The NBA Finals

Detroit is in the NBA finals and I am so happy!! Its not as if I like Detroit particularly. I admire the team but don't really like them (there is a difference you know). But I think that Detroit is the only team that can at this moment stop the Lakers.

I used to love the Lakers. But ever since the Lakers began to give a The Bold and The Beautiful a run for their money for being the most convoluted soap opera, I have come to like the Lakers less and less. Which is why I am happy that the Pistons are in the Finals. Apart from the Pistons I don't think there is any other team that cant handle the Lakers right now in the NBA.

Everybody has been commenting on how Shaq has been focusing more and more on the defense right now. But the fact is that all the post season Shaq has never really had to guard a center who was a true offensive threat (with the exception of Yao Ming). Hence he was able to help out on the defense. Gary and Kobe could thus pressure the perimeter secure in the knowledge that the Diesel was lumbering behind them. How ever Ben Wallace is going force Shaq to stay with him all the time. The match up will be of Ben's athleticism and of Shaq's size. While I can't see Ben Wallace winning that match up he should be able to tire out Shaq enough on to make any 4th quarter heroics from the big man unlikely. Remember that the Pistons have Rasheed Wallace, Edwin Campbell, Corliess Williamson as well as Mehmet Okur who can also guard Shaq. That is 30 fouls that Detroit has to give and you can bet that Brown will make the best possible use of his ability to throw 5 different people at the big man. Detroit's game plan against Shaq will be to wear him down. Constantly push at him. Force him into unfavorable positions and make him take low percentage shots.

Karl Malone hasn't been much of an offensive threat all year long and with Sheed guarding him this is unlikely to change. However Malone has shown that he can play rugged defense but unlike a certain T’Wolves guard Malone will find out that he cannot simply put a shoulder into Sheed and walk away from it. Malone has barely been reaching into the double digits region as far as points are concerned. But now Malone's out put will decrease even further. I wouldn't be surprised if Malone put up figures like 6 points and 5 rebounds.

Devan George is probably crying right now. He is facing the prospect of being called upon to guard The Richard 'Always Moving' Hamilton on the defensive end and then being guarded by Tayshun 'Russell Wannbe' Prince. Expect this guy to have the worst series of his life. The Lakers can't really throw anybody at the Detroit at this position that they can't handle. Unfortunately Prince hasn’t been scoring a lot of late. The pistons will be looking at different people to contribute towards scoring with their 2 main offensive guys getting bogged down (Hamilton by Kobe and Sheed by Malone), and Prince will be one of the guys who will be asked to step up.

Another guy who the Pistons will look to for increased scoring will be Chauncey Billups. Billups is one of the top 4 to 5 3 point shooters in the game. But he too, like rest of the Pistons, has been strangely anemic as far as scoring is concerned. Larry Brown might want to consider running a few high screens for Billups and see if he can knock down a few points.

But in the grander scheme of things all this is ultimately insignificant. All this series will boil down to, in my opinion, is the Hamilton-Bryant match up. These are the two 'go to' guys for their team. Although the Lakers are not as dependant on Kobe for scoring as the Pistons are on Hamilton, Kobe's ability to make the impossible shot will mean that he might be the only Laker who's production will not suffer. Such is the ferocious Piston defense that they could very well double-team BOTH Bryant and O'Neal and still make it tough for the other players to get an open look. And as has been amply obvious from the past 17 games, the Lakers can be maddeningly inconsistent, much unlike their opponents who will bring their 'A' game out every single time. The Pistons will force the Lakers to pay through their noses for every mistake. They will play pressure defense for all 48 minutes and hound LA's every step all the time.

The only question is, Will all that be enough?

These play offs haven't really seen an upset so far. Should we then, look for one, in this culminating series?

*-=o0o=-*

In other news......

My so called mission has to e put off until Blogger gets its house in order and puts up a search page.

Not that I was really going to go through with that thing anyways ;)