Warriors becoming human

cowens/oldschool wrote:swish that might be true, but is it fair to compare them vs their own era and how good/dominant they were in that era or compare them match up to match up, regardless of era? Sam and I used to debate this....I still say best era in players and teams was 80's. My point in bringing up these teams was more to show there were teams that already played and won with smallball and 3 ball and both teams were fast and played uptempo too.

Cow

That was not small ball that the Celtics played back in 75-76. That was normal ball. Below link list those players that played at least 1700 minutes and played center, center-forward or forward-center.

http://bkref.com/tiny/4Hx5T

18 of the 31 players are under 6'10" and the average weight of the non Celtic players is 224 lbs. The average weight for Cowens and Silas is 225 lbs. Note that Cowens and Silas finished 2nd and 4th in rebounds per game.

swish

This is wonderful that you fellas are so interested in following this evolution of the game. I ran across the quote below from Dave Cowens that was probably made in the early Nineties. Dave was asked what it was like coming to a team that ran and ran some more.

Dave Cowens: "I’d played up-tempo in high school and college, and my conditioning was at a very high level. I was used to pushing through various thresholds of pain and fatigue, even when other players were having trouble. The league at that time suited my style perfectly. When you watch an NBA game today, you’re lucky to see either team break 100 points. It’s become a half court game. When we played it was nothing to see a 130-128 score – today that’s unheard of. That gets back to the up-tempo style of NBA basketball when I played. There was much more ball movement – isolation plays just didn’t exist the way they do today – and there was much quicker ball movement. The pace was just so much different. You’d cross midcourt, there would be one or two passes, and then the shot would go up. The strategy of running the play clock down to zero wasn’t in vogue. Neither were the defensive schemes that you see now. We played defense back then, but the league wasn’t as diluted as it is now. You had better shooters, and players who were better at the fundamentals. Part of the problem today has been league expansion and the influx of high school players."

Maybe it all comes down to pace. How many modern centers can play that uptempo, volume game. That's why dinosaurs are dying off: they can't keep up.

The Warriors were beyond human last night. Wow were they good, and against the 2nd best team in the NBA. However, you can't put to rest the gazelle vs. dinosaur controversy based on how GSW did against the Spurs, because Andrew Bogut played a big role in the win. Golden State has blended the best of both styles, plus the team plays superb D and passes among the best teams of all time. Steph Curry, what a player. When they guard him too tight on the 3's, he just slashes inside and makes newsreel worthy layups. What a pleasure to watch such fine basketball.

Spike

I'll take talent over style every day.

swish

worcester wrote:The Warriors were beyond human last night. Wow were they good, and against the 2nd best team in the NBA. However, you can't puit to rest the gazelle vs. dinosaur controversy based on how GSW did against the Spurs, because Andrew Bogut [played a big role in the win. Golden State has blended the best of both styles, plus the team plays superb D and passes among the best teams of all time. Steph Curry, what a player. When they guard him too tight on the 3's, he just slashes inside and makes newsreel worthy layups. What a pleasure to watch such fine basketball.

Of course the Bigs are still a huge factor in the NBA. Its just a case of the 3 point shot adding a new dimension to the game - a factor that in some ways has altered the traditional style of play expected from the center position. The Warriors have done a great job of blending the Dinosaurs with the long range shooters. I don't expect to see a return to the early years and the dominating 6'10" 225 lb centers of my youth.


swish