Hewson said:You need to find 2 things...a picture of pornstar Ron Jeremy aka the hedgehog, and a sense of humor, then maybe you'll see what I'm talking about.
zing!
3 degrees of seperation... stan van gundy played college basketball for SUNY Brockport, who's oh so illustrius list of former players includes headache in a suitcase, who is from long island, where ron jeremy was born and raised. i win.
by the end of that cluster-F of a series the lakers were starting devon george and slava medvedenko... malone was a complete non factor in the series, barely played in games 3 and 4 and was in civi's for game 5. he couldn't jump. not like he was ever shawn kemp in his prime, but we're talking here about a 6'8" guy who could not dunk because of the pain in his knee. 6'8". i'm 6'3" and 30 pounds overweight and i can still dunk. he's a 6'8" high quality athlete, and he was in too much pain to even attempt it. that should tell you about what malone's worth was.
gary payton has been done for 3 years, he just doesn't realize it.
i can throw bill russell and walt clyde frazier out on the court right now and claim to have a bunch of hall of famers on my team, it doesn't mean they can still play.
last year's lakers ran into a perfect combo of age, injury and selfishness... did they have more talent than this year's heat? i imagine you could argue that yes, on paper, they did. but if we want to use the ole "on paper" argument, the lakers had more talent than the pistons, too. and as we know, on paper means shit.
can the pistons beat the heat, even with a healthy shaq? yes. anything can be done. in a year that's seen a 50-1 shot and a 71-1 shot finish 1-2 in the derby, phil mickleson finally win a major, roy williams win a championship and the red sox win the world series... you really can't say that something is impossiable anymore. but would i bet on it? ummmm nooo. not even a penny. not even your penny.
fortunatly enough, shaq is hurt. no one's really quite sure how hurt he is. so frankly, for the pistons sake, they should really want to close out the pacers tonight (who, btw, would probably be winning this series if they had ron artest) so as not to give shaq any more time to rest.
now is kobe bryant better than dwayne wade? yes... as much as i hate kobe, you have to say that, if only on reputation alone. but wade is certainly no slouch himself. and the difference maker is that wade is not going to launch 30 outside, fall away jumpers per game like kobe did last year. completely different type of player. the same defensive game plan that larry brown used last year... i.e. we're not stopping shaq anyway so let him get his and put all the pressure on kobe, who's just gonna chuck it up despite being triple teamed anyway... won't work.
and finally... back to the "lakers had more talent than the heat" thing... i believe we should heed the example of the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s. it's not about how many hall of famers you have... how many superstars are on the court. it's about having players to compliment your stars. who did the bulls have after jordan and pippen? ron harper? steve kerr? bj armstrong? bill wennington? will purdue? luc longley? jon paxson? horace grant? bill cartwright? come on... not exactly hall of fame material there. dennis rodman... a "superstar" by name and potential hall of famer, worked so well because he filled a role and a need. he was a star, yes... but the reality was he was simply the ultimate role player. the heat's players compliment their two stars perfectly... with a dominating x-factor in alonzo mourning, who can come in and be the old alonzo for 15-20 minutes a game... just enough to give shaq the rest he needs. last year's laker team did not have this. shaq, udonis haslem, alonzo mourning, michael doleac & christian lattener is vastly superior to shaq, slava medvedenko and brian shaw. karl malone was so hurt and ineffective, i won't even include him. he was an absolute shell of his former self.
but it all rests on shaq... if shaq can't go, or if shaq is severly limited... the pistons will win. if he's healthy, miami wins.
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