Krookie, I don't think anyone is claiming that there's as much contact in baseketball as there is in hockey. For onething, you cna hit other players legally in hockey (ie. nodychecking). Technically, any contact in basketball is considered a foul though louts of 'incidental' contact is let go.
"If a guy on the other team is going to score, why can't I just knock him out of the way?"
You can only do this in certain specific ways in hockey as well. ie. You cna't just grab a guy and chuck him. You gotta give a clean bodycheck. Of course, one person's definition of clean is likely different from another's.