People say this should be a one sided affair, but what happened in game one may not be a fluke. These teams are actually pretty well matched and the one team that could like to play half-court more than the Lakers is the Pistons. I give the run and gun advantage to the Lakers as well as Center, but you can only have one. If the Lakers run no Shaq in the half, but if they settle for using shaq then no fast breaks. For individual match-ups I think Shaq is the most dominate player and his dominance transcends skill. Lakers win at center. 2 guard - this is also a victory for the Lakers (narrowly), but unlike some other teams in the playoffs Rip Hamilton will make Kobe work on the defensive end. The rest of the match-ups go to the Pistons. Billups is better than the aging Payton, and more talented than Fisher and more experienced than Rush. For the overall backcourt of Rip and Billups I give them the advantage. If Payton were 2-3 years younger that goes the other way, but he is an aging superstar on the down hill side of his career. The same thing can be said for Malone. He WAS a great power forward, but at this point in their careers Rasheed is better. He can score from deep and will be able to help on defense with the lack of offensive 'punch' (sorry for the pun Wolves fans) provided by Malone. Small forward Prince. His defensive stops are why they are still playing. George can stretch the D, which will stop Prince from being able to help, but that is about it.
Look for the Lakers to run the triangle with Kobe and Shaq and Payton, and run screens across the lane to free up Shaq and let him catch the ball in the deep post. Also look for Larry Brown to gamble with subs and match-ups in game two to try and gain an advantage going home. I look for game two to go to a fired up Laker team, but the Pistons have got to keep it close. It will be hard for moral to be down after this game, what with the big win in game one, but if the Lakers blow out the Pistons they could lose faith. Especially if the Lakers dominate in the half-court. The Pistons are going to need to score at least 90 tonight to win.
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
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