Becoming soft? Too late.... just like footy. The late 80's/ early 90's were the golden years.

Tough play centred on defence and rebounding. Only the Pistons and Spurs play a game centred on D. Bring back trashing. Let Mutumbo wave the finger

Talking mess is all part of the game. Plus it's a bit hard to determine exactly what is said at every instance... some refs struggle to watch the game let alone listen aswell. Too far... maybe.

It is a professional game, if they can't handle a bit of smack, they should go play church ball or something.

I liked the mess between Jordan/McDaniel back in the day, forget what year that was, and Barkley was entertaining.

but to keep all of the fragile little pettles happy, there should be some line you can't cross.

doctor was too quick, good point, Mutumbo had a f*****g huge finger.

i remeber wen mutombo swatted pippen and waved the finger to which jordan got the ball and jammed it on his head and waved his finger at mutombo....those were the days

trashing talking is what made the league so good ...

Exactly! I watched a game during the season between Miami and Denver, one end of the court Andre Miller stole the ball went end to end and dunked the ball with Dwayne Wade trailling him. Wade didn't even make an attempt to swat the ball yet after the dunk Miller turned around and stared him down. The very next play, Wade crossed Miller over at the top of the play and went straight by him to throw it down, with Miller right on his tail, it was awesome. Wade turned around got pretty close to Miller and stared him down. The ref straight away blew Wade for a Tech, it was pathetic!
Players used to break people down mentally as well as physically in the old days, you just can't do it these days and it makes the game boring.

Nothin' wrong with trash talk in a competitve way.
If a player is just talkin rubbish the whole game though , hit em' with a tech.

The master of trash has been shut down due to stupid rules.... No one talks more or better that the Glove, Gary Payton

Fav memory, Reggie and Spike Lee at the MSG with Reggie tauting Lee.

Mutumbo's finger signature was classic old-style NBA, the way ball should be played, old style. Bring that sh*t in here and watch it get punted out smack some poor spectator in the head in head in the nose bleed section.

Old school, brings a tear to the eye.

Do people also notice that there in no personal rivalries now, no Bird v Magic, Magic v Jordon, Jordon v Glyde, Patrick v Hakeem, Knicks v Jordan, Pistons v Jordan.

Yeah ive noticed that TR. It because they are missing the trash, U get people like, Melo, Lebron, Iverson, KG, T-Man u know like all the stars talk it up b4 the game stir abit of shit and the media will do the rest and blow it out and make it a showdown.

Also showdowns is what made the game great. Fans loved that shit ate it up and the players made it personal to prove who was better.

I thought the nba started getting soft when they brought in the Zone. No zone made players hav to play defense to stop someone scoring, now scores are on average lower, and games appear to be slowing down. I mean, players of the 80-90's golden era as stated before, they had no zone and thats how they got noticed as being so great because they continually wooped players who guarded them.

I can agree, there doesnt appear to be any rivalries anymore, but also there dont appear to any lasting legacy's or dynasties at nba clubs anymore either. There's no players geting picked in an nba draft and staying with a team for 10-12 years anymore.

The made NBA docos like 'Larry Bird, A Basketball legend' telling his story and his journey through college and the NBA, and Jordan's Come Fly with Me, and video's like super slams of the NBA and NBA Guts and Glory.

There are no great legacies / players in the NBA worth making docos on in the future.

I thing they way that the NBA is a business now, and plays get routinly traded makes it hard to start rivalries, unless it's a personal feud, e.g. Charles Oakley poledriving Tyrone Hill over a $60,000 poker game....

Just look at the great games between the Knicks and the Bulls in the old days. The key players that built the rivalry never changed for years, the Knicks had Oak, Patrick, Starks etc etc, whilst the Bulls had Jordan, Pip.

Same as the Celtics v Lakers before the Knicks and Bulls. The Celtics had the big three in Bird, McHale, Parish, plus some nice backups in Ainge etc etc, whilst the Lakers had Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Scott, and my favourite Kurt Rambis.

Players ain't with a team long enought to feel loyal to the team that is paying there contract. In the old days there was pride in wearing the uniform, the city they represented, now it's all about sponsors, contracts and endorsements. I think these days, NBA players are more loyal to the College they went to (if they went to college at all) than they are to the NBA team that they representing.

I think the NBA is very soft now. You can't do anything these days without a technical or flagrant.

I miss the hard fouls from the old Knicks like Oakley, Mason, Ewing etc.

The thrash talking from Chuck Person, Reggie Miller, Jordan etc.

You get pined for showing emotions now.

Terrible stuff.