You could also ask, were the teams the Pistons beat better than the Shaq-Hardaway-Grant-etc. Magic ... or the 62-win '95 Spurs, or the 60-win '95 Jazz, or the Barkley-KJ '95 Suns, etc.
No doubt Hakeem would dominate, but I thought Shaq played pretty darn well during the series as well, and the Lakers still got trounced. Would Clyde have the energy to chase Hamilton all over the court? Plus, how would Clyde fair against Prince. I love Clyde, but Kobe is better than Clyde was in 95 and he got completely shut down. How would the Rockets point guards fair against Billups? I remember the duo of Smith/Cassell really struggling the season before when matched up against Derek Harper and Billups is a better version of Harper. I think part of the success the Rockets had during the 95 playoffs was due to facing a soft offensive oriented team (Phoenix), 2 teams with weak minded leaders that choke under pressure (Utah, SA), and a very inexperienced team (Orlando). Detroit is the completely different from those teams. This is a very strong minded team with strong leaders that don’t wilt under pressure and show a tremendous amount of poise. Not saying I would pick the Pistons, but it’s not a slam dunk for the Rockets.
Detroit did dominate the Lakers. They were just a terrible match up for L.A. They struggled against the Bucks. The almost lost to the Nets. This is a very beatable team that would have got pounded big time by the 1995 Rockets. A 6'7" Ben Wallace is not going to stop Dream in his prime. Hakeem would have averaged close to 40 for the series. Detroit packed it in against the Lakers because they had terrible perimeter shooting. Against the 1995 Rockets, they had 4 good three point shooters almost always on the floor. Mario Elie versus Rip Hamilton would have been a good match up. Elie was quick and strong defender that would have given Rip problems. Drexler versus Prince wouldn't have been close. He could drive and post up on prince all day. The driving lanes would have been better than they were for Bryant because Rasheed would have had to honor Horry's outside shooting all the time. Prince would have definately been abused by Drexler in the post. Drexler, even at his advanced age, had the same length and more explosion than Prince. The PG match up would have been a wash. Billups is a good penetrator, but he is not Kevin Johnson. Kenny and Sam manage to do okay against Penny Hardaway, so there is no reason to believe Billups was going to do much more damage than he did. Plus with Hakeem and Robert provided superior interior D in comparison to the Lakers, Detroit was not going to get a lot of penetration. At the end of the day, the Pistons would have been swept by the 95 Rockets. The Pistons would have struggle scoring against the Rockets D, much like they did against the Pacers. Rockets had quick perimeter defenders. A good weakside shotblocker in Horry. And of course Dream, whose D was really superior to Ben Wallace's D in every imaginable way. But they would not have been able to stop the Rockets' Offense. The absolute most dominant offensive low post force in the game in Hak. Great outside shooting. And a great fast break team (something the Nets gave them trouble with in the 2nd round). Let's get real here. This Pistons team would not have beat the any of the teams the Rockets beat in the 1995 playoff run. They would have lost against the Jazz, the Suns, the Spurs, and the Magic. Case closed.
Billups is not nearly the defender that Derek Harper is. Harper only shut down Smith, not Cassell. Elie would have matched up against Prince, not Drexler. The only people that gave Elie problems on the defensive end were big small forwards (aka Glen Rice) or Gary Payton in his prime. And that's it. Elie could lock down Reggie Miller in his prime. I don't see how Hamilton is going to give him problems, especially considering he doesn't have Miller range. Prince did a good job against Bryant. Bryant would have blew up on Prince if it hadn't been for the entire Pistons team collapsing on him. Drexler is taller and stronger than Bryant. Prince wouldn't get as much help D as he did in this past series because the Rockets were a superior outside shooting team. The Lakers had virtually zero outside shooting. Kareem Rush and Devean George are their best outside shooters at barely 35%. Fisher shoots below 30% from 3 point land. Kobe is at 32.7%. The entire Rockets starting 5 minus Hakeem probably shot close to 40% from 3 point land as a team during the playoffs. This Pistons team is vunerable to good outside shooting teams. They would have lost if the T-Wolves had made the finals, instead of the Lakers. In fact, they probably would have been beaten if the Spurs, Kings, or Mavs had made it too. This team would not have beaten the Rockets, Spurs, Magic, Suns, or the Knicks. And let's remember, the 1993-1994 Knicks team is a superior defensive team in comparison to the 2004 Pistons. Ewing (better shotblocker/rebounder/defender than Ben), Oakley (11.8 RPG), Mason, Harper, Charles Smith, and Starks. Let's get serious here.
Zone or no zone, great outside shooting is going to kill any zone. Just looks at what Dallas did against the Pistons this season. The 1995 Rockets were a great outside shooting team. Also, factor in the great defense by those Rockets teams and the best player on the planet, you've got blowout.
Prior to this series, the Lakers perimeter shooting was considered to be very good as well. How many killer 3’s did Rush, Fisher, Bryant, and even Walton hit throughout the course of the playoffs?
Like I said, when your best 3 point shooter shots 34.7%, it means your not exactly a great 3 point shooting team. Also factor in George and Rush didn't exactly launch a bunch a threes, it's a lot worse than it looks. The 1995 Rockets team had Elie who shot 40%, Smith who shot 42%, Horry who shot 38%, and Drexler who shot 36%. That doesn't even factor in Cassell who is and was one of the best middle distance shooters in the game. And these are also all guys who chucked up a lot of 3's. That's 3 point shooting!
Kobe is better than clyde overall in 95 but one thing clyde has a bread and butter drive to the basket. Clyde was stronger than kobe and would overpower either hamilton or prince. Kobe lost a lot of his strength over the last off-season. Clyde would punish them on the heads down drive to the basket and with those gargantuan hands. No way Clyde's dribble or handle gets affected.
Don't forget as well. Our rockets had to play in the day of the handcheck rulez so man our rockets had it tougher defenses to play against that's for sure. I'm sure the rockets of 95 rather play against today's zone rules than those nasty stiff handchecks.
Ask Hakeem. He will tell you even Seatle's semi-zone is worse than handchecks. Zone hurts the game of bigman and iso guards.