NBA long-range game has become 3-alarm dire

DON’T know how much longer Adam Sil

ver and the NBA’s “governors” can avoid the issue, but the 3-point shot, originally intended and used as a late-game comeback gimmick, has turned NBA games silly.

Basketball — the kind that emphasizes team play, quick thinking, all-in movement and exciting two-way play — has been lost to contests of “Bombs away!”

This week, the Mavericks attempted 100 field goals against the Thunder, 51 of them, more than half, 3-pointers.

Kristaps Porzingis,

Dallas’ 7-foot-3 shooting guard, took just seven.

➤ What’s particularly mystifying about this Astros’ sign-stealing saga is how anyone thought the franchise could keep a lid on it.

The 2017 Astros played 46 men and employed eight coaches. The mere notion that all were sworn to secrecy or felt

“honor-bound” to keep it secret is ludicrous.

Same with that winkand-nod, money-first gentlemen’s agreement between Bud Selig and MLBPA boss Donald

Fehr to pretend that the sudden smashing of home run records by suddenly mass-muscled, heads-swollen steroid sluggers would remain ignored.

Arrogance or ignorance? Either way, the absence of foresight is mind-blowing.

➤ In an age when ball carriers no longer “cut” but “stick a foot in the ground,” brevity and clarity have been lost to long-form goofy.

Thus, a scrolled report on MSG that Miami of Ohio has postponed two basketball games as it investigates students who may have the coronavirus concluded with: “The games will be rescheduled at a later date.”

Just “will be rescheduled” didn’t cut it? “At a later date” was needed? It’s like “going forward.” Are there options for the future? When do we arrive at going forward?

Last week, as the jet I was in approached Newark airport, the pilot or co-pilot informed passengers that we had begun our “initial descent.” Really? How many descents did he have in mind?

I checked on my way out. Neither pilot was

Mike Mayock or Kirk Herbstreit.