ducks
06-03-2004, 11:39 AM
www.freep.com/sports/pist...040603.htm (http://www.freep.com/sports/pistons/rosey3_20040603.htm)
Five reasons Pistons can hoist trophy
BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
The Pistons can beat the Lakers.
I'm not saying they will.
I'm saying they can.
I'm saying it's possible. I'm saying that, on the scale of Strange World Occurrences, with 1 being "you pick up the phone before it rings, and the person who called is the person you were about to call," and 10 being "any day in the past 20 years of Michael Jackson's life," this would only be a 4 or 5.
Many people will think I'm nuts. But I think there are things the Pistons can do to win this series, and some of them don't even involve a concealed weapons license.
Here are five reasons (sorry for the short list -- I'm typing quickly, so I can finish before they cart me off to the institution) the Pistons can stun everybody and beat the Lakers (I hear the sirens already) in the NBA Finals, which begin Sunday,
No. 1. The Lakers are beatable. Really. It doesn't seem like it -- from media reports, it sounds like they already had the parade in L.A. -- but they are.
If not for a miracle shot, the Lakers probably would have lost to San Antonio. They needed six games to beat Minnesota, which was missing its second-best player.
Remember: Two months ago, people questioned whether the Lakers could win another title. One month ago, a lot of people said they were dead. Now, because they rallied, they're unbeatable? Come on.
Yes, the Lakers have four Hall of Famers. But two of them will be matched up against players who are clearly better right now. Lakers guard Gary Payton looks so old, he's even trash-talking slower. He must face Chauncey Billups, who is in his prime. And Karl Malone, at 40, is simply not as quick or as skilled as Rasheed Wallace at 29.
OK, so the other two Hall of Famers are Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. They are both way better than anybody the Pistons have. Which brings us to . . .
No. 2. The Pistons can annoy Kobe and Shaq. Not shut them down, but annoy them. Admittedly, it's hard to annoy your way to a championship. But work with me here.
In Rasheed Wallace, Mehmet Okur and Elden Campbell, the Pistons have three players who are at least 7 feet tall to harass Shaq. They also can foul him a total of 18 times, forcing him to shoot free throws in that spitball-slingshot way of his. And I haven't even mentioned Ben Wallace, the Pistons' best defender.
As for Kobe, he might have to guard Richard Hamilton. People who guard Rip look like Sylvester Stallone chasing that chicken around in the second Rocky film, before Rocky got rich and started making horrible movies.
Kobe is certainly capable, but Hamilton will at least make him work.
"I think Rip's a problem for anybody," Billups said. "You have to chase him all over the court. He never gets tired."
No. 3. The Pistons are more talented than they appeared against Indiana.
Indiana has a plodding style and tough defense, and the Pistons were willing to play that way. That made for "a grind-out ugly series," in the words of Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations.
After that display, the Lakers have to be confident. Word is that coach Phil Jackson set up a 2 a.m. curfew -- any Laker who comes back before then will have some explaining to do.
But against a team like L.A., which plays a quicker pace, the Pistons can score. For all the whining about the Pistons' style, they still averaged 88.8 points in the first two playoff series (not counting overtimes). The Lakers are averaging 89.4 in the playoffs (again, not counting overtimes.)
"We've got a lot of offense -- it didn't look like it in this series, because we played against a similar-style team," Billups said of the Pacers. "One thing about us: We like to play both ways. We can get out and run -- we have the athletes to do that. And we can pull back and play half-court."
No. 4. The Pistons torture people.
"Defense, man, defense," Billups said. "Defense wins. I think when you play defense the way we play, that's what wins games."
In the past two years, the Lakers have had the most trouble against San Antonio. The Spurs are a lot like the Pistons: They play a physical game, heavy on the defense. The Pistons don't have anybody like the Spurs' Tim Duncan, but they have enough big guys to make Shaq play defense.
No. 5. This is how upsets happen.
One team has a lot of talent, but it also has some internal strife and a tendency to coast. This team figures the hard part is over and might be surprised when its opponent hits back.
The other team doesn't have any superstars, but it's deep, tough, defense-minded and resilient. Its talent is spread out, and therefore underrated.
We have seen it before. And although I have to go now (somebody's banging on the door), I think there's a chance we could see it again.
(I hope they put me in a room with a TV.)
Five reasons Pistons can hoist trophy
BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
The Pistons can beat the Lakers.
I'm not saying they will.
I'm saying they can.
I'm saying it's possible. I'm saying that, on the scale of Strange World Occurrences, with 1 being "you pick up the phone before it rings, and the person who called is the person you were about to call," and 10 being "any day in the past 20 years of Michael Jackson's life," this would only be a 4 or 5.
Many people will think I'm nuts. But I think there are things the Pistons can do to win this series, and some of them don't even involve a concealed weapons license.
Here are five reasons (sorry for the short list -- I'm typing quickly, so I can finish before they cart me off to the institution) the Pistons can stun everybody and beat the Lakers (I hear the sirens already) in the NBA Finals, which begin Sunday,
No. 1. The Lakers are beatable. Really. It doesn't seem like it -- from media reports, it sounds like they already had the parade in L.A. -- but they are.
If not for a miracle shot, the Lakers probably would have lost to San Antonio. They needed six games to beat Minnesota, which was missing its second-best player.
Remember: Two months ago, people questioned whether the Lakers could win another title. One month ago, a lot of people said they were dead. Now, because they rallied, they're unbeatable? Come on.
Yes, the Lakers have four Hall of Famers. But two of them will be matched up against players who are clearly better right now. Lakers guard Gary Payton looks so old, he's even trash-talking slower. He must face Chauncey Billups, who is in his prime. And Karl Malone, at 40, is simply not as quick or as skilled as Rasheed Wallace at 29.
OK, so the other two Hall of Famers are Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. They are both way better than anybody the Pistons have. Which brings us to . . .
No. 2. The Pistons can annoy Kobe and Shaq. Not shut them down, but annoy them. Admittedly, it's hard to annoy your way to a championship. But work with me here.
In Rasheed Wallace, Mehmet Okur and Elden Campbell, the Pistons have three players who are at least 7 feet tall to harass Shaq. They also can foul him a total of 18 times, forcing him to shoot free throws in that spitball-slingshot way of his. And I haven't even mentioned Ben Wallace, the Pistons' best defender.
As for Kobe, he might have to guard Richard Hamilton. People who guard Rip look like Sylvester Stallone chasing that chicken around in the second Rocky film, before Rocky got rich and started making horrible movies.
Kobe is certainly capable, but Hamilton will at least make him work.
"I think Rip's a problem for anybody," Billups said. "You have to chase him all over the court. He never gets tired."
No. 3. The Pistons are more talented than they appeared against Indiana.
Indiana has a plodding style and tough defense, and the Pistons were willing to play that way. That made for "a grind-out ugly series," in the words of Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations.
After that display, the Lakers have to be confident. Word is that coach Phil Jackson set up a 2 a.m. curfew -- any Laker who comes back before then will have some explaining to do.
But against a team like L.A., which plays a quicker pace, the Pistons can score. For all the whining about the Pistons' style, they still averaged 88.8 points in the first two playoff series (not counting overtimes). The Lakers are averaging 89.4 in the playoffs (again, not counting overtimes.)
"We've got a lot of offense -- it didn't look like it in this series, because we played against a similar-style team," Billups said of the Pacers. "One thing about us: We like to play both ways. We can get out and run -- we have the athletes to do that. And we can pull back and play half-court."
No. 4. The Pistons torture people.
"Defense, man, defense," Billups said. "Defense wins. I think when you play defense the way we play, that's what wins games."
In the past two years, the Lakers have had the most trouble against San Antonio. The Spurs are a lot like the Pistons: They play a physical game, heavy on the defense. The Pistons don't have anybody like the Spurs' Tim Duncan, but they have enough big guys to make Shaq play defense.
No. 5. This is how upsets happen.
One team has a lot of talent, but it also has some internal strife and a tendency to coast. This team figures the hard part is over and might be surprised when its opponent hits back.
The other team doesn't have any superstars, but it's deep, tough, defense-minded and resilient. Its talent is spread out, and therefore underrated.
We have seen it before. And although I have to go now (somebody's banging on the door), I think there's a chance we could see it again.
(I hope they put me in a room with a TV.)