Alan Truex: Carnival ends, NBA turns serious, but still fun
Updated Friday, February 15
LLANO, Texas — Covering a couple of NBA teams on newspaper beats, I developed a love-hate duality regarding professional basketball. Loved the magical athleticism – no sport comes close except, at the most elite level, soccer. Also appreciated the accessibility and quotability of the athletes, the coaches, even the commissioner. Prior to Donald Trump, no American comprehended the value of free media the way David Stern did.
What I hated was writing so many crime stories: midnight phone call when Akeem Olajuwon has a fracas in a Houston 7-Eleven; flashing lights as the team bus approaches a Philadelphia hotel; cops handcuffing Lewis Lloyd for not paying child support; spending too much of the night at the police station while Sweet Loo is being booked.
And let’s not even get started on drugs and 30-day cures for addiction.
But more than unsavory off-court and in-court drama, what annoyed me most about the NBA was the carnival attitude. I traipsed across the country with some rather crappy Hawks and Rockets teams that knew they were in the playoffs anyway, and nothing else mattered. They were not at all dismayed about losing in Sacramento in January.
I was barely shocked by the tell-all of referee/convicted felon Tim Donahy, who said he was instructed to “let Jordan play” and make sure “special players get special treatment.” How could Olajuwon’s turnaround jumper be legal? Why did Sleepy Floyd get to palm the ball on every dribble?
To my overly idealistic self, there was too narrow a line between NBA and WWF.
There was much wink-wink in the media rooms about playoff games being “fixed” so that megamarkets like Los Angeles, Boston or Chicago would be in the Finals — conceding that Jimmy Dolan’s New York Knicks were not fixable.
Perish the thought of Utah or Portland or San Antonio shrinking the national television viewership. The Spurs defied pressures they probably didn’t know about in the mid-Nineties when they began the most uphill battle possible to become a champion.
I was hoping that even if Adam Silver lacked Stern’s charisma, he might have a more stable moral compass. His hard line on Donald Sterling must portend he’ll also be tough on tampering, gambling and traveling, will put a stop to healthy stars sitting out games so they’ll be fresher for the playoffs.
Right?
The good news in the year 2019: I’m sensing change, perhaps a new era even. The stars are not sure anymore that they’re in the playoffs, or out, or what their seeding is likely to be. So they’re not taking so many games off, literally or figuratively.
Outside of the occasional tank shop in New Orleans or Manhattan, the teams are playing like it matters.
With LeBron James out of the championship picture — left alone at the end of the LA Lakers bench — the door opened to balance and competition. At the All-Star break, the Eastern Conference is about as strong as the West.
Four teams in the East seem to have championship-caliber rosters: Milwaukee, Toronto, Philadelphia and Boston. Recent transformational moves included Nikola Mirotic to the Bucks, Marc Gasol to the Raptors and probably the most significant of all, Tobias Harris to the 76ers.
As for the Celtics, they didn’t need more players, just more team play. The very-forward Marcus Morris observed, “When I watch other teams in the league I see guys jumping off the bench and jumping on the court, looking like they’re enjoying their teammates’ success and playing together. When I look at us I see a bunch of individuals. We don’t have attitude, we don’t have toughness, we ain’t having fun.”
So isn’t that why they have wonderboy coach Brad Stevens?
The Indiana Pacers would be in the elite mix if not for the season-ending injury of their best player, Vic Oladipo. Even with that, Nate McMillan’s thoroughly coached squad has won six of its past seven games.
The Pacers are playing their butts off, and I never thought I’d say that about an NBA team in February.
To quote Donahy again: “The NBA should come out and say it’s a form of entertainment, not an athletic event like in college.”
Bill Fitch once said: “Nobody in this league plays defense all the time. Not even Rodney McCray.”
I’m not sure that’s changed so much, as I view James Harden, arguably the league’s MVP and most watchable star, averaging 43 points a game since Christmas and often playing a one-man zone defense. As I see it, anyone that productive doesn’t have to play D. Expect more balance from The Beard when center Clint Capela returns, hopefully at the end of the All-Star break. Hey, there’s only so much a superhero can do.
I see three teams in the West with the essential championship ingredients, and I don’t include the Rockets, with the uncertain durability of Capela and venerable (which is politespeak for “old”) point guard Chris Paul, 33.
The Golden State Warriors are still the class of the sport, lifted another level by the activation of low-post tower Boogie Cousins. But they’re top-heavy, certainly not bench-heavy. And the Kevin Durant-Draymond Green truce is as precarious as the one between North and South Korea.
The Denver Nuggets have stayed close to Golden State, and if they somehow obtain mile-high home-court advantage in the Finals, a weary, breathless opponent may get run into the basement by a ruthless coach, Mike Malone.
Amid all the clamor from and about the Warriors and Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder aren’t making much noise. But they may be better now than they were when Durant and Russell Westbrook were teammates.
National media are chiding Westbrook for his 41% shooting. Perhaps we should extol his belated emergence, at 30, as a true point guard, doling out the best shots to teammates (which, granted, does not excuse 65% free-throw efficiency). Westbrook and Paul George are the bromance of the year and one of the most energetic backcourts ever. They’re playing 36 minutes a game, combining for 19 rebounds per, and they’re 1-2 in the league in steals.
They were rolling Thunder on a Saturday in Houston, roaring back from a 26-point deficit to win 117-112. Westbrook executed the defensive play of the night when he got into Harden’s face, causing him to miss a step-back shot with five seconds left in the fourth quarter. George pulled the rebound, was fouled and made the free throws to wrap it.
For the game, George outscored Harden 45-42, and Westbrook triple-doubled, as he’s done in 10 consecutive games – something not even Michael Jordan ever did.
“I’ve never seen Paul George play at this level, both ends,” Tracy McGrady said on The Jump. “It’s rubbing off; he’s got Russ playing better defense.” Paul Pierce agreed: “George is the best two-way player in the league right now.”
I’m heartened by heroic efforts every week in the NBA, and not so many of them by the handful of most glorified stars.
This is not a career year for LeBron or Steph or KD or Kyrie, and maybe that’s a good thing.
Now we see the depth of talent and size of heart in this league, the Westbrooks, Georges, Hardens, Jimmy Butlers and Luka Doncics playing night after night like the electricity will be shut off at home if they lose this game. In this wonderful season, even some fringe contenders can lock down our attention.
The San Antonio Spurs, my closest-to-home team, put up a fight most of the time, with venerable Gregg Popovich rewriting his playbook to insert the 3-point shot. They’re on pace for 45 wins and a playoff berth. Yes, Pop still has it. At 70 he can still scheme out a last-second win. And talk about heart, recovering from losing his wife and Kawhi, Tony and Manu all in the same year.
The Utah Jazz, who are anything but soft-hearted, stomped the Spurs by 20 on Sunday. Rudy Gobert dissected LaMarcus Aldridge. Utah has won 14 of its past 19 games. This season is almost all good, not many depressing scandals, lots of entertaining stars. And games that are, more often than not, athletic events.
