push overtime against the New York Knicks, but two games before that effort he scored 50 points against the Houston Rockets and two games after New York scored 51 against San Antonio. Spurs with a range of efforts from 30 to 40 points splashed well.
Donovan Mitchell kicked off the new year with an absurd response to Luka’s 60 by dropping 71 on the Chicago Bulls. That same night, Klay Thompson scored 54 points in a West Coast game against the Atlanta Hawks.
The idea of defense seems to have been attached to average combined points per game between teams reaching heights not seen since 1985. While critics may complain about travel and lack of defense, many have long since entrenched this latest edition of NBA Jam to be Turned into a real flesh and blood. Did you see where Kyrie started tracking that ball in order to dunk it against San Antonio? It was as if a piece of red thread led him through a cork board to the crime scene before the plot unfolded.
Then there’s Giannis who totals three straight games over 40, including 55 in a win over the Washington Wizards, while LeBron recently added to his career totals with 47 and 43 points. He’s not limping in front of Karim – he’s running.
This is like getting a file Sgt. Pepper response to Pet sounds Almost every night. Play the tapes backwards and all you hear is defense is dead. But this death isn’t necessarily due to a lack of effort insofar as guarding players like LeBron, Giannis, and Kevin Durant was always unfair, just as it was unfair to guard all of their previous predecessors. Then, add to the mix players who may not have overwhelming stature or physical ability, but they’ve got an endless supply of YouTube charts from which to study and build their skill sets. Then consider the fact that these same charts were also available to a generation of coaches across the country and around the world. The secrets of the guild are largely exposed.
The NBA defense is fighting a losing battle against an offense that can’t be guarded
How does the defensive effort keep up with the idiosyncrasies that were introduced to the algorithms? How does one continually plot against the endless barrage of dagger 3s? The answer was to join the attack.
Duels are designed to be mano y mano, and basketball is often directed at thinking of building competitions and one-on-one matches. Think Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain. Think Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers, not Boston Celtics vs. Lakers & Rockets, Pistons & 76ers or Hawks. Think Shaq vs. Kobe, not Shaq and Kobe vs. Pacers, Trail Blazers, Spurs and Kings. Think San Antonio vs. Phoenix or San Antonio vs. Dallas, but not both. And what about the heat? This idea probably needs more elaboration, but the thing this season is forcing viewers to do is not watch the game like a boxing match.
The league is not one or two players competing for the best player. The league does not have a large number of dominant teams. What the league has is a bunch of highly competitive teams that can’t be separated from each other in the standings. One disappointing week in Dallas. Then they ride a winning streak and it looks like they might make it back to the Western Conference Finals. Golden State write off. Then they won a few in a row. Is it too early to write off the Brooklyn Nets? Is it too early to count on the Memphis Grizzlies? What do you do with the Phoenix Suns? Be careful how you invest your expectations; Volatility is the only constant return. However, the Boston Celtics are very good.
But this season is not a cheerleading battle so much as a chaotic round. Golf is not often seen as a chaotic sport. Nobody gets blood. The shirts are inside out. Preconceived stereotypes persist for a reason. But golf is messy in terms of how the competition develops. No one can stop their opponent by blocking a shot or snatching the ball from the tee. The game comes down to striking blows, and he leaves the track to fend for himself. This is what the current NBA season feels like. A roar from Amen’s Corner ignites the crowd watching under a pine canopy, and that voice, which, for the time being, is nothing more than a terrified human response, challenges another shot-maker to go broke because this is Sunday and how many possibilities there are to wear a green jacket. Apparently, in the NBA, there are 82, and this season it’s all about putting the red on the scoreboard for all to see and hear. Maybe this is cheaper. But there’s a difference between living with awards season and being swept away in the spontaneity of a wildfire.
Here are the fifty-point matches this season: Giannis (55), Mitchell (71), Thompson (54), Luca (51, 60, 50), Pascal Siakam (52), Devin Booker (58, 51), Joel. Embiid (53, 59), Anthony Davis (55), Stephen Curry (50), Darius Garland (51).
This burning league should be built and debated like a great home race, only there is no clear finish line. Nobody chases Roger Maris, right? Basketball No. 61 is 100 wilts – that’s a black and white impossibility, right? Nobody can catch that, right?
When Kevin Love tweeted his favorite Cleveland moments the night teammate Donovan Mitchell went 71, he included the night he scored 32 in a quarter against Portland. Multiply that by four. Does anyone do that?
Enjoy finding out. Enjoy waiting. Embrace kidnapping. he is here.
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