Kevin Durant had his thoughts on physicality in the NBA in the 80s and 90s, and in his opinion, the latter wasn’t the toughest era of all time.
“I go back and watch a lot of those ’90s film, that ’90s film, ’80s stuff, and they play physical, but I just think they got away with a lot of flagrant fouls,” Durant said. “I think that’s why they call their era more physical than ours because we play physical here, too.”
[Starts 14:38 onwards]
He further added that the modern-day league had strong and athletic players, but what made the difference was the paint was clear.
“Nobody was getting touched. It wasn’t a lot of help defense but you did get a lot of flagrant fouls that didn’t result in fines or getting kicked out the game, so it just seemed like, you know, it was a little tougher.”
Durant’s comments come in the middle of Isiah Thomas and his ‘Bad Boys’ Detroit Pistons who have been the flavor of the NBA over the last few days. His blockbuster interview, where he relived some of the past moments, also shed light on how physical the team was, and how ‘Jordan Rules’ literally had MJ pummeled to the ground.
Now, the physicality factor has been dialed down by quite a few notches.
Kevin Durant’s Take On Players Fearing Michael Jordan And LeBron James
In the aforementioned episode of Boardroom, the veteran forward also had his take on the players fearing Michael Jordan and LeBron James — another hot topic after Mario Chalmers’ controversial statement on no player fearing James.
“It’s an appropriate fear that you have for your opponents, knowing that if you aren’t locked in, this is the NBA. We’re all great players. Somebody can go off and kill you tonight So let me lock in and be ready. That’s the type of fear that I’m thinking about,” Durant explained.
He also opined that going up against the best of the best would mean getting “into some s***”, but chances are that it could go both ways. “So you just got your head on a swivel, but I wouldn’t say anybody is like fearful of the challenge, don’t want to play, ducking guys for the night, call in with an injury. That type of stuff I don’t see much of.”
On the season front, the Suns and Durant are well on their way to the playoffs, but before they step into the offseason, the team will lock horns with a postseason berth-aspiring LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. A James vs. Durant clash has been long due, and there’s no doubt that a spicy contest is on the cards on Friday.
To end with, here’s a snippet that gives a fair idea of brute physicality in the 80s and 90s NBA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HJmZmR0-NM
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