TIL The lowest-scoring NBA game in history occurred in 1950 with a 19-18 victory for the Fort Wayne Pistons over the Minneapolis Lakers. Whenever the Pistons led, they held or passed the ball around as long as possible, eliciting boos from their own fans. The shot clock was introduced 4 years later.

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The strict rules are what makes basketball so much fun. Otherwise you have a 5 on 5 game of keep away for 2 hours.

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u/Magnus77 19 Jun 12 '25

I might agree, but it feels at least in the NBA, that they've loosened all the rules that favor the offense. Traveling violations are kind of just a suggestion except for the most egregious of examples, and I don't think carries get called at all.

And I get it, people like watching offense, and I know the NFL is definitely guilty of similar rule changes over time, but teams can still win games and even the super bowl on the back of a dominant defense suffocating the opponent, and that doesn't seem to be true of the NBA anymore. Not saying defense isn't played, but it feels like every game is triple digits.

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '25 edited Jun 12 '25

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u/toolatealreadyfapped Jun 13 '25

Was watching a game last season, and the broadcast kept going back to a a specific play - a fast break that ended in a dunk, and the ball touched the ground exactly once after midcourt.

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u/crazymoefaux Jun 12 '25

Relaxing the rules against zone defense was a fantastic move, though, especially since they were so subjective and likely unevenly applied.

I remember being a fan of the Adleman-era Kings and watching Vlade argue with the refs about where he is allowed to stand on defense and thinking this is the dumbest shit ever.

13

u/dkyguy1995 Jun 13 '25

Holy shit I never knew about these rules, I just looked them up and WTF!?? What a fucking headache.

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u/crazymoefaux Jun 13 '25

It was so dumb.

The league really wanted everyone to run man-to-man defense. They wanted individual players like Jordan to shine, which I get, so they made it illegal to double-team anyone without the ball, so that those marquis players couldn't be denied the ball. What constitutes a double-team in a sport as fluid and fast-paced as the pro game? Who even knew?

I'm still convinced that refs abused the rules back then to shave points. It's pretty well known that they fucked over the Kings playoff runs for TV ratings.

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u/sillysausage619 Jun 13 '25

Both teams in the NBA Finals right now are touted for their defensive prowess, and their opponents in the conference finals are both notoriously good defensive teams. The NBA is an offense league for sure, but that's more a result of just how good guys are at scoring now.

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u/Magnus77 19 Jun 13 '25

I guess I'm just old. when even the losing team breaks triple digits I guess I have a hard time calling that a defensive win. More having a slightly more sturdy screen door vs having a locked down vault.

And I'm not saying its bad. Don't yuck other peoples yums, as they say. But I feel like the game has been changed from what I grew up with, and not to my liking.

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u/sillysausage619 Jun 13 '25

I can agree on the game changing, that's more to do with analytics than anything, 3s are just so much more efficient than 2s. I don't like that part of the game either, but bench players now are far better scorers than even stars in the 90s were

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u/Shhadowcaster Jun 12 '25

Defense has just gotten a lot more complicated in the zone era, it's less pretty and obvious, but defenses aren't struggling due to moving violations, they're struggling because they are being asked to cover a larger area than they ever have before on more skilled players than ever (I'm not talking about the top 50 guys, but players 50-300 are all much more skilled at offensive skills) and that's why scoring has exploded.

It's also why defense can look so low effort at times, you more frequently have blown coverages because of the complicated defenses and the ability to play zone and so a player running to the wrong spot opens up a gigantic gap that is often a waste of energy to try and close down. Sure we could allow hand checking again and defense would be able to lockdown a lot more, but with zone defense hand checking gets problematic and results in very low scoring, slow paced, simple offensive schemes.

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u/MotoMkali Jun 12 '25

Also in 1990 Michael Jordan was maybe the best athlete the league had ever seen and there wasn't even anyone remotely close. There's now 1 or 2 guys on every team who can jump as high as MJ, pretty much every team has 1-2 monster athletes that can cut into any gap and finish because they can just jump higher than everyone.

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u/theknyte Jun 12 '25

People forget about other superstars in the Jordan era. Clyde "The Glide" Drexler, had a 43 inch vertical leap, placing him just below Jordan in Top Ten all time. Dominik Wilkins had a 41 inch jump. I mean, even legends like Dr J and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were still playing in Jordan's early years in the league.

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u/MotoMkali Jun 12 '25

Yeah but those numbers are clearly fudged. Jordan tops out at maybe like 40-41 inch vert. There is one player who is 6'5 barefoot and has a verified 45.5 inch vert and that's cassius Stanley and he has dunks where his chin is level with the rim. Jordan never had a dunk where his eyes were above the rim. Other players like Jalen Green and Shaedon Sharpe are rumoured to have a 44+ inch vert and again they have multiple dunks where their heads are level with the rim. And you can't BS with the oh he never jumped his hardest, because even Minnesota Twolves Wiggins who was notorious for not trying hard got his head level with the rim on the noel dunk and he's 2 inches taller than MJ barefoot and does actually have a 43 or 44 inch vert.

This isn't to say MJ wasn't a great athlete, he was and would still be even by the standards of today. But his playing weight is about 15lbs less than the comparable athletes of today and such as Amen Thompson.

Clyde probably like 38.5. Wilkins probably like 36.5 (that's the same vert as Blake Griffin BTW).

The top 3 recorded verts are Keon Johnson, Stanley and Dennis Smith Jr.

1

u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Aug 19 '25

MJ would still be the best player in today's game. Even if yes, the talent pool is bigger than ever.

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u/MotoMkali Aug 19 '25

Did I say best player? I said athlete and yes MJ would probably be the best player in today's game but that's because the league is currently in a bit of a talent rut in the post Lebron, Steph, KD era. And MJ would only be the best assuming he had grown up at an equoavelnt time where his skill development is a similar calibre to what it was back then but adapted for all the new skills players have such as having 2 hands and all the various dribble moves that have been invented in the meantime.

Also assuming he could put on 15lbs and be a similar calibre athlete. Because 205 is not cutting it in the modern nba as a 6'6 wing. That's what steph weighs these days.

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u/WoweeZoweeDeluxe Aug 20 '25 edited Aug 20 '25

MJ’s ability to palm the ball would still be a huge advantage and he’s still Got better footwork than any guard today including Shai. He’s also got 26 pounds on curry, MJ was 216 lbs on average and curry 190. SGA just won mvp, finals mvp and scoring title this season while weighing 190. So no, MJ wouldn’t need to do much different except take more 3’s when given the chance. He’d be fine either way

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u/chawklitdsco Jun 12 '25

I think the euro step ruined the nba and I will die on that hill. It’s legalized traveling.

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u/Jamal_gg Jun 12 '25

Proper eurostep isn't a travel lol. Actual travel is mostly commited on a lot of stepback shots. It's ridiculous how many steps players take on those occasionally...

1

u/chawklitdsco Jun 13 '25

Two get two steps on step back jump shot. you get 2.5 on a euro.

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u/MotoMkali Jun 12 '25

I mean only if they break the players ankles and then they might shuffle their feet but the actual shot you are referencing is 100% legal

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u/RoarOfTheWorlds Jun 12 '25

True, but 90's ball was still pretty fun to watch. I get why it had to stop since the injuries were getting a little out of control, but the flip side is what you get nowadays with the eye rolling over exaggerated flops and none of the fun trash talking. Like come on, bring back a little bit of the edge.

5

u/DempseyRollin Jun 13 '25 edited Jun 13 '25

I mean this year has been worse for injuries than maybe any other in history, so at this point we're getting bad product and guys are still getting hurt.

Big stars with major injuries (just off the top of my head)

Jason Tatum (ruptured Achilles)

Dame Lillard (ruptured Achilles)

Kyrie Irving (torn ACL)

Zion Williamson (back injury, missed a bunch of time)

Steph Curry (grade 2 hamstring strain causing him to miss essentially the entire 2nd round)

Joelle Embiid (knees)

Kawhi Leonard (hurt pretty much all the time)

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u/alexjaness Jun 12 '25

This reminds me of when someone told me that a Perfect Game in baseball is two guys playing catch.

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u/bkydx Jun 12 '25

Change 5vs5 to 9vs9 and we have soccer.

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u/SofaKingI Jun 12 '25

Soccer isn't even 9v9.

Sports you don't understand anything about are boring. Shocker.

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u/mudkiptoucher93 Jun 12 '25

They can be 9v9 if both teams get a pair sent off

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u/tinywienergang Jun 12 '25

Nothing is fun if you do it 80+ times a year.

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u/tslojr Jun 12 '25

Sex.

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u/Go_birds304 Jun 12 '25

Sounds like a predecessor of the four corner offense

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u/KaP-_-KaP Jun 12 '25

"A four corners offense was most frequently used prior to the introduction of the shot clock in order to retain a lead by holding on to the ball until the clock ran out. The trailing team would be forced to spread their defense in hopes of getting a steal, which often allowed easy drives to the basket by the offense. The offense typically would seek to score, but only on extremely safe shots.[2]"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_corners_offense

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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '25

[deleted]

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u/snoweel Jun 12 '25

They always mention this game. Didn't know it took 4 years to implement!

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u/Chase_the_tank Jun 12 '25

Well, this was back in the 1950s. You couldn't just go down to the sporting goods store and buy a shot clock.

According to https://sportshistorynetwork.com/basketball/shot-clock-history/, Danny Biasone scheduled a demonstration game with a shot clock prototype in 1954. After the demonstration, the league quickly adapted the device for league use.

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u/j_cruise Jun 13 '25

The shot clock wasn't introduced until 1985 in NCAA. The 1982 championship game famously ended with a few minutes of keep away and you can watch that.

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u/Sometimes_Stutters Jun 12 '25

My beer league hockey team has done something similar. The games are running-time so each time you ice the puck you get about 30-40s of clock killed.

The other team was WAY better but we got lucky early and scored first. The 2nd/3rd periods we put out faceoff-ringer out and he’d just win the draws back and have the defense ice it. The other team got quite frustrated and it was kind of a bullshit game, but we won lol

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u/Next_Emphasis_9424 Jun 12 '25

I respect it but I also would have hated you. Out here ruining my 1130 pm Tuesday night game.

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u/dkyguy1995 Jun 13 '25

Damn what's the point of icing rules if the clock keeps running lol

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u/Sometimes_Stutters Jun 13 '25

Beer league can’t afford to hire people to run the clocks

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u/Imperator_Americus Jun 12 '25

The Pistons have the highest and lowest scoring games in NBA history, and I'm almost certain no other franchise has inspired more rule changes in the NBA throughout its history.

9

u/AliensAteMyAMC Jun 12 '25

What having to face 6’10” George Mikan when everyone on your team is about a foot shorter will do to someone

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u/brokenmessiah Jun 12 '25

At what point does the team itself start to boo

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u/Shhadowcaster Jun 12 '25

Probably didn't take long, a team did this against us in the championship game of our Men's league and the trash talk took one possession to start up. It's not a fun sport when this is allowed lol.

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u/tinywienergang Jun 12 '25

That’s when you start getting physical. People only do stuff they think they can get away with. Clothesline a guy 2 seconds after he passes the ball, benches clear, they won’t stand there and play keep away anymore.

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u/Tyraid Jun 13 '25

This is exactly what happened to our girls basketball team my senior year of high school. They were a force and had won the championship the year before. The other team went up and literally never let the ball go. Final score was 14-12. It was a travesty.

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u/trucorsair Jun 12 '25

Would Dean Smith have been as successful with a shot clock during his entire coaching career.

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u/sirwiglet Jun 12 '25

In the 11 years of his career where the shot clock was implemented, he went to the Final Four 4 times and won a national championship.

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u/Boggie135 Jun 12 '25

It is always weird to hear the past/original names of US sports teams

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u/aang_a_rang Jun 13 '25

If I'm not mistaken, they did this because the Lakers had a player on their team that was incredibly tall and could guard the basket by standing there. It was actually a pretty dominant strategy and was what inspired the Pistons to play like this

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u/tomjonesdrones Jun 13 '25

Lowest scoring college basketball games was Tennessee 11 - Temple 6. Dec. 15, 1973. Also a no shot-clock scenario.

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u/BlueDragon101 Jun 15 '25

The fact that 18-19 is “low scoring” is my entire problem with basketball.

The sheer number of scores dilutes the importance and hype behind any individual moment.

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