NBA Week 2 QTNA: Should the league allow fighting? Will the Warriors make a move?

The NBA season is 10 days old. For this week’s QTNA, we ponder Stephen Curry’s injury impact, Joe Mazzulla’s take on fighting, Zach LaVine’s “untradable” contract, and early panic for a couple of recent champions.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla suggested fighting be allowed in the NBA in a radio interview. Too much dip on his chip or is he on to something?

Yes.

For starters, Mazzulla is interesting if nothing else. Characters in coaching have been legislated out a bit over the last several years and it was capped off by coaches no longer wearing suits on the sidelines — dressing as an expression of one’s personality.

But for Mazzulla, he’s the youngest coach in the NBA at 35 years old, and perhaps he doesn’t have knowledge of the yesteryear game where physicality was legislated as part of the game, and officials allowed players to police themselves to a large degree. He just sees it as another element to get fans engaged.

“The biggest thing that we rob people of, from an entertainment standpoint, is you can’t fight anymore,” Mazzulla told 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. “I wish you could bring back fighting. … What’s more entertaining than a little scuffle? How come in baseball, they’re allowed to clear benches?”

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The answer is layered, complicated and uncomfortable. But let’s start here. America doesn’t want to see Black men fighting, and fighting within close proximity of fans paying top dollar — the NBA sells intimacy, which could make fighting tricky. The Malice at the Palace — which took place 20 years ago next month — left a lasting impression in the eyes of the viewing public, and we know all the code words that have been used and would be used if the NBA didn’t keep a firm handle on physical play.

To be fair, it wasn’t exactly “allowed” then. That wild scene in Auburn Hills just exploded on a Friday night and the sports world hasn’t been the same since. But in baseball, especially after hitters get beaned with 100 MPH fastballs, vigilante justice is accepted as part of the game. For a lot of reasons, the NBA’s…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-31 16:51:00

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