PJ + Shaq and super guard = Lost to Detroit 4-1. SVG + Limping Shaq and 2nd year all-star guard = Beating Detroit 2-1. Hmmmm, makes ya think doesn't it?
Dwayne Wade>Kobe Bryant - As far as their play against the Pistons. Eddie Jones>Devin George Damon Jones/Kenyon Dooling>Gary Payton (playing hurt)/Derek Fisher Udanis Haslem>Karl Malone (playing hurt for one game only)/Slava Medvedenko Alonzo Mourning>Brian Cook Did I miss anyone? This year's Piston's team isn't quite as strong as last year's either. The one thing Stan Van Gundy has done is give Wade the ball where he is best and for the majority of the shot clock at times, basically running the offense around him. Phil Jackson would not sacrifice his triangle offense focused around Shaq to give Kobe some help, force feeding Shaq and not allowing or not being able to run against the Pistons hurt them. Adjusting to the defense against Wade has been the key in this series, Phil Jackson never made that adjustment so in that way Stan has been better than Phil Jackson. I think Shaq's injury has been a blessing in disguise for them, it humbled him a bit and made him willing to give Wade the keys to the offense, who knows if he would of tried to dunk his way to wins if he wasn't hurt. One thing's for sure, they wouldn't run as much as they do now, because they would of waited for him and let the Pistons set up there defense everytime down the court.
What Jumpman said. The Heat are just better than what the Lakers were in the Finals last year. Hell, they won more games in the regular season that LA did last year! But with Payton getting lit up by Billups, and Failman hobbling around on a bum knee, the Pistons were just better. It looks to me like this Heat team is better than either the Lakers of last year or the Pistons of this year.
Phil Jackson did a horrible job of adjusting last year. Last year, at the start of the season, the Lakers were a strong running team. But instead of staying with that Phil Jackson forced the team to play the triangle offense and it made the team stagnant, especially when they ran into a defensive-minded club like Detroit. Van Gundy is doing a fantastic job of adjusting and mixing it up.
You can make that case, sure...Miami has better role players then L.A. did, but I still believe Kobe is better then 2nd-year wade and Shaq of L.A. was a whole lot better then this version. Plus, this team without Shaq didn't do much at all last year...really, I think things like this do expose Phil as not the overwhelming amazing coach he's made out to be...
I agree with everything except the Pistons are just as strong if not stronger than last season. They are the same team with the addition of a healthy Mcdyess and Tayshaun playing even better. Miami's role players have not been given enough credit this year. Dooling is a great spark off the bench, D. Jones is a good fit for his stability next to Wades unpredictable play, and Haslem is a solid four. Eddie Jones still has some atheleticism in the tank. Overall its a much better team than last year's Lakers in the Finals which was reduced to Kobe and Shaq.
Their players are the same or better as last year, but they are not yet playing with the same magic they did in the finals. That was a special series for them, with everybody stepping up their game. Right now, they are still looking like the Pistons that the Nets took to 7 games. I still think they will step up and win this series, but they sure are making it interesting.
You mean like the Lakers never changed after replacing Del Harris with Phil Jackson? Or the Bulls replacing Doug Collins with Phil Jackson? Or the Rockets adding Rudy T.? Or how Detroit stayed the same replacing Carlisle with Larry Brown? The Spurs never improved replacing Bob Hill with Greg Popovich. Hubie Brown did NOTHING for Memphis. Washington continued to suck with Eddie Jordan. . .no. Well, a perfect example is how the Bulls are still the laughing stock of the league even though they added Scott Skiles, no, that's not true. Denver didn't get any better when they added George Karl, oh wait. . .
I don't think that it's Detroit not playing with last year's magic, I think it's a case of people severely underrating the Miami Heat. That's a damn good team.
The desire of a repeating team is different than a contending team. We assume that dynasties are natural in the NBA. Kobe and Shaq won so much that they cared more about their egos than winning another ring for their. That lack of chemistry doomed the Lakers more than their matchups on paper.
I have to disagree here.... I think defending champs are harder to knock out, because they have that pride, that belief that they are champions...they have something extra. These Pistons knocked out a defending champ on the verge of making history. And now Miami is making the defending champs sweat. The last team not to repeat was SA, but they have won two in a short period of time. Every other Champ going back to the Lakers-Celtics have been repeat champs Winning 4 in a row to top MJ's 3 streak would have been big. It's something that hasn't been done in most people's lifetime or since the league was just 8 teams. The Lakers had a lot to play for. And it had to hurt Jackson to lose in the finals. Remember our beloved 95' Rockets? Never underestimate the heart of a champion? I think this year's Detroit team will be harder to kill then last years quite honestly. Like I said, Miami does have better Role-Players, but geeZ, shaq is not himself, and as much as I hate Kobe, I'd say he's a better player then Wade at this time. Gary Payton, Fischer, Kareem Rush, and those guys were no push overs. I jut have to say, that you can make a case for Miami being slight better, but c'mon, some of this has to be a reflection of Phil Jackson not being the all great buddha everyone makes him out to be!
That wouldn't have been the Lakers' 4th title in a row --- the Spurs had just won the title the year before if I'm not mistaken. I think it would've been the Lakers 4th in 5 years.
The injury to Karl Malone last year reduced the Lakers to basically Shaq, Kobe and a bunch of nobodies. Fox was hurt, Payton didn't fit in and took all of Fisher's minutes, and they were giving major minutes to Slava Medvedenko and Brian Cook. The fact that Kobe was completely ineffective against Prince's defense didn't help either. Also, the Pistons team of last year had a very solid bench. They had Okur, Williamson and James who all were able to keep the offense going. This year's team relies almost exclusively on its starters (save for Dice who throws in a decent game here and there).
Of course things changed, as they do from year-to-year with every team, no matter the coach. Teams improve, teams get worse. Players have career years, players hit their prime, players get injured, personnel changes are made, etc. etc. A coach is just one variable which, in a players' league, is not that significant.
Oh yeah, i keep forgetting the Spurs Championships...freaking only champ not to be a dynasty in a generation. It's amazing that what, 6 teams have one the leagues last 22 rings. Celtics, Lakers, Pistons, Bulls, Rockets, Spurs Throw in the single title 76'ers, and you can probably go back 26 years with just those 7 teams having all the rings. Just amazing in my eyes.
