• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

The Official Kobe vs MJ Fight Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Cloudy said:
Typo. Prove you wrong? Well, by your own logic since Prince doesn't guard Kobe all game, the 37% from game one cannot be attributed to him alone. Not that Rip ever guarded Kobe unless it was a switch off a screen. If you wanna credit Tayshaun alone for the 37% from game 1, you gotta give him the blame for the 52% in game 2 ;) And besides the 3, it was Tayshaun getting blown by and torched yesterday not Rip.

This is pointless anyways as the help defense has as much to do with an opposing player's fg% as the primary defender (who usually gets rested when the other guy is taking a break as well unless he's in foul trouble). You think a Wallace block doesn't make Prince look good? After game one, Prince was a Kobe-stopper. Now he's only efective one-on-one so if Kobe gets by him and dunks on Sheed (which he did), it's not his fault? LMAO!!!

Prince is the designated "Kobe-stopper" this series and Kobe is averaging 29 points (on 44% shooting) and 5.5 assists. As long as Kobe keeps driving to the hole, this trend will continue :D
Click to expand...

Just so you know:

Originally posted by Loki:

Kobe was 10-23 before his tying 3-pointer and the 3 layups in OT-- at LEAST 4 of those 10 makes came when (for some INEXPLICABLE REASON) Larry Brown decided to put either Hamilton, or Billups, or even Lindsey Hunter on Kobe. So against Prince he went 6-19 early
Click to expand...

These are the actual facts. He hit at least 3-4 of his shots with guys other than Prince as the primary defender before the tying 3 and OT. One was over Hunter, another Billups, and a couple on Hamilton. Why these guys were guarding Kobe when Prince was in the game is beyond me, but this is the fact of the matter. I'm not a liar; I have my biases, but I wouldn't lie-- if Kobe had a great shooting night against Prince, I'd be the first to give him credit. But he didn't. And that tying 3-pointer wasn't on Prince either (not that it would have necessarily made a difference, as Kobe's nuts in the clutch)-- I still don't know why Hamilton didn't attack the dribble while Kobe was shaking and baking for like 6 FULL SECONDS, which would have forced him to have to elude the pressure and drive it in or pick up the dribble. If he would've stepped in and hit the 2, who gives a shit? Weird-- Larry Brown is supposed to be a great coach? He sure blew it NUMEROUS times just on that last play (first by not fouling Shaq and then with the lack of defense/awareness of situation on Kobe).


EDIT: As for the questions about why more players shot a better % back then, I think a LOT of it has to do with the general lack of offensive skills today, which need to be DEVELOPED (they're usually honed in good college programs)-- with the number of players skipping college or playing only 1-2 years, it's not surprising that they lack these skills. Note: do NOT confuse offensive skills like footwork, a consistent jumper, utilizing screens, and reading defenses with ATHLETICISM. They have nothing to do with each other. Like I said before, name me one elite offensive player who has a lethal pull-up J. You can't do it. Why are guys like Sam Cassell still able to be very effective offensive players? He's slow as shit-- but he has an incredibly developed mid-range game and good offensive SKILLS in terms of reading defenses and playing men against one another on the floor and ultilizing the angles. These sorts of things used to be taught for the most part; they aren't today, which is why it often takes guys until their late 20's or early 30's to develop a complete offensive game.
 
I didn't post last night partly because I was tired (it was around 12:15 EDT when the game ended), but mostly because I was so disgusted with the Pistons. A six point lead with under a minute to go and they blew it. I have no clue as to why Rip was gaurding Kobe instead of Prince. I hope that the Pistons can get over the devestating loss, say to themselves, "We came here to win one, anything else was bonus." and win 2 of the next 3. I still think they can win this series, but it will be hard to get over this loss.
 
Loki....you keep on referring to these tapes....weren't you the one who in the other thread asked me if I could send you the Pistons-Bulls series tapes I have? I'm not a fool here, I watched these series, and I watched many of them live.

Yes they sent 2 or 3 guys to trap...but that is not what you'd call "regularly sending 2-4 guys at him".... ie there is a huge difference between triple and quadrouple teaming (the latter you just totally made it up, because it is physically almost impossible to pull off) and trapping with two guys to get MJ to give it up.

My point is that you can't just be so naive just to compare side by side stats from the 80s to ones 15 years later. The game has just changed so much since then. You know how many guys used to score 25 ppg? IIRC in 87' Alex English average 30 PPG on 50% shooting...and he wasn't even on any All-NBA team (my friend was making this exact same argument to me a couple of month ago). Scoring was just a lot easier then...end of story.

The game has just changed way too much, including in ways that have nothing to do with the actual/teams players involved. You now have zone defenses, which make it possible to double team a lot more often and in a lot more advantageous places and times. You can now have players floating around, which makes rotations so much better and help defenses be a lot more effective. Also, offensive fouls have become a TON easier to draw now on penetrations, which has really slowed the ability of dribble penetration. The most prominent thing in games from the 80s is not better shooting or whatever, but just a ton of penetration, something that would think would improve in time as athletes have become a lot more....athletic. But now, now it is very difficult to penetrate, and only really good players can do that. Then there is the general pace that games are played at. Teams now slow the pace waaay down, which allows not only fewer shot attempts, but also allows the defenses to be entrenched more easily.

Most of all, defenders have gotten bigger, longer, and quicker. When Michael Jordan entered the league, he was considered a big shooting guard. Now, every shooting guard is 6'6' or 6'7", and every point guard has to be well above 6 feet (ie no more Mark Price / Craig Ehlo backcourts). If you have a limited size court, and then make the players bigger, commen sense tells you that it gets harder to score, as there is far less space to go. Meanwhile, the front court, despite the lack of great offensive centers, have gotten very athletic, meaning it is very easy for forwards and centers to help defending the perimeter.

Finally, any coach will tell you that defense has become far more of a focus today than it used to be. Most coaches spend as much time on defensive drills as offensive ones, which is very, very different that it used to be. With the athletic nature of players changing in the early 90s, coaches started to realize that utilizing it defensively was the best way to win, Pat Riley being the best example. So you slow the pace up, introduce a much higher level of physicality until the refs get used to, and use the rule changes and new talent to your advantage. That's the story of defensive basketball in the last 15 years. If Magic and Bird played today, they'd both be criticized routinely for being bad defenders (Magic especially). Notice how no one seemed to care that they couldn't defend a chair (though it was well known) 15 years ago? The emphasis has switched now, and teams, as a whole, are just much, much better defenders.

And why, after addressing the differences in defenses now vs. then, do you constantly need to go into an entire jizz fest about the amazing things Jordan has done and how much greater he is than Jesus, and how Kobe Bryant can't compare blah blah blah? We all know Jordan was amazing, I already conceded multiple times that he is easily the greatest ever and a thoroughly better player than Kobe Bryant. Hell, you won't find a bigger MJ fan than me....I have all his playoff series recorded, a poster of him on my wall, and have been to a dozen of his games. Yet, that doesn't stop me from actually making sensical observations of how the NBA has changed, instead of just babbling on about how no one else can appreciate how amazing Jordan was and how he healed dying babies :P
 
Kobe was 10-23
Click to expand...

Is that so horrible? Take out his end of quarter shots and that's about 50% shooting

before his tying 3-pointer and the 3 layups in OT
Click to expand...

Nobody but Prince was on him in OT and he blew by the latest "Kobe-stopper" pretty easily. Prince CANNOT check Kobe off the dribble...
 
Once again Bat totally owns Loki. This is getting ugly, just give it up Loki you have been totally outclassed.

Bat > MJ

Lisa Leslie > Gary Payton > Loki = MJ

:D
 
Bat said:
how amazing Jordan was and how he healed dying babies :P
Click to expand...

He did-- I have the tapes. :D


And I did admit that the 4 defenders was rare and mostly occurred in or near the lane on drives/post-ups. But dude, they doubled him constantly, and came from all different angles, too. They had Dumars and Rodman; this would be the equivalent of Kobe having to face Bowen and then they could switch off to Artest when Bowen got winded. Jordan still averaged ~33 points on ~48-49% shooting.


Even if I concede to all of your points (and you make a number of good points, many of which I agree with), there is NO WAY that Kobe sees anywhere near the sort of defensive pressure as those Pistons put on Jordan, who was the ONLY focal point on the entire team. It's like Detroit's team defense today, but let's say they had Artest and Bowen to defend on Kobe as well, and that whole team would be dedicated to containing Kobe. There is no way that today's "increased athleticism" and more of a focus on defense is a match for the sheer defensive personnel and total concentration they gave to Jordan. And Jordan still lit them up for 40+ on the regular.


But anyway, I still say that based on physical skills alone, Jordan would've averaged 3-6 points more than Kobe or TMac in today's game. If you think he would've shot 47% doing that, then fine, I can live with that-- he'd still be the better player. Don't get me started about their respective defensive abilities, though. :P
 
Haha, Konex and Bionic's stuffing of the ballot box couldn't prevent the inevitable:


ESPN Poll of the Day:

Who would you rather have on your team:

25 year old Kobe Bryant: 21.0% (25,067 votes)

25 year old Michael Jordan: 78.9% (93,735 votes)



Suck it down, haters. ;) :D
 
ESPN.com is like the home for MJ fans. It's ridiculous. I feel as if I'm at a website that's been infiltrated by a 1000 Loki's, and it's not cool.
 
Meaningful Kobe/MJ comparisons are impossible right now. You just can't overlook the fact that Kobe has played with a dominant big man his whole career. Maybe one of you Kobe encyclopedias can quote us the Laker's record when they don't have Kobe and when they don't have Shaq. The Shaq-less Lakers are much, much worse.

A broken down Bill Cartwright doesn't quite compare to one of the top 5 centers of all time. And don't give me any Scottie Pippen smack, he is quite possibly the most overrated player of all time. After Kobe is sans Shaq for a few years, we can start comparing them.

As for improved defense, you will never convince me that fundamentals haven't declined recently. However, there are other factors. Hubie Brown said that people can scout tendencies a lot more now because so many games are televised and the technology is there for people to watch tape on laptops whenever and wherever they want. He said people prepare for every game like teams used to prepare for the playoffs in terms of knowing how the opponent plays.
 
HalfPastNoon said:
ESPN.com is like the home for MJ fans. It's ridiculous. I feel as if I'm at a website that's been infiltrated by a 1000 Loki's, and it's not cool.
Click to expand...

There are millions of us. We're watching. And waiting. And soon we'll know where you live. ;) :D

HIDE THE COOKIES, HALFPASTNOON! :P
 
Miguel said:
At least no one here is dumb enough to like Ray Allen or the Sonics
Click to expand...

Talk about a team swimming in futility for many years and more to come. Is there actually a Sonics fan brave enough to show his face around here? Management has fucked that team hard and good.

And just for Loki:

Kobe has three rings before MJ had ONE. And that's what the NBA is all about!
 
HalfPastNoon said:
And just for Loki:

Kobe has three rings before MJ had ONE. And that's what the NBA is all about!
Click to expand...

If you insist.


So Bob Cousy and John Havlicek >>>> Kobe


Thanks. :D
 
Even if I concede to all of your points (and you make a number of good points, many of which I agree with), there is NO WAY that Kobe sees anywhere near the sort of defensive pressure as those Pistons put on Jordan, who was the ONLY focal point on the entire team. It's like Detroit's team defense today, but let's say they had Artest and Bowen to defend on Kobe as well, and that whole team would be dedicated to containing Kobe. There is no way that today's "increased athleticism" and more of a focus on defense is a match for the sheer defensive personnel and total concentration they gave to Jordan. And Jordan still lit them up for 40+ on the regular.
Click to expand...

I agree that Kobe never gets that type of attention. Which is why we need to see him get his own team before making comparisons.

The thing is, until the Bulls adopted a multi-focal point offense with the triangle (and the emergence of Pippen), Jordan struggled severly against them. Are people forgetting the years of total futility against them? They were extremely successful against him. He scored (a lot) of points against them, but generally shot poor and the Bulls always lost. Only when Jordan took some of the burden off himself did they win, and win convincingly. But for years, Jordan severly struggled against them, as documented in "The Jordan Rules" (did you ever get a chance to read that, btw? ;) ) The stats look great....but at the time he got a lot of flak during those series. That's when people started wondering if a Jordan led team could win a championship, because he would drop 46, and they would still lose. It's also why Jackson insisted on installing the triangle when he got there.

My opinion about the Bad Boys Pistons was that offensively, they were massively underrated. Unlike these Pistons, they were one of the best scoring teams in the league. However, they were somewhat overrated defensively because they were somewhat gimmicky. Their extremely physical play limited the flashy offensive giants of the time, LA and Portland. Since those teams never played much defense, the Pistons knew if they could get knock those teams (literally) out of sync they would win. Against the Bulls, they beat up Jordan and challenged him to beat them buy himself, which is impossible. The key here is that their defense was as much mental as anything else. See, once Chicago got over that mental challenge of "the bad boys" they didn't just beat them, they destroyed them (leading to the famous walk off). They, all around, were not the fundamentally solid in every aspect team defenders these Pistons are. For one thing, the Bad Boys didn't have interior defense and shot blocking. Also, their best defensive players, especially Rodman, were more spark plugs that came off the bench to rough someone up, not lock down 48 minute defenders. Essentially, they didn't have particularly talented defenders (unlike these Pistons, where Prince and the two Wallace's are made for defense) but they took on a playing style that was very effective against their oponents, although extremely dirty.

The Celtics-Pistons rivalry is a whole other story, as both teams hated eachother so much the games basically devolved into gang fights.

And I agree that Jordan is in an entirely different class of defenders than Bryant (though he is still quite good).
 
By Ric Bucher
ESPN the Magazine

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Either the well-being of the free world is tied to the Lakers winning the 2004 NBA championship or the whole weapons-of-mass-destruction ruse is still too fresh for anyone to accept they've been misled once again. Or maybe both. That's the only way I can explain the prevailing notion that the Lakers are still the team to beat after what happened in the first two games in Los Angeles.

Then again, as any junkie will tell you, it's not the dope that kills you, it's the denial.

What is all this talk about "how do the Pistons recover" and "the landscape has completely shifted" as a result of losing Game 2 in overtime? I could understand such sentiment if Detroit had lost Game 1 or if the Lakers hadn't pulled out the stops to win Game 2. But stop kidding yourselves. Shaq played 48 minutes, coach Phil Jackson gave a rookie (Luke Walton) 26 minutes out of pure desperation and Karl Malone risked a lifetime limp to keep going and still it was only barely enough. The Pistons were down 11 and had all of their big men in foul trouble and methodically chipped away until the Lakers had to pick themselves up off the mat with a Kobe Bryant 3-pointer from 28 feet. The Pistons clearly demonstrated they are the mentally tougher, defensively stronger team for all of Game 1 and most of Game 2 and yet they're the ones who are, or should be, reeling?

Now, I'm in no way suggesting the Lakers can't come back to win this year's title. They've done the miraculous turnaround act before. They were down 2-0 to the San Antonio Spurs, by all accounts calling ahead to get their offseason homes spruced and then abruptly recovered to knock off the defending champions with four consecutive wins.

But let's be clear: At this stage, the Lakers have to come back to win this series. It's an uphill climb and the wind is in their face. They gave away homecourt advantage in Game 1. They either didn't give their best effort in what Shaquille O'Neal called a "must win" in Game 2 or their best effort is significantly less than previously thought. And they are now in Detroit for three games with their flag bearer, Malone, either playing on one leg or not at all.

Let's also be clear: The Lakers are as handicapped defensively by Malone's untimely uni-ped status as the Timberwolves were offensively by Sam Cassell's and face the same tough dilemma -- at what point is he more hindrance than help? And how do you tell a warrior like Malone it's the former? And what kind of impact will that have on the rest of your team if you do?

Forget the comparisons of Kobe's shot in Game 2 and Derek Fisher's .4-second heave against the Spurs. The circumstances, and teams, couldn't be more different. Fisher hit his shot in Game 5, on the Spurs' home floor and against a San Antonio team that had already lost two in a row. Kobe hit his at home, in Game 2, to dodge a 2-0 hole. The Spurs also had three fragile egos -- Rasho Nesterovic, Tony Parker and Hedo Turkoglu -- in the starting lineup alone that played Game 6 as if Game 5 were still dancing before their eyes. The Pistons have sustained gut-wrenching losses in these playoffs before and collectively squared their shoulders and gone back to work. They lost to the Bucks early in Round 1, to the Nets in triple-overtime in Round 2 and to the Pacers by 15 in the conference finals -- all at home, no less, either to tie the series or fall behind. They even lost three in a row to the defending conference champion Nets and recovered for two must wins. Discount all that as Leastern Conference scrumming at your own risk.

Let's also not make too much of coach Larry Brown's postgame description of the Game 2 loss as "crushing." Brown, if you ever watched him on a sideline or heard him in a huddle or talked to him in a casual conversation, is theatrical. He's even, dare I say, an embellisher. At that moment, behind that microphone, I'm sure some part of him felt crushed. I'm also sure that it had been fully restored by the time he got off the plane in Detroit, having cooked up the counters he plans to spring on the Lakers in Game 3.

"We've had similar experiences in these playoffs," Brown says. "I never spent any time on those losses."

As I see it, there's only one reason to believe the Lakers will win this series, and that's that Kobe Bryant can save their bacon three more times. I have no problem with anyone who believes he can, because the dude has done the seemingly impossible enough times to deserve that respect. Personally, I think carrying this Lakers' team with all its dings and downgraded parts to another ring is even too much for Crazy Eight. Or are you expecting Shaq to do more than he already is? Not likely. He's scored well and made the majority of his free throws, but he played 48 minutes and had seven rebounds and one blocked shot. Rip Hamilton had more rebounds than that and Luke Walton had more blocked shots. The Diesel, for whatever reason, is laboring and, until anyone knows why, it's hard to count on a change.

Or maybe you are placing all your purple hopes and golden dreams on the newest L.A. fan favorite, Luuuuuke. Eaaaassssy there. Sure, he came out of nowhere to contribute seven points, eight assists and five rebounds, not to mention a heap of vital help defense, in Game 2. Just be forewarned, this has happened against Detroit before and the surprise hit of the party was out on the porch the following game. Toni Kukoc had 15 points and nine rebounds in the Bucks' upset, then was held to two points and one rebound in Game 3. Brian Scalabrine poured in 17 points in New Jersey's triple-overtime win but didn't score in 15 minutes in the final two games of the series. Austin Croshere had 14 points in the Pacers' big Game 4 win but just two in the pivotal Game 5 loss.

"Throughout the playoffs we've had guys jump up and have good games on us," Ben Wallace said. "We just have to make some adjustments."

As they have, game by game and series by series, overcoming one supposedly dire situation after another with their methodical offense and will-sapping defense. The landscape has shifted far more violently than Game 2 did and the Pistons have had actual, honest-to-God holes to crawl out of -- and they have. Every time.

"We're here," says Mehmet Okur, "and we're not going anywhere. We're playing a great team, but we're a great team, too."

And if they're the only ones who think that, well, so be it. Everybody has to sober up eventually.
Click to expand...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2004/columns/story?columnist=bucher_ric&id=1819168

Damn straight!

edit: Oh and, btw, can we just make an "Official Kobe vs MJ Thread - Let's Get Ready to Rumble!" thread and put all that shit there? Please?
 
From ESPN.com at 12:50 PM PDT:

kobeowned.gif


The people have spoken!
 
The thing is, until the Bulls adopted a multi-focal point offense with the triangle (and the emergence of Pippen), Jordan struggled severly against them. Are people forgetting the years of total futility against them? They were extremely successful against him. He scored (a lot) of points against them, but generally shot poor and the Bulls always lost
Click to expand...

Jordan averaged 32+ against Detroit and never shot below 47% for a series against them (and that was extremely low for him, usually it was around 48-49%). I've been trying for the LIFE of me to find a site that has complete box scores for all playoff games, but I haven't been able to. My stating that he usually shot between 47-49% against Detroit in the playoffs is taken from reading various articles in SI and the like over the years as well as TV programs I've seen recapping those series.


So if averaging ~32 points on 47-49% shooting against a team whose sole mission is to stop you (and has some of the best defensive players in the league on it) is considered "struggling severely", then so be it.


They, all around, were not the fundamentally solid in every aspect team defenders these Pistons are.
Click to expand...

You have to be kidding. Joe Dumars, Rodman, and Thomas were considered 3 of the best defenders in the league (particularly the former 2), and Salley and Mahorn were noted post defenders. As for the shot blocking, no, they weren't quite up to par with these Pistons, but Rodman, Mahorn and Salley blocked many shots.

Also, their best defensive players, especially Rodman, were more spark plugs that came off the bench to rough someone up, not lock down 48 minute defenders. Essentially, they didn't have particularly talented defenders (unlike these Pistons, where Prince and the two Wallace's are made for defense) but they took on a playing style that was very effective against their oponents, although extremely dirty.
Click to expand...

True, Rodman played between 27-33 minutes/game from 1988-1991, so he wasn't quite a full-time player, but also realize that he won the defensive player of the year award TWICE during that time (1989 and 1990) even in those limited minutes. It says a lot about his individual defensive ability, considering that his steals/blocks numbers weren't particularly impressive (< 1 per game for each). So it had to be due to his man-to-man defensive ability; Rodman was a feared defender-- he wouldn't have garnered those accolades if he wasn't. "Spark plug" or not, when Dumars got tired, Rodman (a seven time member of the all-defensive first team) was there to defend Jordan. Joe Dumars isn't a "particularly talented defender"? A member of the all-defensive first team FIVE times, and generally regarded as one of the top 5-7 perimeter defenders in NBA history. Vince Carter said that Joe Dumars was the toughest defender he's ever faced, and he played against Joe when Joe was 35-- imagine if he had to face a young Dumars? Anyway, my point is that I think you're confusing "talent" with "athleticism", as many people do when comparing all aspects of the game. Rasheed Wallace is by NO stretch of the imagination a "talented" defender. Does he have the tools to be so if he wanted to be? Sure, so do a lot of guys. How many first or second defensive teams has he been a member of? Ever been among the blocked shots leaders? Does he hold his man to a low FG%? None, no, and no.

Ben Wallace is the only guy who can legitimately be called a defensive force on this Pistons team-- beyond him, they have a bunch of hard-nosed if not incredibly GOOD defenders who have bought into a system and break their asses on defense in terms of their help and rotations. That's not talent, that's cohesiveness. So what, you're saying that if you put a young Rodman and a young Dumars on this Pistons team in place of Rip/Chauncey and Prince, they wouldn't be a vastly improved defensive team? Come on... :P



Against the Bulls, they beat up Jordan and challenged him to beat them buy himself, which is impossible.
Click to expand...

Of course-- no one man can win a championship. I never argued that, and I know very well when Detroit's defensive schemes against Jordan started to crumble (it was when Pippen started shooting better than 2-15 against them and Grant became less intimidated). :)


This is an example of what it was like before Pippen and Grant started to assert themselves, and it is the only box score from any game in those series I could find after extensive searching online:


CHICAGO MN FG-FGA FT-FTA RB AS PF ST TO BL PTS
Pippen 42 1-10 0-0 4 2 2 1 1 0 2
Grant 45 3-17 4-4 14 1 3 1 2 2 10
Cartwright 23 3-9 0-0 5 1 2 0 0 0 6
Hodges 30 3-13 0-0 3 2 5 0 2 0 8
Jordan 45 13-27 5-5 8 9 2 1 4 0 31
Nealy 18 2-3 2-2 6 0 4 1 0 0 6
King 13 1-2 3-4 2 0 0 0 1 0 5
Armstrong 19 1-8 0-0 1 0 3 0 0 0 2
Perdue 2 0-0 2-2 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
Davis 2 1-1 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
Sanders 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team 7
TOTALS 28-90 16-17 52 15 21 4 10 2 74
3-PT: 2-19 (Hodges 2-12, Armstrong 0-1, Jordan 0-2,
Grant 0-2, Pippen 0-2)



Detroit won this game (Game 7 of the 1990 Eastern COnference Finals) in a blowout, 93-74 (source: www.motorcitybadboys.com). Notice that Jordan accounted not only for 42% of the points scored (on 48+% shooting), but that, of the 15 other FG's made in the game (which is pathetic), he assisted on 9 of those (60%). In short, he was directly responsible for over 66% of the Bulls points that game. And these were low #'s for MJ against Detroit from my recollections, particularly in the assists column, which Detroit's collapsing, trapping defense forced him to do more of. Besides Jordan, the rest of the team shot a collective 24% from the field.


This obviously doesn't prove anything (it's just one game); it was only intended to illustrate the sort of performance Jordan had to deliver REGULARLY for his team to have any hope of success in the playoffs until Pippen and Grant matured as players. Jordan got it done despite being the focal point of the Pistons' defensive schemes.



And I agree that Jordan is in an entirely different class of defenders than Bryant (though he is still quite good).
Click to expand...

Never said Kobe wasn't. I'm glad we at least agree on this, though. :D
 
This forum is like a haven for MJ historians. With this great series going on, I don't understand how you guys can talk this passionately about stuff from the past.
 
Fifty said:
This forum is like a haven for MJ historians. With this great series going on, I don't understand how you guys can talk this passionately about stuff from the past.
Click to expand...

they are living in the past.


a_pitino_vt.jpg

"Michael Jordan isn't coming through that door folks!"
 
PistonHodnamn said:
they are living in the past.


a_pitino_vt.jpg

"Michael Jordan isn't coming through that door folks!"
Click to expand...

LOL

That was a great quote-- I remember that. It was Pitino who said that, right? I saw it in print a couple of years after Jordan's retirement. :P
 
actually it was when he was coaching the celts, and all the fans/media were jumping on his back because of how shitty a job he was doing. He was like "Larry bird's not walking through that door. Kevin McHale's not walking through that door folks!"
 
PistonHodnamn said:
actually it was when he was coaching the celts, and all the fans/media were jumping on his back because of how shitty a job he was doing. He was like "Larry bird's not walking through that door. Kevin McHale's not walking through that door folks!"
Click to expand...

YES! That was it lol. I remember laughing when I first heard that. :P
 
This is how I think the rest of this series will go down:

Game 3 - Pistons Close
Game 4 - Pistons by Double Digits
Game 5 - Lakers by Double Digits
Game 6 - Lakers Close
Game 7 - Pistons Close
Series - DET 4-3
 
Cubsfan23 said:
Pistons will win by 20 tonight
Click to expand...
While I wouldn't mind that, don't you think that's a bit over the top? Unless the Lakers somehow channel the Nets Game 7 spirit, I doubt that's happening :p
 
Interesting stat bought up during PTI: Of the 31 Finals series that were tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the championship 27 out of the 31 times (or 87%). So, everyone, put all your praying power into the Pistons tonight! Infuse them with the energy of GA!
 
Bowser said:
Interesting stat bought up during PTI: Of the 31 Finals series that were tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the championship 27 out of the 31 times (or 87%). So, everyone, put all your praying power into the Pistons tonight! Infuse them with the energy of GA!
Click to expand...
Ha, I saw that too. Cool stat.
 
The Piston's announcer isn't falling asleep at the wheel? What's going on? I thought it was part of the deal after seeing the games in LA.
 
Cloudy said:
Kobe needs to go to jail....



http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040607/i/r3755588616.jpg

For being so fucking dumb!!!

PS: No wonder they stunk it up in game 1. Dude was at the MTV awards instead of watching game tape!
Click to expand...

Damn Kobe's wife is hot. What a fucking retard. Even though he is innocent of rape, he should spend at least 6 months in jail for cheating on something that wasn't even 1% as hot. I think his taste in groupie skanks will improve over time as will his decisions during games. Then again, NBA playesr are notorius for having no taste in their groupie whores.
 
I want GP to win a ring bad. But I also want this Pistons team to win b/c they are just nasty on D. Then again, I did pick the Lakers from last year after they formed their superteam. I'd hate to be wrong. PEACE.
 
WTF? Rip Hamilton is listed at 6'7"? I met him once at a Best Buy in DC (where funnily enough my friend asked who he wanted in the draft and he said Melo :D) and he sure has hell didn't look 6'7".
 
The Piston's announcer isn't falling asleep at the wheel? What's going on? I thought it was part of the deal after seeing the games in LA.
Click to expand...

Dude is also a very popular radio host around here....
 
This is the first time i've seen the Pistons starting lineup being announced.. so it might be different normally... but... MY GOD is their announcer f'ing annoying.

That's all.
 
bionic77 said:
WTF? Rip Hamilton is listed at 6'7"? I met him once at a Best Buy in DC (where funnily enough my friend asked who he wanted in the draft and he said Melo :D) and he sure has hell didn't look 6'7".
Click to expand...

Heck, I saw him guard Kobe two nights ago. No way is he 6'7"...haha.
 
DarienA said:
oh goodie another slow Lakers start.
Click to expand...

No to worry my man, we're just getting started.:) Darien I **GUARANTEE** we will win this game dude!!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

The Wrecking Crew | Momoa vs Bautista Action-Comedy | Official Trailer
20
500
AJUMP23 replied
URC 2025-2026 Official Thread
Social 
7
664
StueyDuck replied
Lee Cronin's The Mummy Official Trailer
10
236
Moondoggy replied
  • Poll
Superman (1978) vs Batman (1989) vs Spider-Man (2002)
2
81
505
MrCunningham replied
Moana | Official Trailer
2
67
323
jason10mm replied
Top Bottom