Whos Starting 5 Is Better?

[ALVAREZ6]

Tim Duncan definitely has the edge over Rasheed, but Rasheed seems to get up against Timmy and usually plays him well. It's one of the better match-ups both ways to watch as a basketball fan. Tim has the edge. When Rasheed outplays Tim, the Pistons have a great chance to win the game.

I think that if the Spurs face the Pistons again in the finals, this match-up will decide who gets the rings.

Rasheed simply knows what Tim does, plays him defensively so well, and shoots right over him in the post.

IF Sheed continues to play Tim like he has been reccently, then I think the Spurs are ed.

[ALVAREZ6]

Fortunatly teams have more than just 5 player on them. There is little doubt the Spurs wouldn't have won the series with the Pistons last year had it not been for the Bench play of Brent Barry and the heroics of Remarkable Shot Rob.

You took the "Remarkable Shot Rob" part from Steve Kerr didn't you?

[SPURS21]

does this help for u dumasses

billups better then tony
rip better then Manu
Tay better then bowen
Duncan better then sheed
ben way better then mohamed.

haha you spelt "dumbass" wrong you dip

[Rummpd]

Uh last year in finals Tim practically out rebounded both Wallaces. Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Duncan is far better than Rasheed period, Rasheed has his moments.
Manu better than Hamilton - Hamilton great shooter but no way he drives the lane like Manu and wake me when he has earned the credentials of Manu.
Billups slight edge over Parker but not as much as some say period
Bowen is better than Prince by a fair margin and can defend anyone under 6 8
Wallace gets edge over Nazr agreed but Wallace has also been at times inconsistent and recently Nazr closing gap.

Lot closer than people give credit for. A motivated and nearly healthy Spurs starting five can give the Pistons all they can handle.

Dont forget the coach - FlipFlop not on same plane with Pop end of story.

[aaronstampler]

It's really hard to compare matchups because the starting fives will NEVER guard their opposing player. Tayshaun a 3, will guard Manu, a 2, and vice versa, and Bowen, a 3, will guard one of the Pistons guards, I'm not sure which.

Plus Horry will probably play like 20+ mins, and that'll throw the matchups even more out of whack.

One lineup I'd like to see is a frontline of Tim, Rob, and Nazr. We haven't really done it all year, but if we put that kind of length out there, we could probably rebound really well. Sure, we'd lose a little in perimeter defense, but all we want to do is funnel toward the bigs anyway, and Rob can shoot 3s almost as well as Bowen could, and from more spots.

[Dre_7]

I personally still think MIA is going to the Finals out of the east.

[ColoradoSpursFan]

Luck is going to be a big part - getting good calls from refs and hitting the ing free throws!!

I have seen countless games where the Spurs would have won close games if they did not suck at the charity stripe.

I know other teams have bad shooters - Big Ben - Shaq - and so on.

Detroit is a much better all around free throw team. that alone can help win close games.

Of course the two teams are close in attributes but they both are relatively inconsistent.

No NBA team is a lock - Spurs and Detroit included.

[SenorSpur]

Uh last year in finals Tim practically out rebounded both Wallaces. Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Duncan is far better than Rasheed period, Rasheed has his moments.
Manu better than Hamilton - Hamilton great shooter but no way he drives the lane like Manu and wake me when he has earned the credentials of Manu.
Billups slight edge over Parker but not as much as some say period
Bowen is better than Prince by a fair margin and can defend anyone under 6 8
Wallace gets edge over Nazr agreed but Wallace has also been at times inconsistent and recently Nazr closing gap.

While Ben does indeed have the edge over Nazr, you have to admit Nazr's offensive prowess is the difference between this matchup having a slim edge as opposed to a wide gap.

[jcrod]

I think this line up works better against the pistons:
Manu-1
Finley-2
Bowen-3
TD-4
Nazr-5
- Tony just has nobody to cover against the starting 5 of detroit...Tony should only play spotted minutes

What kind of is this.

[Pistons < Spurs]

I personally still think MIA is going to the Finals out of the east.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

Uh last year in finals Tim practically out rebounded both Wallaces. Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Duncan is far better than Rasheed period, Rasheed has his moments.
Manu better than Hamilton - Hamilton great shooter but no way he drives the lane like Manu and wake me when he has earned the credentials of Manu.
Billups slight edge over Parker but not as much as some say period
Bowen is better than Prince by a fair margin and can defend anyone under 6 8
Wallace gets edge over Nazr agreed but Wallace has also been at times inconsistent and recently Nazr closing gap.

Lot closer than people give credit for. A motivated and nearly healthy Spurs starting five can give the Pistons all they can handle.

Dont forget the coach - FlipFlop not on same plane with Pop end of story.

I agree with most of this. The starting 5s are almost a wash. And IMO, the benches are a wash as well. The only clear edge in this match-up is the coaching...

[Rummpd]

No way benches the same - Spurs have former all stars and all time heroics (Horry) coming off bench come on, be serious!

This is Spurs major edge period you never know who will break out one night - Finley,Barry, Van Exel, Horry.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

Horry will end up playing more minutes than Nazr against Detroit. To me, he's a starter.

Nazr, Barry, and Finley will be the rotation vS. McDyess, Hunter and either Evans or Delfino...

To me, they'll cancel each other out...

[SequSpur]

Detroit is not making the finals anyway.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

Put your money where your mouth is...

Spurs sweep didn't go over well for you last year even though I never asked for the T-shirt..

EDIT: And here's the thread. I believe a PM was sent to confirm...

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthre...ht=spurs+sweep

[veronicamae]

Put your money where your mouth is...

Spurs sweep didn't go over well for you last year even though I never asked for the T-shirt..

EDIT: And here's the thread. I believe a PM was sent to confirm...

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthre...ht=spurs+sweep

So you mean if you don't sweep, you don't deserve the championship?



I think they created the Best of 7 for a reason...

[Leetonidas]

Individual breakdowns don't mean . This is a team game.

Look at the '04 finals. Everyone said...
Payton > Billups
Kobe > Rip
George = Prince
Malone > Sheed
Shaq > Ben

How'd that work out?

Whichever team gets on a roll at the time will win. Simple as that. These teams are too even.

Who in their ing mind said that?

[JamStone]

Rummpd,

Just as you rate Nazr Mohammed closer to Ben Wallace than most people might say, and Bruce Bowen "better than Prince by a fair margin," it could be fair to say that the Pistons bench is "closing the gap" or is better than you give them credit for.

The Spurs bench is definitely better than the Pistons bench. But, as you view Nazr closing the gap to Ben Wallace, the Pistons bench is similarly better than you might think.

Antonio McDyess is starting to play 20-24 minutes and putting up numbers around 15 ppg, 7 rpg more consistently. Lindsey Hunter is nearly fully healthy and has been impressive defensively over the last two weeks. Carlos Delfino is starting to get a few more minutes, and he is talented enough and athletic enough to be a contributor on the court.

While the Spurs have former all stars, the operative word is "former." By most accounts of Spurs fans, Van Exel has been quite a disappointment. Brent Barry has had a couple of good shooting games in the last couple weeks. So, that makes about 4 or 5 good games so far in about 70? And, Michael Finley has shown a propensity to play very poorly against the Pistons. Of course, Robert Horry will be a threat and an impact player. But, the Spurs bench is a bunch of mid 30 year old former stars who play at half the speed of their prime. They may be smarter. They may be better basketball players. But, their edge is not as huge as you make it out to be.

The Detroit bench is mostly uproven except for Antonio McDyess and Lindsey Hunter. Mo Evans and Carlos Delfino may or may not play well. Dale Davis won't play much. Tony Delk is more insurance than anything. But, the Pistons had far less last year against the Spurs when the Finals went to the full 7 games. The Pistons didn't even have a back-up small forward or shooting guard last season in the playoffs. They played four perimeter guys in a rotation: Billups, Hamilton, Prince, and Lindsey Hunter. So, Evans, Delfino, and Delk this year seems like gravy.

Spurs have an edge in the bench. But, if you, Rummpd, insist that Bruce Bowen is "FAR BETTER" than Tayshaun Prince and that Nazr Mohammed is "CLOSING THE GAP" with Ben Wallace, you will have to concede the bench disparity is not that much.

... especially when you're talking about basically an 8-man rotation in the playoffs.

[DisgruntledLionFan#54,927]

So you mean if you don't sweep, you don't deserve the championship?



I think they created the Best of 7 for a reason...

No, I meant I <3 gibbons...