The game now seems much more free flowing. They all shot super high percentages too.
The illegal defense rules had a lot to do with that. Not being able to play a zone meant premium spacing no matter who was on the floor. Then you see FG%'s drop throughout the 90's and early 00's with the influence of the Bad Boy Pistons and Pat Riley's Knicks teams that emphasized slow-down offense and tough-guy defense.
I think changing the illegal defense rules in the mid-00's was one of the smartest things that NBA has ever done.
I wish they'd ever called the Showtime Lakers for illegal defense. They played a matchup zone for close to a decade and almost always got away with it. Kareem never came out of the paint - ever. Nor did he ever help if you ran your guy off of a pick by Parish or whoever Kareem was 'guarding'. The only time Kareem ever did that was on one or two plays in game 4 in 87, but aside from that, I'm really surprised that the Celtics didn't exploit that more, especially once Riley put Magic on Ainge starting in game 2 in 85. Kareem isn't going to help and Magic got caught on picks all the time. Danny could have gotten anything he wanted, from the perimeter or taking it to the basket. Thanks a lot, K.C. (sarcasm)
. Not that that move would have won them the series, as they had close to no bench that year, as usual
, but still - Magic would have worn himself out and Riley would have had to make another adjustment. Or just throw the ball to DJ inside and have him post up Scott. Get him some easy points and/or fouls. Then his jumper will start to fall, and then what is Riley going to do? I just never understood that, but whatever.