exactly, Bailey. The point is that one-on-one Iverson would be shooting layups all day. There is no one else in the league that could shoot more layups in one on one than Iverson. Either you back up under the basket and "make him" shoot 5 footers, or you have no chance keeping him from the rim. thats.a.fact.jack.
tmac and kobe are both unstoppable, end of debate. tmac shot .457, kobe .451. on 3's it was .386 to .383. on ft's kobe wins .843 to .793 (or something really close to that, i already forgot from looking it up 2 minutes ago). saying one shoots better or can't go by his guy seems foolish. you don't back off either and expect to stop them, and you don't get up on either and expect to keep them from going to the basket. both finish amazingly well. you can't guard either one of them. shaq. he's as unstoppable as they come with the version of charging the refs call on him. you're happy when shaq has to shoot a 5 footer, that's called unstoppable. iverson. if we're talking one on one, nobody is quicker. you simply can't stay in front of him. i'm still amazed when i think back to his finals against the lakers (the most i've ever watched him over a long stretch). he would take one step on a guy who was backing off and still already be past them. it was ridiculous. nowitzki. if you're big enough to keep him from posting, you're too slow to guard him out top and if you're quick enough to stay with him, he'll post you up. and he's got a good drop step and everything else. duncan. do what phoenix does and just double immediately. or do like the lakers and put shaq on him and have half the team ready to collapse if he even thinks about driving past shaq (which he would do) so that he just has to play on the outside. in any real one on one scenario, simply unstoppably with his 18 foot bank shot and array of post moves. cuttino. yeah not really but i think his first step is 2nd only to iverson and you can't back off or he'll j you. in a strictly one on one scenario, he's up there with anybody (he just doesn't have the height and hops to be truly dominant like the others above) close call paul pierce but he can have horrible shooting nights and didn't have a very high shooting % this year.
what are you saying, Mcgrady doesnt get double teamed like Iverson? Mcgrady is seeing the same double teams yet still hitting around 45% percent of his shots. The object of the game is to put the ball in the basket or else you aint blowing by or burning jack. To be the most unstoppable you have to have a finish to your game, which Mcgrady has, so he's the most unstoppable. oh yeah, and you know thats a fact CoJack!
WHAT?!? Shaq can NOT NOT NOT be defended ONE ON ONE. Are you kidding?!? He has crossover moves man. He would shake Olowokandi and Michael would trip. ! Shaq...one on one. Streetball. No referees. But anyways...Kobe one on one..cannot really be stopped. Yes...for one possession...but hmm...no. I agree about T-Mac though. Allen Iverson...I guess he can be stopped. Dirk Nowitzki can definitely be guarded! Maybe...by Tim Duncan?
like i said, good call on iverson. heypee: that's my point, though. iverson does all this running and zig zagging while mcgrady's just on cruise control the whole time. i'm talking able energy expended on the court. you might as well call AI james brown, cause he's the hardest working man in the nba. oh, and AI is by far the toughest player in the nba.
Didn't Shaq go off for 63 on him once?! I know Shaq went off for 32 and 15 on him this year. I haven't watched much of their matches to be honest, though. There's nobody in the league that stops Shaq one-on-one. Hakeem didn't stop stop Shaq, either. If you guys think he did, you need to define "stops" to me. ... unless you count "stops him from getting a ring".
why are you talking about double teams? I thought we are talking about one on one. If you are talking one on one within a five man game....well, I love TMac!!! No argument here. But we aren't talking the best. We are talking who is impossible to defend. If you are talking guys who are "impossible to defend," well, I seriously go with AI in any one on one tournament that is make it take it. I'm also saying that in other more NBA-wide rules, that if you pick any player in the league to guard McGrady (one on one), and you pick any player in the league to guard Iverson, AI will win. Yeah buddy. There is no one in the league that creates a huger mismatch in make-it-take-it that AI. but that's just me.
OK, I'll bite. No one in the league as matched up better one-on-one in the conf finals or the finals as well as Hakeem. They played even, and Shaq had help with Hakeem. thats.a.fact.jack.
Ya know, I've been really so tired of this argument for so long. The Rockets destroyed Shaq 4-0. When you crush someone 4-0, there really is not a fair comparison to whether the Hakeem vs Shaq thingie was fully tested. imo, Hakeem played Shaq straight up, and Orlando was all over Hakeem. Shaq went on to produce another 1-18 in this career elimination series before winning it all. Shaq did not dominate Hakeem; it was even at best in Shaq lame ass (trying to be a winner) favor, but losing 4-0. 4-0. There is no comparison in that series unless Shaq convincingly destroyed Hakeem...which he was no where close to doing. game over. Hakeem always was better than Shaq...the defense tips the scale.
I dont know man, even in a one on one make-it-take-it scenario Mcgrady is still harder to defend because I mean I can lay off Iverson and feel more comfortable than I can backing off of Mcgrady because Mcgrady seems to have a better outside shot. Im thinking there driving abiltity is just as deadly when you hug 'em, but Mcgradys shot is better and smoother, so Im not gonna feel as comfortable giving Mcgrady room and hoping he bricks it. thats Just how I see it.. but they're both bad ass mothers.
Great point...You just can not crunch the numbers and assume that Shaq and Hakeem played each other to a standstill. They just didn't... I was pretty young, but I still remember thinking that Hakeem was just having his way on the block against Shaq. Now, which Shaq do you all think is better? The younger, more athletic 92-95 Shaq or the current mammoth version?
Never denied Hakeem played him the best. That doesn't fit my definition of "stopped". No one can stop Shaq consistently. Pee ree ud.
Did you mean best basketball players? Don't bother mentioning Shaq then, because playing basketball isn't his game. For the record, Olajuwon outscored Shaq all 4 games of the 1995 finals.
AI can past anyone at will but it doesn't mean he can get free layups all day. AI is so small that he can't finish as strong as Kobe or TMac. So tall guys with good quickness, TMac for example, can still recover and block him from behind.
