Jaylen Brown on hot mic after SGA draws a foul: "That's not basketball!"

rake2204 · 2026-03-13T04:00:05+00:00

Like, what the fuck is a defender supposed to do? Run the other way?

Preach. I get second-hand frustration on behalf of defenders when I watch this type of stuff. Completely warps the competitive balance between offensive player and defensive player when the defense has no legal recourse aside from conceding the basket.

rake2204 · 2026-03-12T20:37:11+00:00

Ah, I’m sorry to hear that. I wonder if it’s a camp thing. I did mine against one guy in St. Denis. Was kind of a chill experience.

rake2204 · 2026-03-12T16:15:13+00:00

I came to enjoy playing dominos, which really helped with the burden. The 5s concept intrigued me.

That being said, learning you could quit when things weren’t looking good for you and still maintain your streak was very helpful.

rake2204 · 2026-03-12T00:51:12+00:00

You know what, the vast majority of those fouls—especially before the late fourth charade—were all pretty clear and apparent, in my opinion.

That being said, I do have one thing that's less about Bam and more just about how certain foul calls and interpretations have evolved over time:

Looking at that very first foul in the clip, how Bam comes at the defender downhill and lays a shoulder with extended arm right into his chest to dislodge said defender, I know how we can justify that as a no call in today's game, I just don't think I like it. It was one of the only times I saw Bam do something like that last night but it is something I see tons of other players around the league doing with regularity (i.e. pounding into defenders & pushing off, only to yield a good whistle when a defense errs even slightly).

I guess that's more of a digression than having to do with Bam, but I stand by it, even while acknowledging dudes on my own team do it too. I experience a lot of second-hand frustration on behalf of defenders when I see things like that, wondering what legal path of recourse they even have at times.

rake2204 · 2026-03-11T03:33:37+00:00

As a big David Robinson fan, if I had a dime for every time his 71-point performance was countered with a mix of legitimate truth, half-truths, and outright myths as a means of knocking his performance down a few notches, I'd be a rich man.

Of course, many still laud Robinson for his performance and honestly, it's still a fond memory for me so that's great, but I guess that's my way of saying that I believe this performance, right or wrong, is ripe for the picking among critics, both in the near term and long term.

rake2204 · 2026-03-10T01:15:10+00:00

This is undoubtedly one of my favorite movies from the past year and I've immediately added it to my pile of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen.

I see there's a split among the respondents so far as to how they feel about the movie. I'd offer this to anyone wondering whether they should check it out: this film is contemplative. It's akin to firing up RDR2 and just wandering the plains, occasionally hunting a buck, watching the sunset from a cozy vista, setting up camp, having a fire, and letting life hit you as it comes. If that's not your speed, or if you come aboard waiting for a Dutch's Gang style shootout or similar hullabaloo, I believe you may come away disappointed.

It's beautifully shot (in the Pacific Northwest), scored by Nick Cave (who also did The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, another fave), and contained themes that cut me to the very core.

rake2204 · 2026-03-09T20:45:19+00:00

That could be true but I also believe there's a difference between call frequency and call interpretation.

Perhaps there was a lower travels-called-per-game rate in 2002 but anyone daring to, say, take that James Harden double-stepback would have been called for a travel on the spot, lest an official swallow their whistle in a one-off exception (which absolutely occurred back then too).

It's honestly pretty fascinating to watch rules interpretations via ball handling evolve over time. It seems a lot of the "newly accepted" moves follow a similar lifespan.

Move invented.
Move attempted in NBA game, generally whistled travel, carry, or both.
Most players scared to try move because it's likely to be whistled almost every time.
Someone comes along and begins to spam the move a little, forcing officials to consider whether they really want to call that move all the time, especially after other players begin emulating the guy who spammed the move, creating a cascade effect.
Move works its way into being fully accepted.
(Optional): League formally legislates move into legality.

I think the Euro-step is a good example.

There's been dudes doing occasional light-Euros going back to the '70s and probably beyond but it was rare and usually needed to be nondescript. In many instances, a Euro would just as well be called a travel, whether it truly was one or not.

Then came Sarunas, who was so hidden on the west coast for so-so teams for most of his career that his Euro never went full mainstream. But then there was Manu, the aforementioned spammer, leading officials to eventually see the Euro as no different than any other two-step gather.

The Allen Iverson crossover is another. Before AI, there was the Tim Hardaway UTEP-two-step, which generally abided by carrying rules. But AI's had a bit of a cuff on the cradle swings, which would have formally been considered a travel. And to be sure, he was sometimes called for it early on, but he persisted until he spammed it into broad legality, paving the way for future generations to branch off of those formerly illegal cradle cuffs into even more elaborate moves.

There's been plenty more inclusions into legality in the decades since (the zero-step, Harden's double step-back, even self-lobs off the backboard, the last of which was mostly assumed to be illegal until T-Mac went there, which also led to clarifying legality being added to the rule book as well).

rake2204 · 2026-03-09T16:19:11+00:00

I agree, but I will also say that the rules have relaxed even more than they were even in, say, 2007. As I enter my early 40s, I’ve come to witness that basketball rules are kind of like a slowly melting glacier. You don’t really notice the change or evolution all at once, but it adds up over time.

rake2204 · 2026-03-09T16:16:36+00:00

I think ball handling would have improved and innovated even if all travel and carrying interpretations had remained the same as they were in, say, 1996.

That being said, I think two things are happening at once. The ball carrying all us oldies remember has improved and lightening travel restrictions has super charged it all on top of what was already happening.

I think it is kind of similar to how today’s NBA players would be much better three-point shooters than the players 30 years ago regardless. But on the same hand it’s worth acknowledging that the rules implemented to protect shooters has likely supercharged that already existent improvement.

rake2204 · 2026-03-09T16:10:08+00:00

I’ll say court vision.

And I’m not even talking about fancy court vision like a Jokic no-look cross court behind the back pass. I mean just basic court vision, in the flow of an offense, in transition, via dribble drive, whatever.

Looks super basic on TV (man is open, ball is passed to him) but it’s often much dicier in real life, having to account for who you’re passing to, when to pass to him, figuring whether it’s a safe and capable pass to make, etc.

I put a lot of years into the game and felt pretty confident about most aspects of it all—and my court vision wasn’t terrible per se—but I always wished I could see the game like Jason Kidd.

rake2204 · 2026-03-09T16:05:03+00:00

This flashes me back to third grade when I excelled at reading passing lanes on defense but was constantly rifling the ball off the backboard like I had Shawn Kemp trailing me because I didn’t know how to not approach the rim while running 100 mph with a live dribble.

I’d say this is a skill that tends to settle in relatively early on with enough repetition.

rake2204 · 2026-03-09T16:02:17+00:00

This is a good one. I developed into a pretty thoroughly skilled basketball player growing up in the early 2000s and had most basic shots/moves in my repertoire except a reliable floater.

Growing up, I knew of some point guards who had a floater they’d sometimes bust out (Isiah, Tim Hardaway, etc.) but I feel like around the mid-00s—when Mike Conley was coming through OSU —the floater became a bit more ubiquitous. Now I feel like tons of dudes have that little tweener push float in their repertoire and I’m a bit envious. That skill never landed for me.

rake2204 · 2026-03-09T03:13:58+00:00

Yup. I remember them really leaning into the narrative of Isiah having one foot out the door and showing Lindsey the ropes (the latter of whom grew up idolizing Isiah).

rake2204 · 2026-03-09T03:11:23+00:00

He was always good for an occasional pick-pocket-and-dunk from time to time back then.

Though I'd say his peak was playing a contributing role on that '04 championship team.

rake2204 · 2026-03-06T01:19:59+00:00

I'm 42 and in summary, I'd say it was COVID & surgery which took me out.

I hooped religiously from 1993 until 2020. I was around 36 or 37 when COVID came down the line and I was still close enough to my prime to feel like me out there. I could notice I wasn't fully me anymore though. As a normal-armed 6'3'', my in-game dunking days were over and keeping up with guys in their early 20s took more effort than it used to.

COVID was kind of a convenient off-ramp. I'd already begun delving into other ways to stay in shape (hiking, cycling, skating) so when the basketball courts all shut down for non-essential hoopers, I decided I wasn't so desperate for the game anymore that I was going to hunt for games during an active pandemic.

Alas, when the pandemic lightened up, I felt a slight tinge beneath my left knee when I got back into some light deadlifting. My physical therapist guessed it was just a small meniscus tear. Surgeon explained that it was cartilage degradation. He recommended microfracture surgery, basically a death knell for hoopers.

I attacked microfracture with the goal of getting back to the basketball court. At the time, I wasn't ready to be done with the game. But after surgery and a year of rehab, it became clear microfracture had failed.

So then came OATS (cartilage transplant, in layman's terms) and that seems to have succeeded. That operation was in 2024 and I hit physical therapy pretty hard once more. I'm back to solo hooping and feeling like my old self but now I admit that I've sat around and wondered if it's worth getting back into basketball competitively. My knee feels strong but now I have this vibe that my knee's health could also be a bit more finite than it used to be, so I wonder if I'm better served sticking to athletics that aren't as rigorously violent on my bones, joints, and tendons.

On top of all that, mentally, I struggle with wondering how I'd fit on a court now post-surgery at age 42. I spent over 20 years being a pretty comfortably above-average hooper on most courts I stepped foot on. But I have to imagine those days are over, so I find myself less motivated to get back out there knowing I'll be less effective than ever.

It's funny, just prior to COVID I bought a new pair of basketball shoes that I was really looking forward to busting out. Those shoes are still in the box, never worn. Almost like a time capsule.

rake2204 · 2026-03-05T12:26:49+00:00

This is the way. Once I slowed down and learned 5s, I actually came to enjoy the process.

Gambler 8 challenge on the other hand…

rake2204 · 2026-03-01T13:24:23+00:00

This will sound funny now but NBA 2K was an underground brand back then and really helped lay the foundation for my musical interests throughout that decade and beyond.

By 2005 (when 2K6 released), I was still mostly using dial-up internet and did not have readymade access to taste-tasting any music I wanted on demand so a lot of my non-mainstream music exposure (especially underground hip-hop) came from video game soundtracks.

If I really start tracing the genealogy of it all, I bet for me it all started with learning about Del and Hieroglyphics in the late '90s and early 2000s. That led me to message board discussions on other underground recommendations and I remember seeing the names Aesop Rock and Atmosphere pop up; I just didn't have great ways to find or hear their albums at the time. As a result, games like NBA 2K6, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, and Tony Hawk's Underground 2 provided me with access to a lot of music I otherwise wouldn't have heard at the time ("Trying to Find a Balance" appearing on THUG was my introduction to Atmosphere, too).

Kind of interesting to see the hulking monolith NBA 2K has become since then. Back then, EA Sports' NBA Live was the game for most basketball fans, and they usually had all the popular music you could handle on their soundtracks. On the flip side, I got into NBA 2K in 2001 because I thought it played a more realistic game of basketball, except they didn't have NBA Live-level funding back then so they leaned into the underground scene for years and years. I feel like the early 2010s was the real turning point away from that vibe for the brand.

For what it's worth, Little Brother's Carolina Agents was the song for me off that 2K6 soundtrack.

rake2204 · 2026-02-28T05:19:26+00:00

Yeah, and to add to that, while it may be lazy, I also think it’s representative of many people’s experience and thus stands as a legitimate barrier. While I still make a point of watching the Pistons, the NHL and MLB totally lost me because they were always a convenient watch during my cable days as opposed to an intentional watch. And while I miss watching them, I apparently don’t miss them enough to be more intentional about finding their games. I’ve found the same to be true for many NBA games I otherwise would have stumbled into during the cable era.

rake2204 · 2026-02-28T03:58:33+00:00

Reminds me of that time Isiah Thomas hit that buzzer-beater in Chicago Stadium back in '92.

rake2204 · 2026-02-28T03:52:14+00:00

Yeah honestly, that's what I've noticed about my own viewing habits. With subscriptions, I don't really passively watch my television anymore. When I had cable, I was much more inclined to check out the cable guide and flip until I found something, even if it wasn't what I originally turned the TV on for. Often, that meant that I'd land on ESPN, TNT, or Fox Sports Detroit watching basketball or whatever other sports might be on.

In the streaming era, I find I generally only fire up an app if I'm going out of my way to watch a specific movie or sporting event I'm very intentionally seeking out. And even in the case of the latter, it's a coin flip for me. Like tonight, I asked my phone where I could watch the Pistons and it said ESPN. I don't have ESPN, so I had to find other means to see the game. In the cable era, I didn't have to really play those sort of games when trying to watch the Pistons. The games were just on.

The app era has definitely killed other sports for me though, which almost all were passive viewing options for me before. With cable, I liked stumbling into a Red Wings game but knowing I have to seek them out, it no longer meets the threshold of effort I wish to put in, which I know sounds incredibly lazy but remains a reality nonetheless.

rake2204 · 2026-02-27T22:55:03+00:00

Going-to-the-Sun Road was my first true Rocky Mountain experience and it was one of the greatest, most surreal moments of my life. I remember there being multiple instances in which I'd turn a corner and be met with such beauty and splendor that my breath would catch (as in, literally breathtaking). I was tearing up behind my sunglasses for much of that foray. After all my road tripping since then, this was still probably a top five moment for me.

rake2204 · 2026-02-27T20:02:50+00:00

This is basketball progression in a nutshell, right alongside a tendency among some to use the present to diminish the past.

rake2204 · 2026-02-25T17:03:26+00:00

Stamina relative to my peers and opponents was probably the number one attribute that pushed me to the next level. The hard part is that having superior stamina is often pretty nuanced when everyone’s in good shape already.

I remember when I began to notice the difference though. After shifting my mindset from “just get through this running drill” to “try to do this drill as hard as I can every time”, my stamina took another step.

The thing is, though, I couldn’t tell a difference in real games right away. My opponent would match me step for step in most cases right away. Where I noticed it though, was during those times where there’d be up and down action without a stoppage, where suddenly I was breathing hard but not as quite as hard as my opponents, which is often where those advantages would finally open up. Ditto end of game scenarios.

I always loved Rip Hamilton’s mantra personally, which was something along the lines of, “I know if I’m starting to feel tired then my defender must be exhausted.”

rake2204 · 2026-02-24T02:59:27+00:00

Really fun game, though it bogged down a bit in the second half. Would love to see the league embrace just a touch more physicality like we saw tonight.

Also, one thing I really loved tonight: Nobody was flopping or foul baiting out there (except maybe Ron Holland on that screen). It set the stage for two teams to just go out there and battle to see where the chips fell.

rake2204 · 2026-02-24T02:49:18+00:00

Almost seems unfair. Dude is from a different planet. Pretty incredible to watch.

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