Watching NBA high flyers, three point shooters, is a bit like watching pinball machine action in a game controlled by a clock.
And all of this is a far cry from the way things once were. Back in the early years of the league, many games were yawning affairs or stalling contests.
The 1950-1951 season saw the NBA go from an unwieldy 17-team league to 11 teams in a two-division setup. It was also a season that included the lowest-scoring game in NBA history.
Back on November 22, 1950 - the yawner of all yawners took place. The game pitted the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (who became the Detroit Pistons) against the Minneapolis Lakers (who became the Los Angeles Lakers). The game was played on the home court of the Lakers, who enjoyed a great home field advantage. Their court was shorter and narrower than normal size. Their team was big, bulky and slow - all of which were perfectly suited for a slowdown game.
In the game, the two teams combined for just 31 shots. When it was over, Ft. Wayne had creaked out a 19-18 triumph in a painful and boring example of how dull a stalling contest could be. The game started serious talk throughout the NBA about ways to prevent those kinds of contests from taking place.
