Dirty playoffs

Robert Horry’s famous forearm shiver four days ago knocked Steve Nash into next week, but also sent the NBA playoffs back to the glory days of the Bad Boys, His Airness and Larry Legend.

There are approximately 816,119 words in the English language. Only one of those nearly a million words can accurately describe this season’s NBA playoffs: dirty. Like the NBA’s heyday during the ’90s-where shots to the chops and body slams were a regularity–gritty, intense play has infused itself into this year’s postseason with drama.

So far, we have seen Horry hip-check Nash into the scorer’s table, Bruce Bowen swipe at Amare Stoudemire’s Achilles, the repeat offender Bowen deliver a knee to Nash’s family jewels, and Shawn Marion rake Manu Ginobili’s left eye, producing a sizeable shiner. Also, don’t forget about the three suspensions David Stern generously handed out after the skirmish in Game 5. And that’s just one series.

Golden State has its own rap sheet. Jason Richardson viciously hurled Mehmet Okur to the hardwood on a dunk attempt late in Game 4, Baron Davis elbowed Derek Fisher so forcefully he needed a cut-man, and the emotionally driven Warriors racked up nine technical fouls in as many games.

Now that is physical play, matching only the likes of cheap-shot artists Bill Laimbeer, Karl Malone and Isaiah Thomas.

Stoudemire despises Bowen for his underhanded tactics and fans are riding Horry like a Shetland pony after his dirty hip-check on Nash, but this edgy style has made the playoffs once again must-see action. Begging the question, is a little dirty play actually good for Stern’s image-conscious league?

The obvious answer is yes. If the NBA keeps bringing the cheap shots and emotional tirades, the fans and publicity will come running. For the first time since the Bad Boys roamed the lane and Michael Jordan hit dramatic last-second jumpers, the NBA playoffs are actually digestible, exciting and, most importantly, newsworthy. Sports talk shows, radio jockeys and newspapers around the country are chatting up the playoffs with the attention of a weatherman during a snow flurry.

Unlike previous years, this year’s installment of the NBA playoffs is much more than mediocre basketball. There is a sense of pizzazz and flavor incited by the brutal fouls, because storylines are permeating from every angle. Did Boris Diaw and Stoudemire deserve a one-game suspension for taking a few steps off the bench? Are the Spurs a dirty team? Would Golden State have inked out a victory if Stephen Jackson and Davis had kept their cool? With this much juicy substance, the topics are endless, keeping the league in the limelight.

It’s ironic that a league so concerned with receiving bad publicity that it enforces a dress code flourishes when its players are up to their dirtiest tricks. But fans have been waiting for this level of excitement from the Association for more than a decade, and they are going to take it however they can get it.

Welcome back to the glory days, NBA. Just don’t forget how you arrived here. Let the dirty times roll all the way until the finals.