Quote:
Originally Posted by Deke
my ***. the 80s was just as fast as the 60s if not faster. the league was at a career high in scoring.
bird was also a crappy defender.
elgin was above average. thats a big piece to why hes better. especially when you add more points scored and more rebounds.
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No it wasn't
Basketball-reference doesn't have pace back into the 60's but just look at the FGA in the 60's vs 80's which is a crude approximation of pace and look at the numbers. The Lakers of the 80's which were a
fast break team averaged around 800+ less FGA attempt thens Laker teams in the 60's. This is a widely agreed upon fact in the basketball statistical community. Scoring doesn't explain the pace difference because teams in the 60's shot a lot and missed a lot (there FG% is low)
Bird was also a very good team defender while being a below average man on man: he wasn't nearly as bad on D when you combine the two as your making it out to be