I know a lot of our younger readers won’t believe it but the NBA use to be pretty grimy back in the day. Before they had different levels of flagrant fouls, banned hand checking, etc guys in the NBA were getting it in. These are just a few videos  to let you know how raw the NBA was.

This one is a real simple video, but it gets the point across. Now a days you do any kind of trash talking in the NBA they are quick to give you a technical. In this video Tim Hardaway tells Barkley very loud and clear “In yo face!”. Something you would of instantly got a tech for.
http://youtu.be/NN1gfT2IUuo
Nowadays in the NBA after a heated playoffs has ended players shake hands, give hugs and daps as if they didn’t go to war with each other. Back then animosity would carry on for years. Like in the video above I guess Danny Ainge was so mad he had to let Mario Elie know how he feels. By the way Danny Aingle was drafted in the MLB as well.

In the same series Barkley had to let Olajuwon know how he feels by knocking him down to the floor.  This would easily get you a 2+ game suspension in the NBA today.
http://youtu.be/TxAC9_KFXkE
Even the stars had to fight back then including the best player in the league in Michael Jordan. One thing a lot of people want to see from Lebron is him getting in people’s faces, hard fouls, etc., but with the game being so watered down you can’t really get away with it.  In this video you can see Reggie Miller & Michael Jordan go at it.


One thing a lot of people don’t know is that early  in Hakeem Olajuwon career he was known for tearing it down. If you cross the Dream he could easily turn it into a nightmare. Including catching the opposing player with a quick hook.



For one I don’t feel like the NBA has any true rivalries anymore.  Back then anytime teams like the Bulls & Knicks hooked up they would fight. In the first video a brawl breaks out in the middle of a playoff game. In the second video you could see Michael Jordan getting in the face of Xavier McDaniel a player not too many people ran up on. The third video I’m pretty sure a lot of you have already seen, but I doubt we’ll ever get another moment like that in basketball that had that much hate and passion in one play. So disrespectful!