In earlier posts, Drive and Dish asserted that Detroit was the best team in the NBA, and would, most likely, win the NBA Finals. It was our opinion that while Utah and Cleveland were up and coming teams, and were led by dynamic young stars (or super stars in the case of Cleveland's LeBron James), they would have to wait for their shots at a championship because the balanced, veteran casts in Detroit and San Antonio were still superior and, at least this year, would be back in familiar territory: the NBA Finals.
So, we were wrong about Detroit.
Oh well.
I thought that Detroit was better than Cleveland. Guess what ... I still think Detroit is probably better than Cleveland.
Detroit absolutely imploded after going up 2-o in the series. Perhaps there were internal troubles that folks outside of their locker room aren't privy to. Chauncey Billups, the leader of that team and one of the best point guards in the league, was uncharacteristically awful in the series' later games. Rasheed Wallace reverted to being Bad Rasheed (and cost his team by incurring costly technical fouls and by not being mentally in the game - like Billups). At times, Antonio McDyess looked great, but eventually appeared to lose confidence and was, thus, intermittently ineffective. Richard Hamilton practically disappeared against Cleveland.
Who knows what was going on with Detroit. But whatever the reason, they didn't look like the solid veteran Championship team that that they have been in years past (and appeared to be throughout this season). Instead, they looked like a disinterested group of guys who couldn't stand each other's presence, and no longer respected their coaching staff.
A month ago Detroit looked like a championship team. Now they look like the Miami Heat - a dysfunctional, unmotivated, veteran team that's become uncoachable and needs to be blown up.
Monday, June 4, 2007
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6 comments:
You think the Pistons are the better team? And you think they imploded? Didnt' you notice LeBron? The Cavs are for real. This could be the start of a new dynasty. Lebron is the next Jordan. You are lame.
Give Bron and teh Cavs some credt. Your making it sound like the pistons lost the series insted of the Cavs winning it.
the pistons were built to win championships. for the last several years they have won and competed for championships. but this team had serious problems. as good as they have been, they were held toghether by threads. there were chinks in the armor and weak links that were just under the surface. the bulls exposed some of the weaknesses. the cavs and lebron took advantage of them. saunders has to go. so does webber. unfortunately, chauncey and sheed are probably gone too. but if joe d can bring in a zach randolph or trade for a star, the pistons will be back in a new york minute.
I didn't mean to belittle what Cleveland has accomplished. LeBron was outstanding. He's a unique talent- a wing/shooting guard with the body of a power forward who can break defenders down off the dribble, finish in traffic, hit from the perimeter and drive and dish like a point guard. But Cleveland isn't that good of a team yet. They're still missing a couple of pieces.
Detroit came apart at the seems in the Eastern Conference Finals (and just avoided doing so against Chicago in the second round). They will likely rebuild.
I wonder if Joe Dumars regrets the '03 draft, when he selected Darko Milicic over Carmello Anthony. I think that Carmello would be a nice asset in a rebuilding campaign.
Cavs aren't that good of a team yet? LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!! The Cavs are still missing a couple of pieces? WTF!!!! Were in the finals. Are you still gunna say there not that good yet after the Cavs win the championship? LOL!!!!!!
Cleveland Rocks,
I don't think that Cleveland is that good of a team, and I'm surprised that they made it to the Finals. Look, LeBron is special. He was tremendous in the Detroit series, but his best days are still ahead of him. Zydrunas Ilgauskis (sp?) is a nice center who can be
tough for other teams to match up against. But the rest of the Cavs roster seems to be transient and expendable. Variejo (sp?) is a decent energy guy off the bench. Gibson hit open shots (thanks to LeBron's attracting of double-teams) in game seven against Detroit, but hadn't distinguished himself until the Detroit series. Larry Hughes is a decent, journyman guard (he's not all that different than Jeff McInnis).
Championship teams usually have a super star, a top notch #2 guy a borderline all-star defender/rebounder and a deep (often specialized) bench. In Los Angeles, Shaq had Kobe and Robert Horry. Jordan had Pippen and Horace Grant/Dennis Rodman. Isiah had Joe Dumars/Adrian Dantley and Rodman/Bill Laimbeer/Rick Mahorn. Magic had Byron Scott and James Worthy. Bird had McHale and Robert Parrish. You get the picture.
In my opinion, Cleveland needs to add some pieces before they are a real championship type team. Getting to the Finals is quite an accomplishment (although they had a little help from Detroit). But I don't think that they're good enough to beat San Antonio in a seven game series.
James and Ilgauskis are the only guys from this years team that I expect to be around in three or four years. But if Cleveland can add one or two key players (and improve their bench), they should be a championship contender for years.
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