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Let's say both teams have equal benches and equal coaches.

Which team would win?

Team Shaquille O'neal vs Team Kareem, who wins in 7?


Team Shaquille O'neal
C Shaquille O'neal
PF Karl Malone
SF Dominique Wilkins
SG Gilbert Arenas
PG Steve Nash

vs


Team Kareem
C Kareem
PF Charles Barkley
SF James Worthy
SG Allen Iverson
PG Jason Kidd

Team Kareem while just because Arenas and Nash are just too big defensive liabilities .

Hmm, tough call. Shaq's team is weak defensively and Kareem's is most certainly not. Karl Malone and Barkley would be an interesting match, 'Nique would score all over Worthy's face as usual (but really, 'Nique totally pwn3d Worthy).

Iverson wouldn't be able to do anything on Arenas but the reverse is true and if AI caught a rhythm, that would be trouble. Streaky as he is, there's no way Gilbert keeps AI in front of him and with only Shaq behind him, AI would probably have a field day.

They might switch and put Kidd on him so AI could try to guard Nash though and that would make things more interesting. But Arenas is too fast and I don't think Kidd would have a lot of success... likewise AI on Nash, I don't think that Iverson would be capable of doing a great job on Nash. I see Nash and Malone running a picture-perfect pick-and-roll that just burnt Kareem's team repeatedly.

Kareem and Shaq would be reasonably even ITO scoring and passing but Kareem was a vastly superior defender and rebounder to Shaq, so that should prove to be an important edge.

I want to say Team Kareem. He way not draw as many fouls but he's comparably efficient from the floor, commands the paint more effectively and otherwise is surrounded with more effective teammates.

I would be worried, however, that if Iverson wasn't hot, that they might be screwed because Shaq's team has a LOT of guns. If Worthy gets rolled by Wilkins and AI is posting big volume shot attempts and low efficiency without drawing lots of fouls, then it would go the other way.

So I'm going to go Team Shaq because while Big Game James is appealing, I think the firepower advantage is too much.

tsherkin wrote:Hmm, tough call. Shaq's team is weak defensively and Kareem's is most certainly not. Karl Malone and Barkley would be an interesting match, 'Nique would score all over Worthy's face as usual (but really, 'Nique totally pwn3d Worthy).

Iverson wouldn't be able to do anything on Arenas but the reverse is true and if AI caught a rhythm, that would be trouble. Streaky as he is, there's no way Gilbert keeps AI in front of him and with only Shaq behind him, AI would probably have a field day.

They might switch and put Kidd on him so AI could try to guard Nash though and that would make things more interesting. But Arenas is too fast and I don't think Kidd would have a lot of success... likewise AI on Nash, I don't think that Iverson would be capable of doing a great job on Nash. I see Nash and Malone running a picture-perfect pick-and-roll that just burnt Kareem's team repeatedly.

Kareem and Shaq would be reasonably even ITO scoring and passing but Kareem was a vastly superior defender and rebounder to Shaq, so that should prove to be an important edge.

I want to say Team Kareem. He way not draw as many fouls but he's comparably efficient from the floor, commands the paint more effectively and otherwise is surrounded with more effective teammates.

I would be worried, however, that if Iverson wasn't hot, that they might be screwed because Shaq's team has a LOT of guns. If Worthy gets rolled by Wilkins and AI is posting big volume shot attempts and low efficiency without drawing lots of fouls, then it would go the other way.

So I'm going to go Team Shaq because while Big Game James is appealing, I think the firepower advantage is too much.

Malone was all defensive team 3 times and second team once. Neither team has a focus on D.

I gotta go with Kareem

Hard2dhole wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Malone was all defensive team 3 times and second team once. Neither team has a focus on D.

Yeah, he has Malone but Malone's beside him, not behind him. Malone was never a shot-blocker, much more a man defender and defensive rebounder. He rotated well, sure, but he wasn't a huge impediment to guard penetration.

And Kareem is the other team's defensive focus; how you did not see that is beyond me. He's one of the best shot-blockers in league history, has more All-Defensive selections than anyone else (for the time being)...

And he's playing alongside Worthy and Kidd.

team Shaq. Kareem has a hard time against physical players.

kareem, defense being the key

tsherkin wrote:Hmm, tough call. Shaq's team is weak defensively and Kareem's is most certainly not. Karl Malone and Barkley would be an interesting match, 'Nique would score all over Worthy's face as usual (but really, 'Nique totally pwn3d Worthy).

I don't know about "pwn3d" (or whatever it is you kids say these days). B-R has 13 matchups between Nique and Worthy. Nique score quite well (28.9 pts per 40), but so did Worthy (24.2 pts40). Nique had more rebounds, assists and steals were about equal, Worthy had more blocks. But Worthy was a lot more efficient shooting the ball (.566 ts% vs. .540). In Win Score, it's a virtual dead heat (Worthy at 8.3 to Nique's 8.1).

However, the record here goes back only to 86-87 -- they would have started facing off in 82-83.

I will say that the numbers better match my recollection of the era than the notion of Nique dominating Worthy.

TheSecretWeapon wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



I don't know about "pwn3d" (or whatever it is you kids say these days). B-R has 13 matchups between Nique and Worthy. Nique score quite well (28.9 pts per 40), but so did Worthy (24.2 pts40). Nique had more rebounds, assists and steals were about equal, Worthy had more blocks. But Worthy was a lot more efficient shooting the ball (.566 ts% vs. .540). In Win Score, it's a virtual dead heat (Worthy at 8.3 to Nique's 8.1).

However, the record here goes back only to 86-87 -- they would have started facing off in 82-83.

I will say that the numbers better match my recollection of the era than the notion of Nique dominating Worthy.

Worthy did not generally do a good job on 'Nique and Worthy had considerably more assistance, getting a lot of baskets off of passes from Magic while 'Nique iso'd a lot more often, so the numbers are inflated to some extent in Worthy's case.

'Nique pretty much did as he pleased when Worthy tried to guard him.