The economy in 2004 was not as bad as today. I'm sure the NBA is in crisis more than what we think. Even if we have the skillset to pull a upset, Stern will make sure the refs bail out Kobe and foul out Yao in this series. A Lebron/Kobe final will definitely bring a lot more revenues than any other final series we can imagine. That being said this won't go pass game 6, the refs will definitely make sure it won't go to 7 because it is very risky for them. The same can be said for the WCF. Once Lebron/Kobe face each other then it wouldn't matter who takes the title.
This team is nothing like that Pistons team. And thanks for reminding me how Detroit just gave away Chauncy to Denver.
Well the Pistons didn't have a dominating center either. We play tremendous defense and held the Blazers to the upper 70's and low 80's similar to what they did to the Lakers and the other eastern teams they played. The Pistons only had two all-stars in the Ben & Rasheed Wallaces. All the other were role players that did their part. If Prince can do that type of defense to Kobe Bryant in that round, Shane can do it to because he's more built than both of them and Shane is taller than Kobe. Of course, we never know with that person. It will be very tough and Shane is known to disappear. The bottom line is that nobody thought the Pistons had a chance. A lot of experts were expecting a 4-0 or 4-1 victory by the Lakers. They thought that with their offense only scoring in the 70's and 80's that the Lakers would overcome that and shred the defense of the Pistons. These were the same Lakers that won 3 of the four championship teams and had the experience edge as well. We are in that same boat right now and while I do think that the 2009 team is better due to not having anybody over age and more depth in the frout court (Gasol, Bynum, Odom). They are not invicible and we're definitely similar to that Pistons' team. I do think the Lakers will win a long series with us but not a sweep. If the Rockets win game one, I think the chances go up quite a bit that they can put a stamp in the series.
Oh I get it. Lets compare us to the 2004 Pistons because of the incredibly false perception that Detroit didn't have any great players and instead had a bunch of good players. Reality is they had Chauncey Billups as their starting PG, while we have well... that Brooks kid. As for the Lakers, these 2009 Lakers would beat those 2004 Lakers in a 7 game series.
