RealGM

After seeing what Sexton did to the Nets the other night, it reminded me of when his Alabama team almost came back to beat Minnesota 3 vs 5 for the last 10 or so minutes. So if you took an NBA all-star team but could only have 4 players on the court at any given time, would that be enough to beat the worst team in the league who was able to have a regular 5 man lineup?

Absolutely not.

So the bad team would double everytime on defense and get an open shot everytime on offense?

Several years ago in a rec league, we played four-on-five against a team for the first half, and then eventually got a fifth player at halftime. We won by one point (thanks to me hitting one out of two free throws, cha-ching!).

But to answer your question: no chance the team with four wins. This is NBA-level talent, not a random rec league. And in the Minnesota/Alabama example, these highlights don't show how the Golden Gophers were playing pretty soft defense. When Sexton went off they started putting in a bit more effort, but I don't think a team could sustain being down one player for a full 48-minute (or even 40 minutes, in college) game.

With defense outlawed anyway in the NBA, I could actually see this happening now.

I mean, if the team of five had absolutely no outside shooting (like Simmons level of outside shooting), then maybe the team of 4 could pack the paint, and pull out a victory - but even still, that would be quite a feat to win down a man.

So the 2017 warriors with KD,Curry,Klay and Draymond against the 2016 76ers?

Hmmm…they would all have to be two-way, versatile guys who can handle/shoot/pass. The "worst" team would just be five random awful rookies that are glued to the bench.

let's say

LeBron
Kawhi
Durant
Davis

vs.

Markus Howard
Nate Hinton
Karim Mané
Deividas Sirvydis
Josh Hall

They could probably cut it close…

Leslie Forman wrote:Hmmm…they would all have to be two-way, versatile guys who can handle/shoot/pass. The "worst" team would just be five random awful rookies that are glued to the bench.

let's say

LeBron
Kawhi
Durant
Davis

vs.

Markus Howard
Nate Hinton
Karim Mané
Deividas Sirvydis
Josh Hall

They could probably cut it close…

If the 4 person star team is coached by Pop & the 4 person scrub team is coached by Doc Rivers I am taking the stars.

I think the all-star team could do it. It would have to be a full roster, as the guys would have to be going all-out so they'd need depth - at least 2-deep everywhere. If it's just 4 guys they'd wear down and get destroyed in the 2nd half.

Yes. The all star team may have 4 players who need to be double teamed

4 Superstars vs a full roster of the 7 win LolCats in a full regulation game

Take the LolCats every time. Even a halfwit coach, will just instruct his players to go balls to the wall every second to wear out the 4 Superstars, cycle in reserves and play super duper physical. Double team the ball handler every single time, always having someone open on offense even with scrub NBA level talent means extreme high % of shots going in. The ability to swarm a ball handler with no consequence is just too extreme an advantage.

You need alot of mitigating factors for the 4 superstars to win. Shorter time frame, so more randomness, like a single 12 min period. Having Superstar level bench to allow for the team of 4 to go full throttle. Refs being ultra lenient with the team of 4, and calling it tight on the team 5 of to prevent thuggery.