Did what Shaq said last night change your perception of the NBA's regular season?

[rudemiester]

He said that he was asked to "take nights off" by GM's throughout his career to effect playoff standings amongst other things. 
I believe that if it's happened with him it's probably happened with a lot of major stars in the league. And I kind of felt like maybe this was something that he wasn't supposed to say. How are we supposed to take regular season results seriously with information like this floating out there?

 

[deuce king]

This is or should have been common knowledge. 

 

[8pm at msg]

No. Not at all.

 

[lightweight champion]

No, it doesn't change my view. That's a given, you can't go hard 82 games and expect to go another 22+ in the playoffs and win a 'chip. You'll burn out by the start of the postseason, ask the '07 Mavericks.

 

[ryanbbn23]

^word. you aint know?

Barkley has said players dont play hard til the last 25 games of the season.

The celtics dont start locking in til March of the past few seasons.

Coach Pop rests his stars when they got a lot of games in a short time.  Did you never know that happened?

The NBA season is a marathon.  If you try to run as fast as you can all 82 games, youre going to be dead.  Players play games the same way.  How many games this year have the Heat let mediocre teams hang around for 3 quarters then end up winning by double digits.

 

[da doc03]

Originally Posted by Deuce King


This is or should have been common knowledge. 

  

 

[pr0phecy718]

 umm, this is common knowledge
not exactly shocking at all 

.....................

 

[big j 33]

Once the playoffs are in sight, this doesn't surprise or upset me.

I don't put a ton of importance into a single regular season game in the first place, but especially the last few weeks of a season.

Where I have a problem with it is for the fans who might only get to one game a year. So if their favorite player doesn't play the 4th quarter or sits our for an "injury", then that sucks.

 

[rudemiester]

It's apparent but never publicly acknowledged like it has been in recent years. There are fans who buy into the regular season results wholeheartedly only to be shocked when the playoffs come around. I just wanted to know if this public acknowledgement from one of the greatest players of all time opens anyones eyes as to whats really going on sometimes behind the scenes.

 

[pr0phecy718]

Originally Posted by Rudemiester

It's apparent but never publicly acknowledged like it has been in recent years. There are fans who buy into the regular season results wholeheartedly only to be shocked when the playoffs come around. I just wanted to know if this public acknowledgement from one of the greatest players of all time opens anyones eyes as to whats really going on sometimes behind the scenes.

just enjoy the playoffs...you're looking too much into this

 

[rudemiester]

I'm going to enjoy the playoffs..... are you?

 

[pr0phecy718]

of course

 

[mben32]

Originally Posted by Deuce King


This is or should have been common knowledge. 

 

[nako xl]

Where i think it's a big deal and i haven't seen any of you touch upon this point yet, you all seem to focus on the "getting rest aspect," is that he's implying teams were throwing games to affect seeding.

 

[badboyf0life420]

But shaq was always lazy and injured , of course he ha to take nights off. Lol

 

[The_Isomotion31]

Originally Posted by Nako XL

Where i think it's a big deal and i haven't seen any of you touch upon this point yet, you all seem to focus on the "getting rest aspect," is that he's implying teams were throwing games to affect seeding.

I wouldn't say throwing them like losing purposely. But more like taking games less "serious" if that makes any sense. Up until May the regular season is nice. As soon as end of regular season month comes along the teams who were locked in the playoffs I felt looked less polished in those final games. In my view.

 

[youngtriz]

regular season games = NT troll food...

 

[frenchblue23]

Oh this? Like Deuce King said, this is common knowledge.

 

[651akathepaul]

Originally Posted by Deuce King


This is or should have been common knowledge. 

Pretty much. All the time you see veteran teams coast through a night or even a good portion of the regular season and then turn it on in the playoffs. Going forward, it's part of the reason why a 66 game schedule or less should happen.

 

[duba169]

Okay I'm gonna go the other way and say its messed up. People spend alot of money on season tickets and the nba should improve their product. Or give out a scheduale so ticket holders can know when to stay home

There are many ways to place more importance on the regular season. Imagine if only top 4 teams in the conference get into the playoffs? Every regular season game would be HUGE

Just one more reason the nba got no business being in the same sentence as nfl. In the nfl every game is an event

 

[hawkflight6]

Doesn't change my perception at all, it would be impossible for guys to go hard for all 82 games

 

[651akathepaul]

Originally Posted by DubA169

Okay I'm gonna go the other way and say its messed up. People spend alot of money on season tickets and the nba should improve their product. Or give out a scheduale so ticket holders can know when to stay home

There are many ways to place more importance on the regular season. Imagine if only top 4 teams in the conference get into the playoffs? Every regular season game would be HUGE

Just one more reason the nba got no business being in the same sentence as nfl. In the nfl every game is an event

Been saying this for awhile now. The NBA has the capacity to have a much better product and really drive up more interest in their league. I seriously feel it could compete with the NFL as the most popular sport if they pull their heads out. Especially since Goodell is being a %%$%+$!, but that's another story.

 

[|A-Man|]

So wait you expect great teams to play their star players when there's like 10 games left in the season and they've already assured a high playoff seed?

The teams who do that are the ones who need home court advantage.

 

[nycknicks105]

I think most people know that stuff like this happens all the time. I mean, look at what happened last year with the Grizzles. They purposely lost games so they could get the 8th seed to face San Antonio.

 

[bhzmafia14]

I see this happening in the last game of the season when the Clippers play the Knicks. If it comes down to the Clippers having to lose to the Knicks for Memphis to get the 4th seed, Melo/JR are going to help out CP3/Kmart. I wouldn't be shocked.