The physicality allowed in the NBA playoffs is what draws many casual basketball fans to the sport. The pushing and grabbing is viewed as effort, intensity and want to.
It’s an expectation by now of players and coaches that the way the postseason is officiated will be a major departure from what’s allowed during the 82-game regular season.
It is what it is.
But Timberwolves coach Chris Finch couldn’t help but watch Game 2 of the Warriors-Rockets series on Wednesday and wonder if it’s all gone too far.
The headline on USA Today writer Jeff Zillgitt’s dispatch from Houston was that the Rockets won a “football game on basketball court.”
On The Kevin O’Connor Show, Yahoo Sports writer Tom Habestroh said of the way that series is being called: “I don’t think it’s legal,” citing the way the Rockets are “manhandling” Golden State on and off the ball.
“To me, they’ve gone way too far on the physicality,” Finch said this week.
And the coach isn’t complaining about Minnesota’s series against the Lakers,
“I’m just saying in general, I would think it’s gone too far. It feels like it’s physicality without purpose. It’s disrupted the flow. If there’s not a fight in that Houston-Golden State series, I’d be surprised,” Finch said. “That thing feels like it’s on the edge every single time.”
Warriors wing Jimmy Butler left the game in the first quarter of Game 2 after he was undercut by Houston wing Amen Thompson after Thompson went to the deck amid a tussle with Golden State forward Draymond Green for rebounding position.
Butler has a deep gluteal muscle contusion and is questionable for Game 3 on Saturday.
Grizzlies guard Ja Morant left Game 3 in Memphis and didn’t return after a reckless contest on his transition dunk by Thunder guard Lu Dort.
Luka Doncic didn’t get injured in Game 2, but he went down to the deck after Jaden McDaniels tripped him up with a leg lock.
Who knows what else is to come. None of those plays are directly linked to a loosened playoff whistle, but it’s all far more likely so when so much is allowed. Players are getting fouled, but the “playoff whistles” aren’t recognizing the illegal contact. At that point, players will continue to push the boundaries to see exactly what is allowed, or they can grow frustrated and make a reckless decision out of sheer emotion that they otherwise may not make.
No one is going to complain about fewer hand check calls on the perimeter. And people don’t mind that the offensive flopping and gamesmanship — which is supposed to be cleaned up during the regular season, as well — frequently isn’t recognized in the postseason.
You certainly do not want officials to determine playoff games, but when they repeatedly ignore illegal contact that inhibits the offense from executing, that too is determining the outcome.
Frankly, excessive grabbing and holding sometimes removes skill from the equation. If mugging is allowed, suddenly anyone can defend. At that point, the true art of good defense is minimized.
Even in a physical game, it shouldn’t be difficult to differentiate basketball from wrestling.
“All these things bother you if you let them,” Finch said. “My problem with it right now is it feels out of context. It feels like it’s not the right type of physicality that we’re trying to integrate into our game. We’ll just have to keep working through it.”
If the NBA is even motivated to do so. Finch noted this is what the league seems to want. Though perhaps the NBA’s will may change as more star players miss marquee games because of seemingly preventable injuries. How games are officiated this weekend, and moving forward in these playoffs, will be telling.
“You play 82 games in a certain way and then they flip switch,” Finch said. “And I do worry about the ability to be able to control that.”
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