Rasheed Wallace Thinks The '04 Pistons Can Beat The Golden State Warriors
By: Evan Jankens
@kingofthekc
Every year when a team reaches the NBA Finals or wins it, teams from back in the day like to speak about how they would win now.
Take Magic Johnson for example, he thinks the "Showtime" Lakers would sweep the Golden State Warriors because they are "too small."
Dr. J also thinks his Sixers team would beat the Warriors.
"And Billy Cunningham being the task master that he was, we would have figured it out," he said. "We would have figured out how to play against this team and how to beat this team."
Now the Detroit Pistons are in the mix courtesy of Rasheed Wallace and a recent interview he did with Taylor Rooks.
"I think the Warriors' defensive strategy is, I'ma put up more shots than you. And if you try to match that, then you assed out because they got exceptional shooters.
"So that's their whole defensive thing. I don't call it good defense if the man came down and he shot a jump shot or shot a three and missed it, and the Warriors went back down to the other end and scored it.
"That's not good defense, and that's what happens a lot in this game now. They're not shutting nobody down. Even though you can't shut a scorer down—you can slow him down."
"With the way that we played in Detroit, we'd lock [players] down. The things that we did in Detroit will never be done again.
"Our record of holding seven teams under 70 points will never be done again."
I don't know if I'm buying what Sheed is trying to sell. When the Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers in 2004 to advance to the NBA Finals, they won 69-65. The Warriors scored 60 points in the first half of game one, 67 points in the first half of game two and 67 points in the first half of game three.
The Warriors are going to get their points no matter what Sheed thinks. Do you think the '04 Pistons would be today's Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals?