[AlexBrady]

Monroe's career field goal percentage is 46.4%. That is better than all time great shooters like Ray Allen and Klay Thompson. My old game charts consistently have Monroe shooting about 45% from 15 to 18 feet. That is outstanding and yes "deadly".

The fact is that it was tougher to penetrate to the basket under the rules in which Pearl played. Which isn't to say that old team defenses were necessarily 'better' than today's more exotic schemes.

You are correct in your theory that the NBA has taken measures throughout the years to reduce the physicality in the game.

Picking a game at random and castigating an entire generation of players is silly. That was the game that finally ended the Lakers 33 game win streak and they had little energy left due to the night after night pressure to win.