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What do they all have in common ?

I can give you some hints

It was when Kareem was not Kareem
It was few years after some historic ping pong diplomacy between USA and China
It was when Shaq was with LA (before and after Florida)

NBA decided to change the rule allowing zone defence starting 2001-2002 season because Shaq became virtually unstoppable especially with the presence of Kobe Bryant on Lakers team. But didn't help much since Lakers had a trepeat

NCAA banned dunking in 1967 to slow down Lew Alcindor (who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul Jabbar) . He still became arguably the greatest player in college basketball history winning the NCAA championships each of the 3 years he was eligible to play. He was not eligible to play as a freshman (first year of college) because at that time rules did not allow freshman to play in NCAA games. This also forced Kareem to make his skyhook even better and became the most unstoppable shot in basketball.

ITTF banned long pips at the 1977 BGM in response to Liang Geleing becoming so dominant . There were also other choppers ranked in top 10 & top 40 in both men & women. Huang Liang the other Chinese chopper for example was actually ranked #3 with Liang Geliang ranked at #4 . There was Lu-yuan-sheng. There also was the magic (penhold) chopper Zhang Xielin .
According to some quotes in a book by USATT historian Tim Boggan (father of USA national singles champions Scott Boggan & Eric Boggan),the Hungarian team actually called & complained to then Chinese Prime Minister Chou Enlai during a World Championships & according to story, Chou Enlai asked the Chinese coach not to play him.