Get rid of the block/charge rule....

Hancock has been doing that all season. And also the one where he makes it look like he was fouled by kicking a leg out or leaning into the defender while he shoots. God only knows how many undeserved free throws he's gotten with those tricks this season. He must've grown up watching tapes of Reggie Miller (the all time master at that stuff).

And, as for the thread topic, I might point out an additional reason why more charges get called today: because players actually do COMMIT MORE FUCKING CHARGING VIOLATIONS. Because hardly anybody today either can or wants to take the short little mid range or pull up jumper. Seems like any time a player with the ball gets a some forward momentum today he thinks he's supposed to drive it all the way to the rim, EVEN if there's a couple defenders standing in the way. The theory is even if you miss you can draw the foul, so we end up with all these situations where the ref is forced to make a charge/block call in situations where in the past the player might've stopped short and gone up with a little 5 to 10 foot pull up jumper or floater, and the flow of the game would not have stopped.

I've occasionally watched old games from the 70s and 80s and that's the one lost skill that always jumps out to me: the short mid range and pull up shot. Great 80s guards like Isiah Thomas and Johnny Dawkins would be flying toward the rim at full speed but suddenly stop on a dime about 5 to 10 feet away and go straight up with this gorgeous near-automatic short jumper over the last line defender, instead of trying to go through him--avoiding the charge, getting the bucket, no whistle blown. I watch that and wonder why the hell today's guards don't do that, same situation today and they nearly always try to take it all the way to the rim, and invariably we get contact and a whistle with the ref forced to make a call. Then everyone scratches their head and wonders why more charges are called today.

 

How about the foul call on Burke's rejection of Siva on the fastbreak? That was horrific officiating. Worst part is that Burke went up properly, with his left hand to block Siva's right handed shot (usually guy goes up with right hand and turns his body creating contact that would be more likely a foul.)

 

Sadly, fundamentals and brains don't get your name on an endorsement contract, let alone the nightly highlights.
It's difficult to "posterize" someone with a jumper.

 

Burke's block was all pumpkin.

I thought Higgins was easily the best of the 3 last night.

 

You said the magic words. At Game Speed. Real easy to sit back and second guess a call when you get to see it in slow motion on a television in front of you from a different angle.

 

That's the fault of the clipboard-wavers, who go berserk if any player takes any shot other than a dunk or a wide-open 3 with more than 5 seconds left on the shot clock.

Any guard (in fact, any player) who takes a stop-and-pop 10-12 foot jumper will be sent to the end of the bench as soon as he misses two in a row.

On some other thread, somebody asked: "Whatever happened to the 12-foot off-the-glass bank shot jumper from the wing? Nobody ever takes that shot any more."

Well, that's what happened. Miss two of 'em and Clipboard Boy sends you to go sit by the popcorn stand.