Word: pros
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...from the spindle-shanked hotshot and the gawky goon, toward towering, robust and superbly coordinated players who can run at top speed all night. Says New York University's Basketball Coach Lou Rossini: "Every man on that first five has a shot-a good shot-at making the pros...
Fast Break, Screen & Jump. As played by the pros, basketball is a rushing, bruising battle that leaves its gigantic players gasping for breath long after each game. Forcing the pace is a rule that requires a team to take a shot within 24 seconds of getting the ball. This means that at least 75% of the action develops from the kaleidoscopic swirl of the instant, and that play is dominated...
...basketball bristles with violence. Falling players leave slippery smears of sweat on the floor that have to be mopped up with towels. Trainers use freezing sprays of ethyl chloride to relieve the pain of a sprain-and keep the man in the game. An estimated 85% of the pros play with nagging injuries-charley horses, jammed thumbs, pulled muscles-and St. Louis' Pettit and Syracuse's Dolph Schayes have kept going with broken wrists. Robertson himself is just getting over a torn muscle above his right hip, which benched him for five games. After a game...
...Play Him Tight." Defending against such an attack is a thankless task-but the pros do their rugged best. Says Paul Seymour of his St. Louis team's tactics against Robertson: "We pick him up at three-quarters court. We haven't picked up a man back there in years." Alternatively, many teams sag their defense against Robertson to keep him from crashing through the middle...
...eight-team N.B.A. has become a truly national league. N.B.A. attendance, which jumped 23% last year, is up another 20% so far this season. Robertson's Royals, although last in their division, have already doubled last year's total attendance. Each weekend NBC-TV brings the pros' hell-bent skills into 12 million homes across the nation. From its TV contract the N.B.A. makes well over $500,000 and the league is comfortably in the black. Says N.B.A. President Maurice Podoloff, a 5-ft. 3-in. man who looks round and bouncy enough to dribble: "The public...