Our third place game features two teams who both advanced further than expected based on wildly different approaches. One team used an unstoppable offense to upset a great Spurs team. The other used a dominant defense to vanquish Michael Jordan and the third-ranked Bulls. While both teams were tamed by the top seeds in our tournament, the third-place battle between the All-Time Golden State Warriors vs. All-Time Detroit Pistons promises to be a classic.
Key Matchups
Physicality vs. finesse – The Bad Boys made it to the Final Four largely due to the toughness and physicality of their roster. Dennis Rodman, Bailey Howell, Ben Wallace, and Bill Laimbeer were known for battering opponents, and getting under their skin in the process. They have size, athleticism, and support from other solid defenders, including Joe Dumars and Chauncey Billups, on their roster. However, they again face an offensive juggernaut that may be able to overcome their stifling defense. Golden State’s offense presents a unique challenge to their opponents, with six former scoring champions, including all five in their starting lineup. Expect Detroit to try to slow the pace of each game, and rough up Golden State’s perimeter stars whenever possible. Stephen Curry will be specifically targeted, as Detroit will test his pain threshold throughout the series.
Wilt vs. Worm – One could argue that the two greatest rebounders in NBA history are facing off in this battle. Wilt Chamberlain, the all-time leader in rebounds and rebounds per game, towered over opponents and used his elite athleticism to dominate the boards. Dennis Rodman, who dominated his competition on the glass even more than Chamberlain, used his superior instincts and basketball IQ to win seven straight rebounding (per game) titles in the 1990s. Rodman has experience guarding much larger foes, such as Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning, so expect Chuck Daly to use him on Wilt at times. In these instances, Dennis will try to get inside Wilt’s head with a combination of trash talk and cheap shots. Detroit will also use Bob Lanier, Ben Wallace, and Bill Laimbeer to frustrate Chamberlain and send him to the foul line as often as possible.
Biggest Mismatches
Detroit’s athleticism advantage – Detroit has a vastly superior team defense, which is partly due to the athleticism on their roster. Rodman, Grant Hill, Billups and Dumars can switch aggressively and cover plenty of ground to contest Golden State’s jumpers. Golden State’s roster is filled with players who were more advanced on the offensive end, and they do not have the team athleticism on the perimeter to thrive on the other end of the court.
Golden State’s firepower – Luckily for Golden State, they can make up for their lack of defense with a completely unstoppable offensive attack. They have several ways they can beat their opponents, specifically with either a Twin Towers lineup featuring two of the best offensive centers the game has ever seen (Chamberlain and Neil Johnston), or with one big man surrounded by a bevy of shooters and passers (with Tom Gola and Rick Barry playing as the forwards in this setup). Although Detroit’s perimeter defenders can cover a lot of ground, Curry’s limitless range alongside Paul Arizin, Barry, and Chris Mullin will help to negate that advantage.
X-Factor
Offense vs. Defense – NBA history is littered with examples of unstoppable offenses facing off against dominant defenses. Since 1950-51, basketball-reference.com has team data on offensive rating (an estimate of points produced per 100 possessions) and defensive rating (an estimate of points allowed per 100 possessions). There are 19 instances where the league’s top offense by this metric met the top defense in a playoff series, with the defensive team winning 12 of these encounters:
This data shows that there’s no discernible pattern to be drawn from these matchups. Typically, the better team prevails, with a dominant player leading the way to victory.
Results
The Detroit Pistons advanced to the Final Four of our tournament through team play, relentless effort on the defensive end, and a diversified offensive attack. They finally met their match against a team with too much high-end talent for them to handle. While Golden State is not as good as Los Angeles, they have the same ability to elevate their offensive game to a level that Detroit can’t replicate. The Bad Boys fight to the very end, but Wilt, Barry, Steph, Arizin and company prove to be too much to handle.
Warriors win, four games to three.
Excellent analysis as always, my friend.
THE DUBS GO SMALL:
If I were coaching the Dubs, I’d go one big (Wilt) and 4 small; BECAUSE Wilt can handle the middle against these Pistons, on both ends of the floor; and such as Curry and Barry will just keep the ball endlessly moving. Much like “Spurfection” allowed the Spurs to topple the HEAT juggernaut (in perhaps the Finals with the most beautifully ever executed example of non-stop ball movement); so too can the Dubs here – with the additional terrific bonus of, if the clock is winding down and still no super-open shot opens up – they can dump it into Wilt, who due to the exquisite ball-movement; will be mostly single-covered.
WILT BEING WILT:
Imo, Wilt would do more vs Rodman (et al.) than even Shaq did.
In these series, Wilt is gonna play HEAVY minutes (no problem for him); because when he’s on the floor – the Dubs’ will be an offensive nightmare for even this ultra-coordinated defensive squad.
KEY: BARRY TO CURRY
Getting to see what Barry could do for Curry (and vice-versa) would be worth the price of admission. Barry was an absolute wizard with the ball &, for a forward, had almost unlimited range himself. Curry would constantly be finding himself hitting his spots to find the ball landing in his hands at that very moment. Allowing Curry to just GO OFF – is the most serious of challenges for the other team – and Barry will ensure that happens.
UNSTOPPABLE FORCE VS INMOVABLE OJBECT – RIGHT ON !
This WOULD be an excellent match-up; because you DO have to love watching a classic: Unstoppable Force Vs An Inmovable Object.
KEY ROLE OF REFFING, IN ANY BAD BOYS’ SERIES:
As both of us have emphasized specifically when referring to the Bad Boys; a lot of this is gonna depend on the referring: if it’s tight; the games will be higher scoring and that’ll favor the Dubs big time. If the reffing is loose; the games will be very low scoring and that’ll favor the Pistons.
I agree, this could very well go down to a 7th game – wouldn’t that be something to see!
This is such a great contrast of styles. This Warriors team would be so explosive and fun to watch. Imagine in a few years, when Durant, Green, and/or Thompson are added to the fold!
I know. I couldn’t agree more.
They say that defense wins championships; BUT a super offense can just be unstoppable even to the best of defenses. And here were are dealing with extreme examples of offenses: GSW, C’s and Lakers – all three; and only these three have enough firepower to just overwhelm even these incredible Pistons.
What an honor to be able to envision Barry playing the Magic/LeBron role – master distributor with All-Time Marksmen EVERYWHERE. With the ball just flying around, you can’t double cover anybody; you can’t even stop any of them – getting the ball exactly when they’ve hit their spots. What glorious fireworks.
Your comment about the current team is right on point – these 4 guys (including Curry), barring serious injury, are gonna all be on the All-Time GSW Top 8 Rotation players.
Apologies on the slight derail, but I wasn’t sure where to post this comment regarding the 2016-17 Warriors’ place among the all-time great teams in league history.
The biggest factor in those matchups would be the rules themselves. It would depend on the historic team’s versatility – how fast would they adapt to the new rules? Who would flourish or suffer under the rule changes?
That said, I think the game was designed for the big man, even though the three point line was devised to lend the shorter but skilled guys an even playing field. If your team has an all-time great big man who can protect the rim, control the boards, and demand a double team on offense, you control the pace of the game.
A team with Wilt Chamberlain and stocked with shooters and role players will beat the 2017 Warriors 3 out of 5 times. The 1967 Sixers were the most physically dominant team in league history, with Wilt in his prime, playing to win.
The early sixties Celtics could play fast, they ran a 5 man fast break with Bill Russell, who would command the boards and shut off the interior, and others like Jones or Sharman hit clutch shots. They would be smart enough to put Russell on Durant at key moments of the game, and tempt him to take bad three point shots, negating his size.
I suspect the Warriors would handle the early seventies Knicks because Clyde Frazier would not be able to bully Curry in the backcourt. He had trouble versus quicksilver guards. Their brand of ball, pass to the open man, would actually play into the Warriors’ hands.
Nobody on the Warriors could bully the younger but lithe Abdul-Jabbar or get physical with Robertson, so the 1971 Bucks would beat them. Same goes for the 1972 Lakers, just because of Jerry West and Gail Goodrich neutralizing the Splash Brothers. Rotate Happy and McMillian on Durant, and force the Warriors to double Chamberlain in the high post. Pachulia would be in permanent foul trouble, and Green would be too worn down guarding the behemoth.
It should go without saying that those Warriors get most of the teams from the seventies, with the exception of the 1976 Blazers.
Would the Showtime Lakers be able to keep up with the Warriors when Curry went Super Sayian? It’s likely the Bird Celtics would wear down the Warriors over a long series, and perhaps Moses of those Sixers would eat Green for lunch.
But I’d love to see a matchup between the 95 Rockets and the Warriors of today. That was pre-Small ball, flexible with a young Horry at the 4 spot, all four three point shooters surrounding the unstoppable Hakeem.
Great analysis. I agree that the rules make a huge impact on any matchup between all-time great teams. I’m thinking that if I do a tournament that features the all-time best teams facing each other, the rules would be based on the year the home team played. As an example, if the 2016-17 Warriors faced the 1995-96 Bulls, the Bulls would have homecourt because of their superior record, so the four games in Chicago would have 1996 rules, while the three games in Golden State would have 2017 rules. The 1967 Sixers would have no three point line, etc. What do you think about that format?