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Basketball School
Rodman was close with the Spurs also..
Pistons got alot blame for their hard play back then but hell most of the league was like that already. Stern just reached a boiling point during the Bad Boy era and changed the game. That was the golden age of the NBA... Magic, Bird, Isiah, MJ.
Laimbeer would be suspended every 10 games if he played in this league today
This is one of the reasons why Jordan is the best ever. He played in this era & THRIVED. Now if a player touches another a foul is called. It's sad. I'm not saying thug basketball should be brought back, but there needs to be a middle ground.
Jordan still got all the calls just as superstars today gets. He avg 7.7 fts per game while LeBron is currently at 7.8 for his career. Jordan playoffs ft avg was 9.9 which is the same as LeBron postseason fts avg. So as physical as it was back then, MJ clearly still were getting the superstar calls as guys currently get.
Yeah, the league was already physical, the Bad Boys just took it to the edge and embraced it, then when Pat Riley's Knicks took it over the edge, Stern had enough.
It was funny how Parish was drilling Laimbeer face. In today's NBA, Parish would've got a 10 plus game suspension.
Riley's first year with the NYK was the 91-92 season. Stern had already implemented the flagrant foul rule the year before. If you watched last night, when they were showing highlights of the 90-91 ECF between Detroit and Chicago, they showed a hard foul on Jordan and the announcer (radio I believe) said "that may be a flagrant"
The year before is when Detroit physically beat the hell out of Jordan and then showed him pumping iron in the off season to take the future beating. Stern realized (and said last night he should have implemented the flagrant rule earlier) he couldn't afford to have his cash machine getting beat up like that.
Plus showed Jordan telling the press (after getting bounced by Detroit again) what they do "is not basketball." Plus showed him saying (once they beat Detroit on way to 1st title) he was glad that the Bad Boys and that style was dead.
So, yes the Knicks continued to be physical, but were called for it most times. They certainly didn't get away with what other teams were in the mid to late 80's.
Never said they got away with it, just said that took it over the edge, which they did because they were every bit as physical as those Pistons teams. In fact, because of how Stern was trying to curtail it, it was almost like they were shoving it in his face. I loved watching those Knicks teams. The battles they used to have with Chicago were epic.
I was always happy the Bulls beat them. It shows how good of a coach Riley was though. He got the most out of his talent & the style of play didn't matter.
and talk about switching styles. His Showtime Lakers and those Knicks teams were polar opposites. Although, his Lakers teams could get physical when they had to.
It's hard to get real rivalries in any sport now due to free agency.
Right now I think the best true rivalries in the league are Heat/Pacers, Heat/Bulls, and Warriors/Clippers