http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_16675.shtml
Can be opened by all on free side so it is copied below - let me know if you feel Spurs should have a chance in final four.
Last Updated: Mar 25th, 2006 - 13:06:33
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An Ultimate Final "Fantasy" Four
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By Peter Rumm, MD
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Mar 25, 2006, 08:40
It became a final four for the ages as the proud franchises of the NBA were able to pick their best players ever to match up in a single elimination tournament on a neutral court to play after the end of the playoffs.
The rules were simple:
1) A player had to play for his original team - if that team made the tournament.
2) If his team did not make it, the player could play on any team he had played for during some point of his career.
3) All players were playing without injuries and at the top of their game.
4) Sixteen franchises were selected on a historic selection Sunday in July, this was done in order that the tournament would take play after the end of the playoffs.
5) Teams were placed into four brackets to match up some natural and historic rivalries.
6) The teams were then seeded within that bracket.
Atlanta Regional
In this regional the number one seed was the Boston Celtics led by Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Kevin McHale, Bill Russell, Bill Walton, and John Havlichek. The Celtics had gotten to the regional finals by narrowly surviving a surprisingly strong 4th seeded Orlando Magic team that had Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway, Dwight Howard, and Tracy McGrady (the Raptors did not make the 16 team field) in a 97-94 thriller.
Meanwhile the 2nd seeded Knicks had reached this regional final by a more dominant 105-96 win over the 3rd seeded Washington Bullets/Wizards/Nationals that had an eclectic squad including Gilbert Arenas, Wes Unseld, Dolph Schayes, Elvin Hayes, and Chris Webber.
In the regional championship game Willis Reed, Clyde Frazier, Bill Bradley, and a rejuvenated Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry made it interesting; but in the end the Celtics rolled on to the Final Four with a convincing 112-94 win. Larry Bird really put on a show from the three point line and seemingly toyed with the Knicks smaller defenders. Later that night he said he never knew how good Paul Pierce was in the clutch until they were teamed together. Dennis Johnson proved to be a stabilizing force for the Celtics with some great defense and had a game high 8 assists while spelling all time great Bob Cousy at point guard.
Milwaukee Regional
Onto what was considered by most experts the toughest regional to predict of the four. Here there were four contestants in order of seeding: 1) the Detroit Pistons; 2) the Philadelphia Sixers; 3) the Chicago Bulls; and 4) the upstart Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers, despite a brilliant performance by LeBron James (38 points and 7 assists) and inspired play by Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, and Austin Carr went down quietly to the Sixers.
In the end they just could not match the rebounding of Wilt Chamberlain, Moses Malone, and Charles Barkley or the formidable scoring punch of Allen Iverson and Julius Erving.
In the other semi-finals the Bulls gave it their all with Michael Jordan scoring 38 points and Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman played some fierce defense. However, a combination of the “bad boy” Pistons with today’s formidable squad was too much for even the great Bulls despite some clutch shooting by Steve Kerr.
Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, and Isiah Thomas were all effective but the game was won by the interior defense of the Pistons, especially that of Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace. This led to a 104-101 win.
The final in this regional was one of the greatest match ups of the early rounds as the Pistons shocked the Sixers despite a great contribution by Hal Greer off the bench (18 points and 10 boards) and Billy Cunningham. Bob Lanier, Ben Wallace, and Rasheed Wallace all took turns double and triple teaming a frustrated Wilt Chamberlain in a 105-99 win.
Chamberlain gave a great effort anyway with 32 points and 18 rebounds but in the end it was not enough. Another crucial difference was Billups' inspired defense on Allen Iverson and two late jumpers from the corner.
Oklahoma City Regional
However, perhaps the most surprising regional was in Oklahoma City where the 1st seeded Houston Rockets, the 2nd seeded Phoenix Suns, the 3rd seeded Denver Nuggets, and the 4th seeded San Antonio Spurs matched up. Many experts predicted either the Rockets or the Suns to advance.
Early on this seemed to be safe prediction as the mix of the “new age” Suns with legends such as Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, and Tom Chambers proved too much for the Denver Nuggets - despite the combined athletic brilliance of Dan Issel, Alex English, David Thompson and Carmello Anthony leading to a 110-103 win.
In the other semifinals, David Robinson, Bruce Bowen, and Tim Duncan dueled all night with Hakeem Olyjawon, Rudy Tomjonovich, and Yao Ming in the paint and that proved to be pretty much a wash.
In the end, however, in a mild upset, the trio of George Gervin, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili proved to be too much for the Rockets and the Spurs moved on. This happened despite the fact that both Clyde Drexler and Sam Cassell got hot for a crucial period in the 4th quarter to take it into over-time and Ralph Sampson off the bench hit some big shots; yet ultimately the Spurs won in overtime 109-107 on a nice jumper by Sean Elliott. The Spurs also got some inspired play from two former NBA legends who had played for them for short stretches of their career in Dominque Wilkins and Artis Gilmore as well as by Larry Kenon.
The Suns with Steve Nash, Kevin Johnson, Shawn Marion, and Amare Stoudemire proved to be a tough and fun to watch group against the Spurs in the regional finals.
However, their athletic lineup in the end, proved to be a little small for the Spurs, who also showed they could play an up-tempo game as David Robinson ran the court all night like a guard and went for 32 and 12.
The Spurs controlled the boards all night as reserves Gilmore, Kevin Willis, and Nazr Mohammed spelled effectively the Robinson and Duncan tandem during crucial stretches, and the Spurs gradually pulled away for a 119-112 win.
Oakland Regional
Out in final regional the top seeded Lakers just simply dominated in a convincing win over the 4th seeded Sonics despite brilliant games by some of their all time stars including Shawn Kemp, Ray Allen, Nate McMillian, and Gary Payton.
However, a virtual all star team of Kareem Jabbar, James Worthy, George Mikan, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, and Magic Johnson and more were just too much firepower for the upset minded Sonics, and this showed in a 119-98 win.
In the other match-up the 2nd seeded Kings went up against the veteran 3rd ranked Utah Jazz. The front line of the Jazz with Mehmut Okur, Karl Malone, Carlos Boozer, Greg Ostertag, and Andrei Kerilenko proved to be too much for the run and gun Kings despite nice games from Mitch Ritchmond (27 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists) and Mike Bibby (25 points, 6 assists) in a 109-94 win despite some good defense on Malone by an inspired Ron Artest.
The regional final was no contest, as the Lakers were again just too much in turn for the gritty Jazz. In this one it was truly “the Bryant – Johnson show” in a 118-100 “Showtime” victory. Bryant had 43 points and Magic dished out 13 assists in outplaying the smaller but game, John Stockton.
So the stage is set for an ultimate professional final four with the Celtics and the Pistons in the first game. Can the deep Pistons shock the Celtics? This is one match up that should prove to be quite entertaining and compe ive. In the other semi-final game the Spurs are coming in as the heavy underdog to the star ridden Lakers in the other game, but have a healthy spry young David Robinson and Tim Duncan down low and that combination has looked very impressive so far.
Will there be an upset in one of the semifinal games, or will the Lakers and the Celtics match up for all the glory -as many predicted at the onset of the tournament? Can the deep Pistons shock the Celtics?
Next week the results will be broken down in detail of the final four tournament.
Stay tuned!
(I am sure I missed some great players or made at least one historical mistake of attributing players to the right team despite some research on this = please let me know!)
Dr. Rumm is the "SportsDoc to the Fans" and writes the team reports for the Sixers for Basketball News Service and contributes other articles on players, teams, and medical issues.
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Last edited by Rummpd; 03-25-2006 at 12:56 PM.
I honestly think that the Pistons/Spurs/Celtics would have the advantage over the lakers because of team chemistry...
Of course... they have shaq...
The thing that really suprises me is that Jordan's bulls arent here... especially considering that they didnt have to face a dominant center in their regional.
They pretty much destroyed EVERY team without a dominant center for 6 years.
This is stupid.. The reason I say that is because they're gonna wind up giving it to the lakers
it came down to a region and Detroit knocked them out - they are one of the top five teams but this was among all time players on franchise and IMO LAL, Celtics, Sixers, and arguebly Detroit has had deeper rosters of great players.
Jordan, Rodman and Pippen would give anyone fits but could they shut down a mix of the Pistons of today mixed with the Bad Boys and Grant Hill in his prime - I gave the edge to Pistons as they could also put Bob Lanier in the paint with the two Wallaces at times.
All for fun!
I haven't decided yet who will win honestly! Pick among the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, and Pistons all time best within these rules and it is closer than expected. Don't count out an upset or two!
Well... Jordan handled the real bad boys... and I don't think putting the wallaces out there makes that big a difference.
He would destroy any of their guards, and foul the wallaces out...
I mean remember... it is jordan...
You think the lakers got fishy calls....
hehe
I think it's scary that the author counts Nazr Mohammed as one of the best Spurs ever.
The author is Rummpd himself.
Moses Malone played for us right?
I don't count him as one of the greatest ever - just a good center with a great upside but as someone let me know he should be on another team - see revised story at link on original post.
In the final four I plan to allow the best players ever on the franchises go at - too many complaints about this system.
If Nazr is in, you have to include Swen Nater.
Nazr is a body who can rebound when motivated with anyone on the offensive glass = and occassionaly score - why the hate?
I'm not hating on Nazr. I think Swen Nater was just as good or better than Nazr.
Heh he can come into the final four next week - I need to research on him more in his best years.
You put the Cavs as a top 16 team and left off the Pacers? They could roll out Reggie Miller and Mark Jackson, Jermaine O'Neal (I think the Blazers didn't make either), Jalen Rose (no Nugs), and Chris Mullin (no Warriors) and get thrashed in the second round, but I think they'd run Cleveland out of the gym.
Interesting, though. Thanks for posting it, Doc.
The selection committee like the NCAA takes a lot of heat and Indy should have been in it but Cleveland has also had some pretty fine players come and go.
he can't catch a simple pass that hits both of his hands when wide open.
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