Author Topic: Pistons or Spurs?  (Read 2394 times)

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Pistons or Spurs?
« on: May 09, 2008, 10:49:00 AM »

Offline drza44

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The Cavs were down 2-0 to two different teams in the playoffs last season, the Pistons and the Spurs.  They came back to beat the Pistons 4 - 2, but they got swept by the Spurs.  The question is, is this current Celtics team more like those Pistons or more like those Spurs.

My opinion: The Pistons of the last two years have not been "real" contenders.  They were elite a few years ago due to catching lightening in a bottle with 5 very good players that meshed perfectly as a team with a hall-of-fame coach.  Replacing Larry Brown with Flip Saunders and losing the "Big Ben" version of Ben Wallace took them from "elite" to just "consistently good".  Consistently good is enough to get to the ECF in a very weak time period, but I don't think they'd have sniffed the WCF.  If they were in the West, IMO, they would have not only been a level below the Spurs, they'd have also been below the Mavs and Suns of the last couple of years and battling it out with teams like the Jazz. 

The Pistons were extremely vulnerable to transcendent talents on the opposition, because they don't have any of their own and their transcendent team-ness left with Brown and Big Ben.  This is why they have been given fits by LeBron and Wade for the past few years, and it was not surprising to me when they lost.

For those of us that are superstitious I'll avoid making any kind of future predictions of greatness or wins, but I will say this: All season I have thought this Celtics team was much more similar to the Spurs than the Pistons.  The team roles, the defensive mindset, the transcendent talents, just across the board this team has always reminded me of that San Antonio unit.  The Cavs could beat the Pistons by just making it a defensive battle where nobody can score easily, then relying on LeBron to outgun the "good" players on the Pistons.  But I don't see that strategy working for four games against this Celtics team, who has players that on any given night can be the best player on the court even if that court includes LeBron. 

Re: Pistons or Spurs?
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2008, 10:51:03 AM »

Offline Bankshot

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Spurs.  The Celtics have better defense than both of those teams this year and they are playing Lebron similar to the way the Spurs played him last year, not like the Pistons defended him.
"If somebody would have told you when he was playing with the Knicks that Nate Robinson was going to change a big time game and he was going to do it mostly because of his defense, somebody would have got slapped."  Mark Jackson

Re: Pistons or Spurs?
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2008, 11:01:46 AM »

Offline Redz

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Spurs.  The Celtics have better defense than both of those teams this year and they are playing Lebron similar to the way the Spurs played him last year, not like the Pistons defended him.

Agreed.  The Celtics defense last night was rotating so amazingly well.  They were keeping the Cavs 30 feet from the hoop and there was always 2 men on the ball regardless of where it was.  Just amazing to watch.  It looked like they were on the power play.
Yup

Re: Pistons or Spurs?
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2008, 11:40:23 AM »

Offline MMacOH

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Spurs...and shame on Mike Brown for not being able to adjust. 

Re: Pistons or Spurs?
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2008, 11:43:06 AM »

Offline Edgar

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nice reference..d.... spurz 8)
we have rondo>parker i know i know
KG> duncan..i know i know
and everything else better
Once a CrotorNat always a CROTORNAT  2 times CB draft Champion 2009-2012

Nice to be back!

Re: Pistons or Spurs?
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2008, 11:57:36 AM »

Offline Ersatz

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For those of us that are superstitious I'll avoid making any kind of future predictions of greatness or wins, but I will say this: All season I have thought this Celtics team was much more similar to the Spurs than the Pistons.  The team roles, the defensive mindset, the transcendent talents, just across the board this team has always reminded me of that San Antonio unit.  The Cavs could beat the Pistons by just making it a defensive battle where nobody can score easily, then relying on LeBron to outgun the "good" players on the Pistons.  But I don't see that strategy working for four games against this Celtics team, who has players that on any given night can be the best player on the court even if that court includes LeBron. 

TP, mostly because you make a point I made late last night but couldn't articulate nearly as well as you did ;)

I won't predict either, but I feel Spurs too. For one, the Pistons mostly had Prince on LeBron. Prince is great, but he's also pretty skinny and not very strong. I like that Pierce and Posey can at least begin to approach LeBron's size. Also, the Pistons inexplicably went away from the intense swarming D on LeBron. We won't do that. We will stay with it, and that, hopefully, will make us more like the Spurs, and all that that implies.

Re: Pistons or Spurs?
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2008, 12:48:38 PM »

Offline Celtic

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Defensively, the Celtics are even better than those Spurs. Before the series started, Barkley said the C's would have to put KG on Lebaby, and some people bought into it. However, the C's have something a lot of other teams don't, they have mobile size in a terrific team defense. From shooting guard to center the Celtics can stay in front of Lebaby and keep him out of his comfort zone, this also continues deep into the Celtics bench. Things should not be getting easier for Cleveland, if the C's continue to execute this defense, there isn't much the Cavs can do to beat them.