With the NBA season over and the lockout blocking any offseason activity, I find myself jonesing for some NBA Action, and watching old drafts on NBA TV just isn't enough. So today, I watched Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks. Even though Michael Jordan retired before the season, coach Phil Jackson's squad rallied around star Scottie Pippen and won 55 games during the regular season. Meanwhile in New York, the Knicks had the second best record in the Eastern Conference at 57-25, and were considered the favorites to come out of the East. The Knicks took the first two games of the series in New York, while the Bulls took the next two in Chicago. In game 5, the home team would hold serve, as the Knicks won 87-86 thanks to a controversial foul by Scottie Pippen with 2.1 seconds remaining. After the foul, Hubert Davis hit two free throws to give the Knicks the winning points. A few notes about this game:
- Even before the foul on Davis, the officiating for this game was less than stellar. The Knicks shot 25 free throws to the Bulls 11, and it wasn't like they were attacking the basket, as most of the time they would settle for jump shots. Patrick Ewing took two charges directly underneath the basket, a point which the Bulls argued since most of the time, a call like that would go against the defender. In fact, in today's NBA it would. B.J. Armstrong nearly got knocked out by a moving screen from Ewing, but the refs let them play. To be fair, there were a couple foul calls on Pippen that were questionable at best, so at least the refs were consistently poor. Then there was the play at the end. Was there contact by Pippen on Davis? A little, but it happened well after the shot was in the air and didn't look as if it affected the shot in any way. There was probably 5 or 6 similar plays by defenders on jump shots that didn't get called, but ref Hue Hollins saw enough in his mind to call the foul. Good thing for the Knicks too, as Davis missed an open three there with Pippen getting there late.
- If you like your NBA superstars to come through in the clutch, well, this game wasn't for you. On the one hand we have Ewing, who started out on fire in the first quarter, scoring 12 points and hitting his first four shots from the field. Then he went scoreless during the next two periods, mainly because he and the rest of the Knicks fell in love with the jump shot to mixed results. In the fourth, Ewing started to come around a little, but with 31.4 seconds left and the Knicks down one, Ewing went to the free-throw line and clanked two free throws. Overall, Ewing scored 20 points and pulled down 13 boards, but he also went 2-7 from the free throw line and would have been the goat if Davis hadn't bailed him out. On the other side, there was Pippen. For the first three quarters, Pippen was the best player on the court, leading the Bulls back after the Knicks started the game on a huge run, sinking three 3-pointers and playing great defense. Then the fourth quarter came around and Pippen wasn't on the court for the first five and a half minutes as coach Phil Jackson played a hunch and left his reserves in. The bench played well and kept the Bulls ahead, but when Pippen came back in, he didn't look like the same player and was a non-factor in the final minutes of the game. He made two free throws, committed a couple of fouls, and that was it.
- You know, I forgot how good B.J. Armstrong was. The Bulls point guard was on fire in this game, scoring 21 points on 9-12 shooting from the field. Whether he was wide open or heavily guarded, Armstrong was knocking shots down, and many times announcer Hubie Brown was wondering why the Bulls weren't getting the ball to Armstrong more. Honestly, I found myself wondering the same thing, especially with guys like Pete Myers and Bill Cartwright on the court. Speaking of Hubie, I kind of felt bad for his partner Ron Tholin, because Hubie loves to talk on and on and on. I mean, I like Hubie Brown as an announcer, but the guys does like to talk.
- The Knicks were a little shorthanded in the game, as starting point guard Derek Harper was suspended for an altercation earlier in the series and Doc Rivers was injured, leaving Greg Anthony and the little-known Corey Gaines as the only two point guards on the Knicks roster. After a rough game 4, Anthony played well in this game, dishing out eight assists while only turning the ball over once. Also, small forward Charles Smith had his moments, scoring 10 of his 16 points in the second quarter, although he didn't play particularly well in the fourth quarter.
- Earlier in the series, a controversy developed after the Bulls Toni Kukoc took the game ending shot in game 3, while Pippen decided it'd be best for him to sit on the bench after learning the play wasn't called for him. Well, after Davis made the free throw and the Bulls called timeout, the camera was focused on Pippen the entire time, while the announcers ignored the elephant in the room and Hubie talked about what the Bulls should do in the situation. In this case, the play was called for Pippen, so it was a good thing he decided to remain out there this time, but it was all for naught as Anthony Mason blocked the inbound pass.
After this game, the Bulls would come back to Chicago and win game six, but the Knicks prevailed in Game 7, and would eventually go all the way to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Houston Rockets. Meanwhile, Hubert Davis would become a sports hero in New York, if just for a moment or two, while Hue Hollins would become the least favorite referee in Chicago. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have a comment relating to this post, or an idea for a future post, then feel free to share by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at kthec2001@gmail.com.
Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts
Friday, July 8, 2011
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Canon Video Game Review: Ultimate Basketball (NES)
Sorry for the lack of activity the past couple of days, as I overdosed on Jon Voight movies and spent two days searching for Jon Voight's car. Anyway, today's review is of the first basketball video game that I ever owned and played, Ultimate Basketball. Released in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Ultimate Basketball was developed and published by American Sammy, which produced various other games for the Nintendo and Super Nintendo over the years, including Jimmy Houston's Bass Tournament U.S.A. I remember playing Ultimate Basketball as a kid, but I also remember not liking it too much. I still have the cartridge around somewhere, but my NES doesn't work, so I must play on an emulator instead. Here's the cover for the game, courtesy of allgame.com:
Well, you can definitely tell that it's a basketball game. Anyway, in Ultimate Basketball, you can play either an exhibition game or a tournament. The game features seven fictional teams with fictional players, each team having different strengths and weaknesses. What they are, I don't know, since they all seem to play the same style of basketball, full-court press on defense and constantly driving to the hoop on offense. The graphics are not anything groundbreaking, and the players look and move like cro-magnon cavemen, but the game does have a horizontal view of the court and you can usually tell what's going on. There are certain plays, such as a dunk, three-pointer and free throw, that will change the view into a close up view of the action going on. When going up for a dunk, there's a meter that shows up, and you have to hit the shoot button at the right time or otherwise, you will miss. The controls are rather straightforward, although you have to hit the jump button twice to shoot, and there's not a button to steal the ball, as steals seem to happen at random. The music in the game is neither memorable or annoying, it's just there. The sound effects are mostly realistic for a basketball game, except the sound of a missed shot sounds nothing like a ball hitting the rim. Instead, it sound like the sound of a small hammer hitting a piece of scrap metal, if that makes any sense.
After playing the game, I suddenly remember why I didn't like this game in the first place. For one, passing the ball inbounds is nearly impossible, as the cpu opponent will steal it if you throw the ball to anyone that is not directly in front of you. It doesn't matter if you throw the ball to the left or the right, the ball will magically appear in the CPUs hands, and he'll go in for the easy dunk unless he misses. Speaking of which, there are way too many times where the cpu will go for the dunk, and the close-up animation will show up, and the computer won't even try for the dunk, instead just floating by the rim. Wouldn't it be more realistic if there was an animation of the player missing the dunk?
From there, it gets worse. Apparently, the CPU has an incredible ability to steal the ball. All he has to do is run up behind the player, get relatively close to him and poof! the ball is in his hands. Even if you're on a fast break, the computer will catch up with you nearly every time. However, if you try to do the same, you more than likely will either fail or get called for a foul. Actually, I got called for a lot of fouls on both ends, as apparently breathing on an opposing player will cause a file. The worst call happened when I had just inbounded the ball and was called for a charge, and all of a sudden, the cpu starts shooting free throws. I guess they changed the rules of basketball while I wasn't looking. Another rule change for this game is that jumpballs don't just occur at the beginning of the game, but rather at the beginning of each quarter. Who knew? One advantage that you have is that 75-foot shots are remarkably easy to make on this game, but that goes for the cpu as well. Even on the easiest level, the CPU' defense is sharp to the point of being unrealistic, while your non-controlled players seem to enjoy standing on the half court line and watching the other team go to the rim. Frustrating does not begin to describe this game. It's like being in a home run derby with Albert Pujols, and you have to use a wiffleball bat.
Overall, I must say that I do not like this game. Sure, there a couple of neat effects, like the dunk closeup shot and mini-game that goes along with it, and the game has decent graphics for an Nintendo basketball game. But the degree of difficulty and the cheapness of the A.I. is such that it makes the game completely unenjoyable, and not worth playing much more than one game. I'll give it a 2.09583 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you any ideas for future posts, or thoughts about this post, than either leave a comment on the blog or send them to me at e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com
Well, you can definitely tell that it's a basketball game. Anyway, in Ultimate Basketball, you can play either an exhibition game or a tournament. The game features seven fictional teams with fictional players, each team having different strengths and weaknesses. What they are, I don't know, since they all seem to play the same style of basketball, full-court press on defense and constantly driving to the hoop on offense. The graphics are not anything groundbreaking, and the players look and move like cro-magnon cavemen, but the game does have a horizontal view of the court and you can usually tell what's going on. There are certain plays, such as a dunk, three-pointer and free throw, that will change the view into a close up view of the action going on. When going up for a dunk, there's a meter that shows up, and you have to hit the shoot button at the right time or otherwise, you will miss. The controls are rather straightforward, although you have to hit the jump button twice to shoot, and there's not a button to steal the ball, as steals seem to happen at random. The music in the game is neither memorable or annoying, it's just there. The sound effects are mostly realistic for a basketball game, except the sound of a missed shot sounds nothing like a ball hitting the rim. Instead, it sound like the sound of a small hammer hitting a piece of scrap metal, if that makes any sense.
After playing the game, I suddenly remember why I didn't like this game in the first place. For one, passing the ball inbounds is nearly impossible, as the cpu opponent will steal it if you throw the ball to anyone that is not directly in front of you. It doesn't matter if you throw the ball to the left or the right, the ball will magically appear in the CPUs hands, and he'll go in for the easy dunk unless he misses. Speaking of which, there are way too many times where the cpu will go for the dunk, and the close-up animation will show up, and the computer won't even try for the dunk, instead just floating by the rim. Wouldn't it be more realistic if there was an animation of the player missing the dunk?
From there, it gets worse. Apparently, the CPU has an incredible ability to steal the ball. All he has to do is run up behind the player, get relatively close to him and poof! the ball is in his hands. Even if you're on a fast break, the computer will catch up with you nearly every time. However, if you try to do the same, you more than likely will either fail or get called for a foul. Actually, I got called for a lot of fouls on both ends, as apparently breathing on an opposing player will cause a file. The worst call happened when I had just inbounded the ball and was called for a charge, and all of a sudden, the cpu starts shooting free throws. I guess they changed the rules of basketball while I wasn't looking. Another rule change for this game is that jumpballs don't just occur at the beginning of the game, but rather at the beginning of each quarter. Who knew? One advantage that you have is that 75-foot shots are remarkably easy to make on this game, but that goes for the cpu as well. Even on the easiest level, the CPU' defense is sharp to the point of being unrealistic, while your non-controlled players seem to enjoy standing on the half court line and watching the other team go to the rim. Frustrating does not begin to describe this game. It's like being in a home run derby with Albert Pujols, and you have to use a wiffleball bat.
Overall, I must say that I do not like this game. Sure, there a couple of neat effects, like the dunk closeup shot and mini-game that goes along with it, and the game has decent graphics for an Nintendo basketball game. But the degree of difficulty and the cheapness of the A.I. is such that it makes the game completely unenjoyable, and not worth playing much more than one game. I'll give it a 2.09583 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you any ideas for future posts, or thoughts about this post, than either leave a comment on the blog or send them to me at e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com
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