It's hard to compare battier against guys like maxwell and dumars because shane is working within a no contact rulebook. that's not to say maxwell couldn't do as well now against kobe, but it takes a lot of preparation for shane to be this good defensively.
what amazes me the most its the consistency. How many times during the game when Shane is on Kobe, does Kobe get a wide open look? It's VERY rare. The so called Kobe stoppers usually have a few posessions when they stay on Kobe like that, Shane does it literally every time. He predicts kobe's moves better than anyone else, no one will ever predict them perfectly, but shane gets the closest, he's always right there with him.. and even better, HE DOESNT FOUL.
This was my point. Shane plays great defense without even touching his man. Sure, there are other defenders who are nice guys off the court but most of them got the job done by hand checking, veteran tricks, and the occasional hard foul.
Another point about Joe Dumars is that he consistently showed up on the offensive end and gave his team tangible production in addition to his stellar defense.
I never heard about him fouling every now and again to keep the offensive player off his rhythm. I think that's a brilliant move. I could see where some offensive players could get so accustomed to the hand in the face (but never touching them) that it becomes part of their rhythm when they shoot. Getting tapped on the head or the wrist every now and again should keep the possibility of contact during the shot on their minds.
"For Battier, the Rockets forward who has twice been named to the NBA All-Defensive team, this was not a fluke. Cerebral and obsessive in his approach to defense, he is among that rare breed of NBA player who makes his living trying to contain such elite scorers." Love that quote...
