Phil only needs 2 stars?

[chefy]

^ x99999

because it was not just prince....It was the whole Pistons defense + kobe defending billups & hamilton

[microfib4thewin]

Parker and Ginobili didn't play in 99, and they were just backup players in 03. Anyways there are plenty of examples of a team winning with just two stars.

[countrybama24]

I hate the Pistons

Come on, don't knock the hustle!

^ x99999

because it was not just prince....It was the whole Pistons defense + kobe defending billups & hamilton

I think for the most part, those pistons won because they played one on one, and just shut down down everyone except kobe and shaq.

Ben Wallace played shaq one on one the vast majority of the time, that was the "trick." Sure they brought help defense sometimes, but it was mostly one on one.

[BlakeSavage]

Laker fans i.e. Kobe devotees are so damn delusional. The lakers lost that series cause Kobe thought basketball was a one man sport, not a team one. If he had fed Shaq the ball he would have feasted like he always did but Kobe didnt want to do 50% of the work and let get shaq all the credit with another finals MVP. Those are teh facts man. I was in utter disbelief watching that series. No way shaq and kobe in their prime should have lost that series. I dont care how good defensively and unselfish that pistons team was. Shaq and kobe should have won that with or without Payton and Malone.

[Aiolos]

Kobe was playing against a Pistons zone swarming him on any chance he gets into the paint so it wasn't a one on one shutdown job by any means. On the other side he was chasing Hamilton around screens and switching onto Billups whenever he started getting hot. Tay played him well but lets not twist this any more than its already been.

that swarming only happened when kobe tried to penetrate but most of the destruction of kobe was done by tayshaun prince.

seriously all the games are on youtube
i had to look at them again because the shutdown was just that crazy

either way **** happens and sometimes somebody has your number

[Aiolos]

I hate the Pistons

Come on, don't knock the hustle!

^ x99999

because it was not just prince....It was the whole Pistons defense + kobe defending billups & hamilton

I think for the most part, those pistons won because they played one on one, and just shut down down everyone except kobe and shaq.

Ben Wallace played shaq one on one the vast majority of the time, that was the "trick." Sure they brought help defense sometimes, but it was mostly one on one.

uhh..... kobe did get shutdown

[ComboGuardCity]

So the Pistons won because the Lakers didn't play well?

Here's a thought: The Pistons were the better TEAM (not 1on1 talent).

[Slava]

Even with the 1 on 1 talent the Pistons were arguably better. Lakers got scoring from Kobe and Shaq but there were times where the 3rd scorer was in single digits very often. Malone and Payton looked lost in the offense and it was a terribly constructed team with little to no bench strength.

We sometimes ran with Kareem Rush playing extended SF minutes and once even rolled in a line up of Payton/Fish/Kobe/Malone/Shaq.

[Wavy Q]

Laker fans i.e. Kobe devotees are so damn delusional.

first off, if you want to make a argument that people will actually read, try not generalizing a fanbase or using ad hominem, it makes you look petty.

The lakers lost that series cause Kobe thought basketball was a one man sport, not a team one. If he had fed Shaq the ball he would have feasted like he always did but Kobe didnt want to do 50% of the work and let get shaq all the credit with another finals MVP.

Yes, Kobe played awful, but the strategy, "feed the ball to Shaq" was only working in Game 1, and Game 4, the Piston's played magnificent defense on Shaq the entire series, sending doubles his way with very minimal passing options, hell Shaq almost had as many turnovers for that series as Kobe did, and the statement Kobe didnt want to let Shaq get the credit has 0 factual backing to it, and is a worthless comment.

Those are teh facts man. I was in utter disbelief watching that series. No way shaq and kobe in their prime should have lost that series. I dont care how good defensively and unselfish that pistons team was. Shaq and kobe should have won that with or without Payton and Malone.

No those are NOT the facts at all. Yes way Shaq and Kobe can lose. You should care how good defensively a team is, defense wins championships, and when you can shut down the #1 option on a championship team for 3/5 games, with the 2nd option also being cold, you're going to be one hell of a team.

Now gtfo troll.

[J08]

i hate the pistons but cmon give em some credit. they played some great basketball and beat the lakers.

i hate the 08 celtics more since refs had something to do with it

[mopper8]

first off, if you want to make a argument that people will actually read, try not generalizing a fanbase or using ad hominem, it makes you look petty.

I'm not even a Kobe fan (though LA is one of my favorite non-Miami teams) and I stopped reading after that, lol.

As for the premise, I dispute it, for reasons others have already mentioned. Zo was a high-impact role player, but he was no star.

And you can't really include Jordan/Pippen and leave out Hakeem's Rockets.

[DEEP3CL]

First off who cares......second we don't need all these condescending posters on our board. Somebody lock this, it has no relevance what so ever. All you get is the responses you're seeing.

[LascelleL]

I hate the pistons....I hope they choke on Dinosaur balls

[aroba]

Popovich only had Robinson & Duncan, when the Admiral won his ring
We can't say Sean Eliott was a star

How many stars did the Olajuwon Rockets had? Only 2 with Hakeem & Drexler duo in the second one.

[TruSkool]

My friend and I were talking, and he brought up an interesting theory about coaches winning championships in recent years.

He said that Phil is the only coach who has won a championship with only 2 real stars (MJ/Pippen, Shaq/Kobe, Kobe/Pau).

The other championship coaches required at least 3:

-Doc (Rondo/Allen/Pierce/KG)
-Pat (Wade/Shaq/Alonzo)
-Brown (Billups/Hamilton/Wallace)
-Popovich (Robinson/Duncan/Parker/Ginobli)

Even if you think way back to the showtime era, there was Magic/Kareem/Worthy.

I think that really says something about PJ... Greatest coach of all time, but also the luckiest coach of all time (when it comes to WHO he coached).

if u dont put lamar odom, andrew bynum, ron artest, glen rice, dennis rodman, tony kukoc, horace grant, rick fox, robert horry, and steve kerr in the same category as rondo, billups, hamilton, walace, parker and ginobili...then my friend u are wrong.

any coach needs to superstars, with a damn good cast of complimentary players who know their role, except maybe larry brown who damn near did it with allen iverson alone.
there's always that 3rd and maybe 4th dependable option to get you over the hump. almost always.