Greatness and Narratives
Last week, I rewatched Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz. For those of you who are not NBA geeks, let me put this in context. The Bulls were leading the best-of-7-game-series 3 - 2 and this game was in Utah. This is the game that has one of the most iconic winning shots that Michael Jordan has taken in his career and that gave him and the Bulls their 6th NBA title. This is one of those games that has strongly solidified Michael Jordan’s greatness in the world of basketball. This game is a fundamental milestone in making Michael Jordan the… well, Michael Jordan of basketball.
Even if you don’t watch basketball, you’ve probably seen this shot!
I don’t remember when the last time I watched this game in its entirety was. I watch a lot of highlights from the game all the time. I know statistics from this game a lot (not because I’m a stats geek, but because they get shoved down your throat every now and then if you follow these things). And even now, to watch it again, a lot of stars had align. The NBA had to be in the off-season. A 4K rendition of the game had to be released. And I had to have a couple of hours on my hands. So I start the game at 1AM on a Thursday evening. And this is where things start getting interesting.
If you’ve read some of my other posts, you probably know what a fun and learning experience watching an NBA game is for me. You probably also know that a game of this importance is going to be one hell of a treat. Well, hold your horses. The game was… BORING! Yes, I am not taking what I am doing here lightly. I had to think long about sharing this before I decided to do it. But, I couldn’t even finish the game in one sitting. This has almost never happened to me before. I either find a game boring and stop watching it without coming back to it. Or, as most of the time, I finish watching the game. The fact that I usually watch the games live contributes to that, but still… And the only reason I came back to continue it is because it became a big research subject for me. And the first and most important finding of that research will put me high on every NBA fan’s hot take list, if I’m lucky. More probably, I will either be dismissed or not taken seriously when I talk about the NBA from now on (which is not that unfair. I mean, after all, I’m just someone who watches these games and philosophizes what he’s seeing). Either way, what’s done is done and here’s a few things I learned from rewatching that game:
If you are an NBA fan who finds herself/himself watching the games sometimes, the playoffs and finals more, and even some analyses and opinions, don’t believe people or take their opinions seriously if they don’t watch full games. Anything based on a deep analysis of numbers and highlights alone is not reliable, especially if it’s conducted by young people who are talking about games that took place before they were born or when they were under 15.
Don’t indulge in the debates about which eras were better or had better players. Not only are the skill sets of players contextual to the era & its requirements, but they were also for a totally different game. It feels like comparing 5-on-5 court basketball to 3-on-3 street basketball, or FIBA to the NBA, or even in some cases like comparing basketball to handball when it comes to how the game was played.
And here it is. The lesson and argument the basketball geeks among you saw coming. The greatness of players from previous eras is… I’m going to say it… OVERRATED.
Here’s the catch though: it’s normal and it’s okay. It doesn’t make them any less amazing players. It doesn’t undermine their immense contributions to the game. Without them the game would not be as awesome as it is today.
And all these make sense because of the biggest lesson I got from this. Yes, I’m digging a deeper hole for myself. So here it goes.
I think that as time goes by after an event, if humans have categorized it as a good thing, the farther away from it we get, the better that good thing gets. If that event or story was registered in our brains as a bad thing, the farther away we get from it, the worse it becomes. And in, relatively, no time, it becomes extremely easy for us to say that something was the best or worst (of all time even, sometimes). This is very similar to different stories from history. I have been part of many “events” in my life (not necessarily big or historical, though they can be). And I remember them being amazing, like a concert for example. But then I read about it maybe 10 years later, in more than one source, and it sounds like the best thing to have ever happened. I do remember being there. I do remember it being amazing. But for it to become the best thing to have ever happened is a bit of a stretch. It’s the same with national heroes. Or public enemies. In the case of public enemies, yes, I remember this and that guy being an asshole. I also remember that I understood what made him an asshole. He was still an asshole. But for him to become the scum of the universe 10 years later - as far as the same actions and events are concerned - is an interesting turn of events to look into, to say the least.
Now mind you, I’m not saying that Michael Jordan isn’t one of the best players to ever touch a basketball. I’m not saying he hasn’t entertained me for years as a kid and even now. I’m not trying to say he hasn’t inspired generations of basketball players, as well as “civilians”. I’m not saying he didn’t push the envelope of what can be possible with basketball. If he did one of his signature moves in a whole game, it was worth watching for two hours to witness that live as it happened. But that’s it. It was one or two signature moves every game. The rest of the game… It was frigging boring! Also, he missed a lot - even the numbers say it (some people have theories that are very well backed that the numbers were inflated, but that’s a different story). And the defense! Holy shit! What was that? Millions of YouTube videos and articles talk about how tough the defense was before compared to now. Ladies and gentlemen, those defending players could easily be considered bystanders compared to defense now (I’m looking at you, overrated Dennis Rodman!). Again, they were great defenders for their time. They have some amazing highlights. Some of them could be taken out of an MMA match instead of an NBA game. But most of the time, it sucked! It stands no chance against the modern offense systems either! For example, I can think of maybe 1 or 2 players from previous eras who can follow Stephen Curry without the ball in an attempt to stop his killer shots. In the current time and age, every team needs, at least, ONE players who can TRY to be Curry’s shadow for as long as he’s on the court.
But those narratives are so far back that a mix of nostalgia, time, and changing contexts makes them dance at the edge of reality. And if we’re aware of that, then we can enjoy that dance! If not, then we’re either glorifying or vilifying someone who was equally a hero in some things and an asshole in others.
That was me partly falling into the trap of doing the exact thing I am totally convinced that no one should do. Skills and the game of different eras are not to be compared. Their contexts are so different that it is like comparing apples to oranges. But if I am ever pulled into having to choose a better era for the NBA, it will definitely be the current one (Play nice millennials and boomers. I’m not trying to insult you).