I used to like basketball. I don’t anymore. No special reason although I’ve long thought that the refs are way too involved.
And the main problem with soccer (from an American perspective) it’s that it’s too hard to score.
The regular season of the NBA is a joke. Nothing gets serious until the playoffs.
THAT headline poses a question that only Bill Klintoon can answer.
I can’t really give an opinion as I never cared for basketball. Always seemed like it was too monotonous.
The confused Brit didn’t bother to do much research. He might have realized that only man to man defense is permitted at the pro level to encourage more scoring. There is zone defense permitted at the college level, so scores are generally lower (assuming a fair matchup).
Personally I don’t much care for either soccer or Basketball (both extremes in scoring).
To me it is the most boring sport. I’ve been forcefed b ball my whole life. I just can’t. I like football and adore hockey but basketball just isn’t exciting.
How could a Brit be confused by any game knowing that cricket is a major sport there? Most of what they do does not make any sense and the the score is always like 13-453-27 to 21-542-12...who won? At least in Basketball, you can easily tell that the players are trying to run down the court and get the ball in the basket. What are they even trying to do in cricket? Hit the ball? Miss the ball? When they hit it, they usually just stand there, but sometimes, they begin running back and forth. WTF? And those ridiculous looking “run and throws” by the one called the bowler seemed to be designed to look silly.
Because it's like hockey without goalies.
Next question ...
Is he talking about Saturday night in his local pub ? (meow!)
The pros take 3 steps every time they drive to the basket...and the refs NEVER call traveling.
Add the thug culture, I stopped watching pros many, many moons ago.
College basketball is only interesting in March.
One difference is that human beings are much bigger and faster than in Naismith’s day. Moving the basket up to 11 feet (or more) would make it harder to score, especially from the inside, and bring in a little more balance with the outside game.
My feeling has always been to give each team 100 points and two minutes to play and you wouldn't notice any difference.
I Hate ‘rounball ‘. It was almost acceptable before the fundamentals were trashed. It is played professionally for a large part by thugs.
Don’t know if the Brits are right or not. Don’t care.
I, too, find fault with basketball (monotony, save for playoffs). Imho, it ‘is’ too easy for some players to score (e.g., Lakers’ Shaquile). In particular, taller players gain advantage in this sport by directly affecting the game (scoring)...an advantage not directly analogous in any other sport I can think of.
The solution is quite elegant and returns the game to one of skill & athleticism as opposed to the tallest player getting to the basket first:
Raise the height of the baskets proportional to the height of the tallest players. Review annually.
Frankly, I could care less. Just an observation made 2 decades ago and roundly criticized by sports nuts in my circle.
Basketball is way more fun to play than watch - when I was a young buck, that is.
Have the “confused Brit” explain why it’s so easy to score in Cricket.
1. The small size of the basketball court encourages scoring.
2. Current basketball rules--especially the banning of hand-checking in the NBA since 2004--has resulted in a lot of scoring because point guards and forwards don't worry so much about being physically beaten up going to the basket.
3. With the ban on hand-checking, NBA has become more and more like FIBA rules basketball played in most of the world, which emphasizes ball movement to get the best shot.
In soccer, the sheer size of the soccer pitch--just slightly larger than an NFL field--makes scoring quite difficult. That's why even at the highest professional levels like the Barclays Premier League in England, 1-0 and scoreless games are fairly common.
If the Brits want to watch a sport with way more scoring, there's always Rugby League/Union and cricket.