NBA
stars break old records
Kyle Cavaness
Commentators
and historians
with lofty
views of
professional
sports don’t
see athletes as ordinary men.
These legends with household names like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Babe
Ruth — are perceived as more than human; many of them, depending on who
is telling the story, fall somewhere between comic-book superheroes and Greek
gods. This basketball season is well on its way to creating more legends, with
names like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Allan Iverson taking their places with
the greats who came before them.
Los Angeles is the current home of the ruler of this Big Three; many will look
back on this season and remember it as the year Bryant, not Phil Jackson, single-handedly
led the Lakers into the playoffs.
Though the ultimate outcome is still undetermined, there have been plenty of
highlights already the 27 40-point games, six 50-point
games, and January 22’s unforgettable 81-point event, the highest individual
effort since Wilt Chamberlain’s monumental 100-point game in 1962.
The other members of this group of superstars have plenty to brag about in their
own rights as well. In fact, this season is the first time since 1981-82 three
players have averaged over 30-points a game (Kobe, 35.4 ppg; Iverson, 33 ppg;
LeBron, 31.6 ppg). To give the numbers perspective, the over-30 club of 25 years
ago belonged to George Gervin, Moses Malone and Adrian Dantly – players
your father might remember, but not names many commentators bring up recently.
However, huge point totals have not been limited to these players this season.
The same night as
Bryant’s history-making game, Supersonic Ray Allen scored 42 points in
a triple-overtime game in which Seattle beat the Phoenix Suns 152-149, the highest-scoring
NBA game since 1995. This entire season has shown a huge scoring jump for individual
players throughout the season, when compared to results as early as last year.
The season has seen 106 games with players scoring at least 40 points, compared
to last season’s 67; as well as 12 games with 50 or more scored, compared
to eight last year.
The one statistic that has remained earthbound this season is the average number
of points scored per game, which is virtually unchanged from last season. Which
leads to the question, what has changed?
Analysts point to increasing specialization of players within their clubs, a
trend that has increased over the last few years and has been aided by the addition
of the zone defense and other new defense-oriented rules. One possibility that
has not been addressed, however, is the same dark cloud has hung over all professional
sports in the last several years, brought on by the misfortune of Major League
Baseball: steroid abuse.
Though the NBA recently announced the league would fully cooperate with any new
legislative policy, they have been far more lax in maintaining a standard of
drug testing than even baseball. The year may not be far off when Bryant or Iverson — both
of whom have had run-ins with the law already off the court — will be called
to testify before a grand jury about their use of substances they supposedly
had no knowledge of. To paraphrase Raphael Palmeiro, “They have never used
steroids … period.”
Only time and testing will tell if these great exploits are really the work of
fantastic superheroes or just ordinary men on extraordinary pharmaceuticals.
Either way, the games are still fun to watch.
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