The 40 Worst Things About the NBA Season

[prodigy]

The 40 Worst Things About the NBA Season
Posted by Andrew Unterberger under Lists on Jun 30, 2011

https://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2011/06/30/the-40-worst-things-about-the-nba-season/

40. The hole in David Lee’s elbow

39. Carlos Boozer’s no-show in the playoffs

38. Quinton Ross and Stephen Graham start in the same game for the Nets (in December!)

37. Michael Beasley chews out a teammate for not playing defense

36. Justin Bieber wins MVP at the All-Star Celebrity Game (Scottie got robbed!)

35. Vince Carter reaches 20,000 points, nobody notices or cares

34. The Sixers’ succession of embarrassing late-game collapses

33. Allen Iverson goes to Turkey, flops, gets injured, plans another NBA comeback

32. Bad Russ

31. Rip Hamilton benched for trade rumors

30. Mike Bibby gives up $6 million to have historically bad post-season

29. Caron Butler goes under the knife, loses season

28. CP3 or Dwight: Who’s next to go?

27. DeMarcus Cousins and the likely first of many suspension-worthy offenses

26. Eric Gordon goes down just as the Clippers start to get good

25. Toronto’s three-pointer streak finally snapped

24. FREE TYRUS THOMAS

23. LeBron and Wade segregate Bosh to his own press conferences

22. The Blatche-McGee fight nonsense

21. Pau Gasol’s post-breakup playoff funk

20. Tim Duncan gets old

19. Magic-Knicks at MSG gets postponed due to asbestos leak

18. The Timberwolves’ season-ending 15-game losing streak

17. Ron Artest and Glen “Big Baby” Davis get blocked by the rim

16. Donnie Walsh gets shown the door

15. Shaquille O’Neal limps to the finish line of his career

14. The Wizards’ 25-game home losing streak

13. Rudy Gay: Out for the year

12. Kevin Garnett pisses everyone off

11. “Look at all those beautiful black bodies!”

10. Yao’s career possibly over

9. MELODRAMA

8. The Pistons’ practice walkout

7. Magic trade for Arenas, J-Rich and Turk, doom team to years of mediocrity

6. Knicks get crushed in first two playoff home games at MSG in seven years

5. Jerry Sloan’s “Did I Jump or Was I Pushed?” retirement

4. Greg Oden and Brandon Roy: Better luck next year, Blazers fans

3. Andrew Bynum turns heel in Game 4

2. The Cavs historic’ 26-game losing streak

1. LeBron’s second (or third) consecutive season ending with a perplexing, unsatisfying playoff exit

 

[Chad Feldheimer]

1. LeBron’s second (or third) consecutive season ending with a perplexing, unsatisfying playoff exit

I think they mean the best thing.

 

[The Thriller]

Watching Shaq and Duncan look like Greg Ostertag was sad to me.

Those guys gave great battles to the greatest Jazz players of all time. They had such dominate and incredible careers. But in the end, are barely recognizable.

I think to some degree, watching Kevin Garnett play so far below the rim now is kinda depressing.

All the greats are either retired or are shadows of their former selves. At least Kidd had a pretty nice playoff outing.

 

[northeast]

Shaq Duncan LeBron and Garnett all benefited from preferential treatment by the refs throughout their careers.

Ostertag suffered from being targeted by the refs for unfair treatment throughout his career.

This was the best playoff season in 30 years, as the one season when the special treatment from the refs did not dictate the winners.

Dallas has the real stars, as Dirk, Terry, Chandler, Barea, Kidd, Stevenson and company overcame both their opponents and the ref star treatment of the league favorites.

 

[The Thriller]

Shaq Duncan LeBron and Garnett all benefited from preferential treatment by the refs throughout their careers.

Ostertag suffered from being targeted by the refs for unfair treatment throughout his career.

This was the best playoff season in 30 years, as the one season when the special treatment from the refs did not dictate the winners.

Dallas has the real stars, as Dirk, Terry, Chandler, Barea, Kidd, Stevenson and company overcame both their opponents and the ref star treatment of the league favorites.

As did Stockton and Malone.

Watching them become old and less dominate (which they never became complete shadows of themselves. I mean, Shaq and Duncan can barely even dunk anymore) was painful to watch.

You may have never loved Duncan or Shaq. But you gotta respect their games. I felt bad watching an era truly disappear watching these prime time performers just be non-existent this year.

 

[northeast]

no thriller you are incorrect.

The jazz had a disadvantage against other contending teams, because Stockton and Malone did not get the level of preferential treatment from the refs that most all star level players got, as well as the rest of the team compared to other teams. Even teams that were not as good as the Jazz, looked better because they got more calls. Kings. Mavs. for example. This goes back to the late 80s, the entire careers of Stockton and Malone. Furthermore, this was true of the entire Jazz team, 1 through 12, down the line they all got less calls than their playoff opponents , compared to other playoff quality teams. Even some players that were not on the level of Stockton and Malone got better treatment from the refs, (Ron Harper, Tony Anthony for example.) Moreover, the level of unfair treatment from the refs that some of Stockton and Malone's teammates received was not experienced by the role players on any championship team in the last 30 years.

I don't have to respect the game of Shaq or Duncun., They got an unfair advantage that got them many titles that they did not deserve.

 

[northeast]

I remember Shaq most for nearly killing many opponents who were called for fouling his elbow with their faces.

I remember Duncan most for his irritating displays of disrespectful incredulity every single time he didn't get a call his way, even though he was allowed to push and hit his opponents with impunity 90% of the time, and went to the foul line often for contact that few other players normally went to the foul line for, certainly no one on the Jazz.

 

[northeast]

I like both of those players on a personal level BTW. They both seem like good , decent people off the court.
I just dislike the unfair advantage they got on the court.

 

[northeast]

I liked the entire Spurs team for that matter. When Ginobli and Parker were younger they were 2 of the most interesting players to watch, very creative. But later Ginobli got too many calls too, and flopped too much. His creativity at just playing basketball expanded into creativity at cheating.

I used to be a fan of the Lakers until I noticed that the refs screwed the Jazz playing against them in the playoffs in the 80s. Cooper, Scott , Rambus, and Worthy were some of my favorite players in the 80s. They played great defense and got out on the break. There was a young Jazz team that outplayed them one year at their own game. It might have been before Stockton and Malone were even starters, I forget the details. The Jazz had some guy 7-4 who was an incredible shot blocker, also fun to watch.

 

[fishonjazz]

no thriller you are incorrect.

The jazz had a disadvantage against other contending teams, because Stockton and Malone did not get the level of preferential treatment from the refs that most all star level players got, as well as the rest of the team compared to other teams. Even teams that were not as good as the Jazz, looked better because they got more calls. Kings. Mavs. for example. This goes back to the late 80s, the entire careers of Stockton and Malone. Furthermore, this was true of the entire Jazz team, 1 through 12, down the line they all got less calls than their playoff opponents , compared to other playoff quality teams. Even some players that were not on the level of Stockton and Malone got better treatment from the refs, (Ron Harper, Tony Anthony for example.) Moreover, the level of unfair treatment from the refs that some of Stockton and Malone's teammates received was not experienced by the role players on any championship team in the last 30 years.

I don't have to respect the game of Shaq or Duncun., They got an unfair advantage that got them many titles that they did not deserve.

I think i remember malone leading the league in free throw attempts for many years of his career.

 

[Gyp Rosetti]

I like both of those players on a personal level BTW. They both seem like good , decent people off the court.
I just dislike the unfair advantage they got on the court.

Funny. I remember Shaq getting fouled time and time again but because he was so big and physically superior to anyone and everyone who fouled him, it didn't look so bad, and thus the refs would swallow their whistles.

 

[LogGrad98]

Funny. I remember Shaq getting fouled time and time again but because he was so big and physically superior to anyone and everyone who fouled him, it didn't look so bad, and thus the refs would swallow their whistles.

Yeah this goes right along with all those times Mark Eaton just stood there, not swaying at all arms straight above his head, while some guard came crashing down the lane and ran into him. The guard would go down like he had been hit by a truck, Eaton still wouldn't have moved a fraction of an inch, but they would call the foul on Eaton. He just looked so imposing I guess they figured there is no way he could get fouled, he had to be doing the fouling.

 

[northeast]

fishonjazz, first, regular season means sheet, it's what happens in the playoffs that matters. Second, Malone was the premier inside scorer of his era, of course he shot more foul shots than scorers shooting fadeaways. that doesn't mean that he didn't deserve to go to the line. 3rd, that doesn't address how he was treated on the defensive end of the court, or how the team was treated, or the calls on travelling, or 3 seconds, or illegal d, or goal tending, or out of bounds, or fouls off the ball, or technicals, etc.

Salmon, you're just wrong, Shaq went to the line plenty, second, you are not noticing how often he got away with bowling people over on both ends of the floor or driving his elbow into their brain cavities without a foul being called, and you're crying because somebody put a hand on him sometimes without a foul being called

Also, look at all the calls in the games, in the playoffs, not just trips to the line (see above)

Neither of you talk about the rest of the team. Malone can't win a championship if the rest of his team is getting shafted constantly.

Your two arguments conflict with each other. You can't both be right. you should argue with each other for a while.

Lograd, Eaton did not get the same calls that Shaq got, they wre treated totally differently.
Shaq

 

[northeast]

Shaq in his prime had people bounce off of him, and he would NOT get called for a foul. Shaq would commit flagrants and NOT get called for a foul.
Totally the opposite of the treatment of Eaton.

 

[fishonjazz]

fishonjazz, first, regular season means sheet, it's what happens in the playoffs that matters. Second, Malone was the premier inside scorer of his era, of course he shot more foul shots than scorers shooting fadeaways. that doesn't mean that he didn't deserve to go to the line. 3rd, that doesn't address how he was treated on the defensive end of the court, or how the team was treated, or the calls on travelling, or 3 seconds, or illegal d, or goal tending, or out of bounds, or fouls off the ball, or technicals, etc.

Salmon, you're just wrong, Shaq went to the line plenty, second, you are not noticing how often he got away with bowling people over on both ends of the floor or driving his elbow into their brain cavities without a foul being called, and you're crying because somebody put a hand on him sometimes without a foul being called

Also, look at all the calls in the games, in the playoffs, not just trips to the line (see above)

Neither of you talk about the rest of the team. Malone can't win a championship if the rest of his team is getting shafted constantly.

Your two arguments conflict with each other. You can't both be right. you should argue with each other for a while.

Lograd, Eaton did not get the same calls that Shaq got, they wre treated totally differently.
Shaq

I wasn't actually arguing with anybody. I just was just saying that malone shot alot of free throws. more than guys like jordan who took the ball to the hoop alot, and more than guys like shaq and hakeem who played in the paint alot. Not really arguing just commenting. sorry to upset you though.

 

[northeast]

Early in his career , Amare was the superior player and his team was the superior team against Duncan's at least one year, but the refs won the series for Duncan and his team, enabling them to go on and win the title.

Mutumbo was the better player against Shaq at least one year and his team played at least equal to the Lakers, but the refs were the difference maker, giving the Lakers and Shaq the title.

There are many other examples.

These things never happened for Stockton and Malone like they happened for Duncan and Shaq. Yea the Jazz stars had a lot of nice statistics, but winning the title was what mattered most, and the refs were the difference maker many years, never in the favor of the Jazz.