Great quote from our local broadcaster tonight:
“Unless the Lakers drastically change the way they play, Detroit should burn to the ground tomorrow night.” :)
— Alan
Listened to a lot of ESPN radio on the drive from Chicago to Michigan (the odds of a flight being canceled out of O’Hare are about 50/50, I’ve discovered.) A couple of comments that seemed to the point:
- “LA has basically put all their money into two players, so expecting them to play as a well rounded team is unrealistic.”
This is from a guy in ESPN radio (can’t recall the name) who actually picked the Pistons to win before the series started, precisely because he felt the Pistons played superbly as a team and that their team play and defense would cause the Lakers to start bickering when certain players didn’t get their points.
Bill Walton commented on the show “One key difference you’ll see in the Pistons and the Lakers: when the Lakers lose or are having problems, they will all point the finger at someone else - the refs, other players, travel, etc. When the Pistons lose or face a tough situation they pull together stronger as a team and keep their focus internal - no excuses given.”
If Bill Walton was on there it’d probably be the Dan Patrick show.
— Alan
I actually expected the Pistons to give the Lakers a good run and possibly even win. The Lakers didn’t look good against San Antonio’s defense and the Pistons are even better on D, IMO. Everyone has been bashing the Pistons for “winning ugly” but I don’t understand that criticism. Granted, they aren’t a great offensive team, but they aren’t bad on offense. They are incredible on defense. That’s not winning ugly; that’s playing to your strength. A good defensive team is still a good team, not a bad team that wins ugly. In football, this happens all the time. The Ravens, Bucs, even the Patriots all won Super Bowls by using a superior defense and a mediocre offense. They were all considered good teams. For some reason, that doesn’t happen in basketball. If you don’t put up 100 every night, you are a bad team, or you don’t play pretty, or it’s boring, or whatever. I disagree completely. I love good defense.
All that said, I still think the Lakers could come back and win the series. I don’t think they WILL, but they still have some real talent. If Kobe suddenly steps up and Shaq continues playing well (as he did in game 4) they can win a game or two and be right back in it. But I think the Pistons have 'em figured out. Stop their best players, and force the rest of the Lakers to try to beat you.
I’m not actually sure the Ravens were considered a good team, except for maybe Baltimore fans. I guess they’d have to be, considering they won the whole deal, but come on. Awful.
I like the Detroit defensive battles against the Lakers… it’s fun to watch. For some reason though, much of the Indiana series was horrific. It’s kinda weird.
— Alan
Once upon a time teams usually scored 100 points or more, even when they lost. This was back in the '80s. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, etc. Many consider that the Golden Era of pro baskeball.
In the late '80s early '90s the Detroit Pistons revolutionized defense by playing a hard-nosed clutching/grabbing style. Point totals went down.
Then the complaints came. “They play dirty”. “Its boring”. “Not enough points”.
Many fans seem to like the graceful, the acrobatic, the shooters. Magic Johnson, yes. Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, yes.
Bill Laimbeer? Isiah Thomas? Vinnie Johnson? Dennis Rodman? No way! A purist seeing Vinnie Johnson shoot throws up on the spot. Bill “Floorburn” Laimbeer can’t be confused with “graceful” or “acrobatic”.
Fans have not forgotten. They have not forgiven. Points have gotten even fewer as many teams have instituted defensive improvements of their own.
So in 2004 here are the Detroit Pistons, the same franchise that led the NBA into the Low Scoring Era, taking defense to another level, once again. Bad Boys II, a Summer Sequel rubbing dirt into the faces of critics everywhere.
I’m surprised “winning ugly” is all they say. Ebert would be more poetic.
Game 5 was incredible. I would have never expected this kind of beatdown.
(fyi, no rioting or burnination on the mean streets of Ann Arbor right now.)
I just gotta post my “I love UConn basketball” and give props to Rip Hamilton. The guy had hunger and fire and lead the Huskies to their first national title shooting down the Duke Goliath in 99 and he showed the same heart and desire in this title win. Go Pistons!
I like these Pistons much better than the last edition. Also, who knew Big Ben could move like dat?
I think - could be wrong since I am a Pacer fan and I watched most of that series through a thick veil of tears so I didn’t get a good clear look at most of the games - that the Pistons/Pacers series was rightly labeled as ugly because A: the Pacers fucking LOST, man :( and B: both teams missed a shitload of baskets that they simply should not have missed. Okay, so both teams play great defense - that doesn’t mean that guys should start missing easy undefended jumpshots and so forth.
At least I can take comfort in knowing the Lakers got punked as well.
I was rooting for the Pistons and like most people thought they would be competitive but defeated in the end. I was very surprised at the uncompetitiveness of the Lakers. I guess the dominance of the marquee players (Shaq and Kobe) obscured the weaknesses of the bench and matchups.
Payton < Billups big time and of course Fisher couldn’t match up with Billups either. Last night they had Kobe on Billups and Payton trying to keep up with Hamilton. In the past the role players were a key factor in the Lakers success because Kobe and Shaq would draw so many defenders it would open up the game for others but in this series those bench players couldn’t deliver.
Ben Wallace was a freak rebound machine. He gets to the ball like Dennis Rodman did but he’ll follow through and put it back in which Rodman didn’t do much.
If the Pistons can keep the team together we may see a run of championships over the next few years.