OT: is it a good thing that defense wins titles?

[APerna]

He opted out, so yes is he an unrestricted free agent. However, all along he appears to be looking towards returning, and the Wiz want him. But you never know...

BTW Grang, you're up in the Tradition Draft.

[PR07]

There's no way LA can pay him anything more than the mid-level exception, and I doubt Arenas takes that at this point in his career. Can't see the Wizards wanting Odom. Can't see the Lakers trading Gasol. I could see Arenas going to the Clippers though.

[Miller4ever]

Getting BACK ON TOPIC...

Sorry, ahem.

One thing that I notice when reading all these posts is a fundamental error in the way of thinking. You all think that good, lockdown defense means slow offense. The two are completely unrelated. Doc Rivers has been more than willing to run, and I think we'll see something similar out in Dallas with Rick promising to run the Mavericks. The Spurs and Detroit chose to go slow on offense to simultaneously break down their opponent's defenses and disrupt the opponent's rhythms. Their style of play has worked, but has led to boredom, obviously. If you're complaining about the fact that the LAKERS aren't scoring enough, then that's their fault. Great defense is admirable, and defense is much more reliant on the team values that matter to the sport itself. Plus, TV ratings are overrated. I also say that, if you're bored watching awesome defense, you're just not looking at the right things. Just because scoring doesn't happen frequently doesn't matter that other important things aren't happening.

[mr_merriweather]

I also say that, if you're bored watching awesome defense, you're just not looking at the right things. Just because scoring doesn't happen frequently doesn't matter that other important things aren't happening.

assume i know what to look for.

you're right to point out the difference between the celtics and the pistons/spurs though. celtics are indeed an improvement, i think mainly because of the kind of talent they have and the way rivers has coached towards that talent. their transition game was outstanding tonight. garnett is a fundamentally more exciting player than duncan, pierce on a given night can match mcgrady or kobe in offensive wizardry, rondo is just nuts (he had some of the strangest/coolest stat lines this season). and its true, the lakers played awful, and i'd say they were less exciting than the celtics despite their vaunted offense.

i think i was more reacting to the commentators, acting like the finals were some grand parable about the importance of defense, and just saw it as an extension of so-called analysts hating on the run and gun--feeding a school of thought that eventually convinced phoenix they needed shaq, which in turn prematurely destroyed one of the most exciting/beautiful pro basketball experiments of the last decade. i guess i'm just afraid the league will continue to buy into its own hype about what exactly wins championships.

so yeah, it wasn't so much a knock on the celtics. still the team has this weird mercenary feel--though if allen and garnett are around for a few more seasons and have some more success then that might subside.

[mr_merriweather]

Tom Ziller posted something at fanhouse that basically makes my original rant look silly:

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/06/ ... iful/#cont

I can even get on board with what he's talking about. I'm feeling a little better about the finals.

[JazzItUp13]

defense wins titles...and the pacers don't play a lot of it...which is why obie is not the coach for this team...

[cdash]

defense wins titles...and the pacers don't play a lot of it...which is why obie is not the coach for this team...

Thanks for the insight, keep us posted.