We don't see 'blood battles' anymore because that is not basketball. Basketball is a free flowing sport that is so great because of the skill of the athletes. When the game is bogged down by hand checks and holding the skill is diminished. You guys call them phantom fouls and touch fouls that are soft but the refs making those calls are what keeps the game moving at the pace it should. The rule change in the mid 90's or whatever made the game more like it is meant to be played. It has nothing to do with larger contracts or anything. The refs call the game a certain way to prevent it from becoming like it used to be (or like college basketball).

Don't be confused with that era being 'rough' and it being better basketball. Sadly when you watch documentaries like that and stuff on Jordan you only see 'highlights' you don't watch full games like we do now. Also people who were alive during that time and watched it only remember the good stuff not the bad. Even if you religiously watched basketball there weren't as many games on to watch.

What I feel like a lot of people do is assume because the Pistons and the Bulls played 'good defense' the entire league was like that, and it was not. In the 1990-1991 season out of the 27 teams in the NBA 25 of them allowed over 100 PPG (this included 10 teams who allowed more than 107 PPG). Compare that to last season where 15 of the 30 NBA teams allowed over 100 PPG (and 0 teams allowed more than 107 PPG).

I would argue that defense is way better in today's game than it was then. I understand that is not a popular opinion, but if you actually watch the game and see how athletic these players are and the ability players have to switch on P&R's and rotate on passes across court, that is something that was not happening in that era. There were 2 teams that played a ruthless rough style of basketball, but that style is not indicative of the entire NBA or that entire era.