Four NBA Clichés Challenged

During the course of an NBA season we hear a lot of statements from personalities considered authorities of the sport that, upon further examination, are debatable. Sometimes we hear these statements so often we just meekly accept them. Not a big deal, but after hearing these utterances once again leading up to this season’s playoffs, here are four NBA clichés challenged after some “Hey, wait a minute” moments.

A Playoff Series Doesn’t Really Start Until The Home Team Loses A Game.

Not sure where this one came from, but it’s been floating around for years and needs revision. Or elimination.

If the home team wins the first two games of a seven-game playoff series, then goes on the road and wins Game Three, history tells us that series is essentially over, as opposed to just getting started, since no NBA team has ever overcome a 0-3 deficit in 95 attempts through the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs. That stat alone puts this statement to sleep.

If the home team wins the first two games, then goes on the road and loses Games Three and Four, now you’re at 2-2 and guaranteed a long series without a home team losing a game. But the series hasn’t started yet?

If the home team loses the first two games, then goes on the road and loses Game Three, now they’re down 3-0 and done. But according to the statement, the series started after the home team lost Game One. That really only has merit if the home team that lost Game One comes back and wins Game Two. Only 4 of 26 teams in NBA history have lost the first two games of a seven-game series at home and won the series.

CONCLUSION: The playoff series starts at the opening tip for Game One.

Offense Sells Tickets, But Defense Wins Championships.

Remember some of those super offensive outfits from the 1980’s and 1990’s like Don Nelson’s Golden State Warriors featuring Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond, or Doug Moe’s Denver Nuggets squads with Alex English and Dan Issel? Those teams and others like them were never considered serious title contenders because they appeared to completely ignore the defensive end of the court. Even token defensive resistance would have put them in the championship conversation.

Remember Paul Westhead’s Denver Nuggets racehorse squads from the early 1990’s? Their 1990-91 squad averaged about 120 points per contest. Problem was, they allowed 130 points per game. And since the Nuggets only won 20 games that season, they probably didn’t sell many tickets, either.

Mike D’Antoni’s Phoenix Suns never had trouble scoring points, but were headlined by Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudamire, both ranked near the bottom defensively at their positions during those years. So even during their strong run from 2004 to 2008, the Suns were only able to advance to the Western Conference Finals twice.

On the other side, there have been teams who were defensive terrors but their inability to score prevented them from hanging a banner. Patrick Ewing’s Knicks immediately come to mind, having never been able to find a second scorer to take the heat off the Big Fella during his fifteen seasons in New York.

The current version of the Golden State Warriors, now in their fourth season among the NBA’s elite, are popular because of their accuracy from three-point range, but without the ability/willingness to defend, they’d have zero titles during that stretch. Even if Stephen Curry doesn’t participate in a game this post-season, the Warriors still have enough scoring options to be considered a title favorite for that very reason,

Of course, it never hurts to have that superstar who can make plays on either end to decide a tight postseason contest or series.

CONCLUSION: Offense and superstars sell tickets; balance and superstars win championships.

We Need A Defensive-Minded Coach.

What basketball fan or pundit would have ever believed that a team coached by the aforementioned MIke D’Antoni would rank higher defensively than a Tom Thibodeau-coached team?

That’s exactly what happened in 2018 as the Houston Rockets loaded up on veterans–like Chris Paul, P.J. Tucker and Luc Richard M’bah A Moute–who don’t need a push to compete defensively to hide the defensively-challenged James Harden, while the Timberwolves still have enough young players who struggle on that end to make Coach Thibs constant coaxing seem ineffective at times. The same Rockets scored 50 points in one quarter of a first round playoff game against Thibodeau’s defense.

Back in 2004, Hall of Fame Coach Larry Brown guided the Detroit Pistons–with defensive players like Ben Wallace and Tayshaun Prince added to two-way players like Rasheed Wallace, RIp Hamilton and Chauncey Billups–to an NBA Championship. Just two years later, Brown accepted the same position with the New York Knicks, and with offensive-minded players like Jamal Crawford, Eddy Curry, Stephon Marbury, etc., the team finished the 2005-06 season with only 23 wins in one of the most mismatched roster-coach pairings in league history.

A good defensive coach can improve a team on that end of the floor, but with a roster of defensively-deficient players cannot wave a magic wand and shut down opponents.

CONCLUSION: With the defensive-minded coach, you need defensive-minded players.

The Team That Gets The Best Player Wins The Trade.

Can’t really kill this one, but the Indiana Pacers did trade their best player, Paul George, to Oklahoma City over the summer for Victor Oladipo and others, and George was considered the best player in that deal. Early returns suggest Indiana–who many considered to be lottery-bound after the deal– could be declared the winner, having made six-game improvement over last season and is prepping for a Game 7 against the Cavs, while OKC had to scramble for a playoff berth and succumbed to Utah in the first round in what is widely considered a premature end to their season.

Depending on a team’s cap situation, a team can “win” by dealing away a player’s salary if it exceeds the player’s ability or gives them room to maneuver elsewhere, even if that player is still considered the best one involved in the trade.

So this statement is mostly true, but there are exceptions, including the fact that virtually every trade the New York Knicks have made in the 21st Century tests its accuracy, having, on several occasions, dealt multiple players and draft picks away for star offensive talent, only to find themselves desperately trying to get out from under contractual obligations before the expiration date and finding their cap space clogged up.

But they did trade Carmelo Anthony this past summer to OKC, and though he was the best player in that exchange, the Knicks need not worry about Melo exercising his $28 million player option for the 2018-19 season at age 34.

That is now the Thunder’s problem.

CONCLUSION: Some teams are better off building through the draft.