Wallace claims 2004 Pistons ‘would beat the hell out of’ 2017 Warriors originally appeared on KeynoteUSA Sports Bay Area
The 2017 Warriors weren’t fair.
Going 16-1 throughout their career in the 2017 NBA Finals, Golden State, with a starting lineup of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Zaza Pachulia, will forever be remembered as one of the best basketball teams ever assembled. .
However, Rasheed Wallace, a retired four-time NBA All-Star and member of the 2004 title-winning Detroit Pistons, believes he and his former team would outwit the Warriors in a hypothetical matchup.
“We have an NBA record that will never be broken,” Wallace said Thursday on “Sheed & Tyler,” presented by Underdog NBA. “We held six or seven teams under 70 points. In this era of scoring, that would never happen.” He broke again. We were on defense, we hung our hats on defense.
“We would have beaten them. I’m going to address that because… Draymond (Green) said this nonsense the other day on his and Shaq’s podcast. “We would have beaten them for the simple fact that they couldn’t match us in any position.”
“We would have beaten them because for the simple fact that they couldn’t match us in any position…Steph (Curry) is not a defender. He would have had to guard Rip (Hamilton)…Draymond (Green) is very small …”
Sheed says the 2004 Pistons SMOKE the 2017 Warriors pic.twitter.com/gGAwn7EaIc
– Rasheed Wallace (@UnderdogSheed) May 30, 2024
“Defense” was Detroit’s pride and joy with its roster led by Chauncey Billups, Richard “Rip” Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace.
En route to a 4-1 series victory over retired greats Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals, the Pistons held teams to just 84.3 points per game during the 2003-04 regular season. An unthinkable feat in today’s league.
However, Detroit averaged only 90.1 points per game that season. Golden State, comparatively, averaged a league-leading 115.9 points per game during the 2016-17 NBA regular season and had three players (Curry, Durant and Thompson) average over 20 points per night.
The two teams are from two completely different eras, but the 2017 Warriors definitely had more star power than the 2004 Pistons. However, Wallace was adamant that Golden State would be outplayed in virtually every area.
“Steph is not an advocate,” Wallace added. “He would have had to guard Rip. How many screens was Rip doing? Or whoever they tried to target, they would have been too small for Chauncey… What I’m saying is, back then, KD couldn’t guard Tayshaun; Tayshaun He was an underrated scorer…
“They are not used to the physical aspect. Draymond is too small. (The rules) don’t matter. “Under the new rules, they can’t screw us either because we have more guys with better skills.”
Wallace’s stance doesn’t appear to change anytime soon, as a likely result of the hypothetical Warriors-Pistons matchup.
Golden State would be greatly favored if Wallace’s dream scenario existed.
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