Larry Brown faces a daunting task. He's taking on a team with 4 Hall of Famers. He needs to stop Wilt 2004. A guy named Chauncey(I wish the Celtics could get a guy like THAT) handles the ball. He has a best player who can't really score.
A guy who is threatening the all-time scoring record is Option #3 on the other team. Option #2, btw, has bigger things on his mind than this game...but he'll drop 40 on you once this series, guaranteed. And you'd better hope Option #1 tears his knee up in Game 1.
The Pistons are a splendid team. Chauncey is a scoring point guard, always a hoot to watch. Rip has been clutch through the whole postseason. Prince made a supernatural block on Miller that kids will strive to imitate. Rasheed has been...gasp...a steady veteran presence. Has he been ejected from a game as a Piston? Okur is a trip to watch- I thought he was black until I saw him.
I'd love to see Darko get some minutes- if he can shoot at all, they'll need him. Let him play against George, or at least let him foul Shaq 6 times. He may get some heavy minutes if one of the games is a rout.
How cool is Ben Wallace? A monster defensive presence, a rebounder extrordinaire...and big hair. The man throws his weight around, makes his presence felt, and leaves it all on the court. If that jumper keeps falling, he lures Shaq away from the basket. Defense first, rebounding, hustling, team-oriented, a nobody who succeeded- the kind of kid a coach likes to see his team marry.
Still, they can't score with the Lakers, and are poorly equipped to stop Kobe and Shaq. This is Finals #1 for most of them. Like a cheating spouse, Larry Brown sometimes says "Carmello" when speaking to Milicic. Larry better get his Screw Face on, and he might want to delve into African history and read about Hannibal.
I don't mean the insane guy after Jodie Foster...either of them. I also don't mean the guy fom the A Team, although he would be good to have in on the planning. I mean the general from Carthage, who marched his army over the Alps(with elephants, nonetheless) to attack Rome.
Facing the Roman army in central Italy at a river bend called Cannae, Hannibal sent his 45,000 men after 55,000 Romans. He instructed his center to cave in, and then surrounded the advancing Romans. He allowed the stronger foe to exert his energy, fell on them from all sides, and chopped them to pieces. This double envelopement is still studied by generals today, and elements of it can be seen in the Schlieffen Plan(Germany's plan to invade France via Belgium) and Operation Desert Storm. The entire Roman army was slaughtered.
Now, Larry Brown doesn't have the option of having his Numidian light calvary attack the Lakers from the rear. What he needs to do is go to the drawing board and come away with a masterpiece. Knocking off a Dream Team would be the Cannae of basketball. I'd love to see it happen.
10 comments:
piston will win in six believe or not
All the Pistons have to do to win this series, is to be very aggressive. Ben Wallace has to prove to O'Neal that he isn't going to be pushed around. Game 1 is the key to this series whoever wins Game 1 will get the ring.
A you can see by the results of game 1, you are full of CRAP!!
HA HA
Afraid the Lakers think they have won the the prize and will not until they realize they need to win four games within a span of seven games and they are already going in the wrong direction. Lakers are too full of themselves and will be giving excuses by the abundance after the series is over.
Well Well Well...
Its been 3 yrs EXACTLY since Larry Brown on the 1st Game of the NBA Championship against the LA Lakers! This time he WILL make it stick! As a disheartened Phila. Fan, i am glad the Pistons have pissed all over the Lakers Yellow and Purple. I just cannot stand the bandwagon LA fans. I will be glad to see them go down in flames...Balls To you daddy
Well it looks like Larry Brown does have the best game plan, play Shaq and Kobe straight up and shut down everyone else. Even if they both score 30 the rest of the team is only good for about 10 to 15 points so then all the pistons have to do is score 80 to 90 points to beat the lakers, and with the way the Lakers played defense it doesnt seem as unlikely as it did against the Pacers
PHIL JACKSON IS CLEVER AND HAVE GREAT PLAYERS , BUT LARRY BROWN IS THE ENCYCLOPEDIA.
who cares. this has become a JUNK sport.
Larry Brown. From the Dean Smith tree. Brown has been successful everywhere he has coached, and he's played or coached everywhere.
North Carolina > Olympics > American Basketball Association > New Orleans > Oakland > Washington > Denver > Carolina Cougars > Denver Rockets > Denver Nuggets > UCLA > NJ Nets > Kansas > San Antonio > Los Angeles Clippers > Indiana Pacers > Philadelphia 76ers > Detroit Pistons.
Remember, Larry has to beat LA three more times. He simply won the first exchange. He lost the second round. Particularly disturbing was Detroit's OT collapse, although that Kobe shot may have been the Buzzkill of all Buzzkills.
Still, he took one in LA, and now has 3 games at home. He may have won the psychological battle. Had the Lakers blown them out in Game One, the Pistons may have seen merit in that Juggernaut Laker theory that has been the main theme of most media...this column included. The Pistons aren't scared, and that was half the battle.
Post a Comment