The NBA used to be a lot more physical, at least during the regular season.
The days of hand checking are over, along with most physical contact. However, when the playoffs begin, the physicality and pressure from defenses objectively ramp up.
LeBron James holds the record for playing the most NBA playoff games with 292, making him an expert on the subject. According to James, the switch between the regular season and the postseason is too drastic.
“If they’re going to allow it to be as physical as it is, you gotta give us a little time to prepare for it,” James said. “Post All-Star break is usually like 30 games left, so maybe like 12-15 games left for the regular season. Give us a month to prepare for it.”
On the most recent episode of the Mind the Game podcast with Steve Nash, he noted the huge switch-up in gameplay, where actions like body checking and hand checking, which are not allowed during the regular season, become legal in the playoffs.
“It goes from zero to 100,” James said. “It goes from us to be able to do no body check, no hand checking, no pushing a guy off their spot, no rerouting guys at all for six and a half seven months. And then for two months straight, have at it.”
The aggressive postseason defense that aims to slow the game down, limiting transition opportunities and shots close to the basket, does come with a cost: more fouls. While the game does get intensified, James believes it would be difficult to endure for an entire season.
“It’s fun, we don’t have a problem with it,” James added. It’s just a contrast of not being able to get into that flow. Over the last 10-15 years, they’ve allowed us to do it and it’s fun. I personally wish we could do it all year, but also have the body makeup for it to do it all year, too. It wouldn’t be beneficial to the product to run a sprint during a marathon.”