Re: Nelson, Cuban dislike charge line

"brink" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> i disagree.  a lot of defense is positioning, and that's what this boils
> down to, period.  it's up to the refs to make the right call, but what is
> wrong with being in good position to cut off a player who is driving
toward
> the hoop?
>
> and bill walton's idea of "get up in the air and block a shot" is great
> except for  the fact that refs are more likely to call that a foul these
> days.  even a "clean" block (one where the ball gets blocked and then the
> defender's hand comes and touches the shooter's hand, which should be  a
> legal defensive play) is likely to result in a whistle and free throws and
a
> PF.
>
>

FWIW, I can't disagree with you... defense is a lot about positioning.  But
from my *personal* perspective, I just think it uglies up the game.  Fans
want to see Kobe take off from the baseline and jam, not see some spare
bench player with six fouls to give run and stand under him without even a
thought of trying to challenge him.  It also encourages contact (leading to
more injuries) which I thought basketball was trying to get away from by
eliminating hand checking and creating rules to increase player movement.
Finally, I might not have a big problem with it if flopping wasn't so
widespread, or the league was proactive in trying to reduce flopping by
reviewing tape or something.

Of course, now I'm wondering what the original intent of the no-charge zone
was in the first place....
-- 
peace Kazuya