05-28-2021, 02:39 PM
(05-28-2021, 01:49 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: Doc Rivers is probably the best example. His teams always had a bad reputation. Garnett, Posey, Perkins, Rondo, Powe on the Celtics. CP3, Matt Barnes, Stephen Jackson on the lob city Clippers. Last years Clippers. He obviously isn´t encouraging it in the media but when he is asked about it he always finds excuses.
Yes, Doc Rivers would be a poster child for the dirty play culture. It hasn't been only him, of course. How many times did Pop countenance Bruce Bowen sticking his foot into a jump shooter's landing space? And I still remember Cuban telling Josh Howard to "slap the ball into [Bowen's] face" and promising to pay any fine Howard incurred as a result of the retaliation. We might say that Bowen had it coming, but a spiraling cycle of retaliations is far from ideal from a league point of view.
Just to cite a couple of examples.
Interestingly, at one point, the league seriously considered instituting prohibitive penalties for intentional and reckless fouls, and decided against it. Part of the reason was that a sizable segment of fans find the possibility of violence on the court titillating, and you got to give the people what they want.