Pistons played a lot of 1-1 single coverage man to man defense under Larry Brown in 2004 and 2005 and that's when they held Kobe to his 2nd worst and Duncan to his worst Finals FG%. When Flip Saunders (RIP) took over they did a lot more zone and that's when they got destroyed by Wade in the 2006 ECF who shot over 60%. I can't think of any perimeter player who shot 60% on a top 5 defense like Wade did. Flip's overuse of zone really hurt the 2006 Pistons in the ECF. He should have used the 1-1 man to man defense like Larry Brown did
+Agent of Chaos By Chris McCosky / The Detroit News, 2005 Thinking about the Pistons playing zone defense is a little weird, isn't it? They, after all, have been the NBA's standard-bearers for hard-hitting, *man-to-man defense* the last four years. It's like picturing 50-Cent in a Subaru or Tiger Woods hitting an iron off the tee on a par 5 -- sort of tough to get your mind around. And, frankly, not all of the Pistons players have gotten their minds around it. Ben Wallace, the reigning defensive player of the year, isn't exactly thrilled with the concept. "We'll see," he said. Rasheed Wallace isn't completely sold, either. *"I am not a big fan of the zone*, myself," he said. *"I am more of a man-to-man guy*. But, hey, if it's for the team, I am with it." Before we go any further, it must be pointed out that the Pistons are, by no means, scrapping their old defense. Man-to-man will continue to be their primary defense. *"Our bread and butter is still our man-to-man*," Chauncey Billups said. "That's not going to change." Coach Flip Saunders, though, has long been recognized as the most ardent and effective teacher and practitioner of zone in the NBA. And when he sees the length, quickness and aggressiveness of the Pistons' frontcourt players, he can barely keep from salivating at the idea of deploying them in zones. "I'll say this, we were known in the league for playing the best zone defense when I was in Minnesota," Saunders said. "In one day (with the Pistons), I can tell you we're going to be a much better zone defensive team here this season than we ever were in Minnesota." Saunders envisions using zone as a change-of-pace defense, one that can disrupt the opponent's offensive rhythm and create scoring opportunities in transition. "The main part of our defense is our ability to protect the paint, play aggressively, give up no layups, contest every shot and give up no second shots," he said. "You know, I watched a lot of film from last year and they (the Pistons) played zone. They just didn't call it a zone." *The players dispute that a bit*. Yes, some of their help techniques and switches resembled zone concepts. But they will proudly tell you that they played *mostly straight-up man-to-man, often refusing even to double-team.* *"We never played zone* and we *hardly even double-teamed*," Billups said. "In a zone you are guarding space. It's tough to get used to. Larry (Brown, former coach) tried to do it a couple of times last year, but we never really worked on it. This year, we are going to work on it. It's going to be a change-up type thing for us."
"I think it's important we're a *great man-to-man team*, and rebounding team, because I think if you do those things, you can do anything defensively," Brown said. *"I don't like zones because I think it's a sign of weakness* for us, for us, and I worry about rebounding out of zones." - Philadelphia Inquirer, 2001 One example is reflected in his philosophy regarding the Hack-a-Shaq strategy. The Detroit Pistons' 63-year-old coach refuses to embrace it, if only because of his anxiety-induced imagination for the worst. "It's like my assistants (who) keep telling me to play zone," Brown said. "Every time we talk about zone, I think every team we play against is going to make every jump shot." - USA Today, 2004 Under Larry Brown's man to man principles they forced - Kobe into his worst Finals performance (and perhaps overall series) - Duncan into his worst-shooting playoff series ever in the 2005 Finals - and Wade under 50% in the 2005 ECF including pre-injury after Flip Saunders took over Larry Brown's Pistons and implemented much more zone principles, they never went back to the Finals and allowed Wade to shoot over 60% on them in 2006. Larry Brown no longer is on the sideline. The coach who drove the Pistons to the 2004 title and within one game of a 2005 repeat is working for the New York Knicks. In his place arrives Flip Saunders, a coach who *favors the type of zone defense Brown had disdained*, a coach who accepts freelance play from his point guards, a coach whose offensive playbook makes Brown's come off as a pamphlet. - Sun-Sentinal, 2005 Wallace knows that Pistons head coach Flip Saunders plans to have the team play more zone defense this year. *That doesn't mean Wallace has to like it*. (I think this is Rasheed, not Ben) "I'm not knocking his coaching zone or nothing like that," Wallace said. "I don't want y'all to get it misconstrued, but in the system that I grew up in ... *I don't like zone. Zones are terrible*. It's just trying to hide the weakest defenders." - A. Sherrod Blakely, Mlive 2006 so the best defensive team actually used man to man 90% of the time and the Piston players along with Larry Brown despised using zone defense
I made an archive of quotes and pieces of articles regarding the 2004-2006 Pistons defense and the changes that took place after Larry Brown's departure and Flip Saunders arrival. I focused on 2004-2006 because those are the only years that Ben, Rasheed, Prince, Rip, and Billups were all on the team, after 2006 they lost Ben Wallace and before 2004 they didn't have Rasheed. Feel free to check it out when you want, it's a lot of quotes and excerpts so you might not want to read it all at once 2004pistons.blogspot.com
Flip was an offensive guru, but didn't offer much in terms of defensive schemes. While Larry Brown's Pistons didn't exactly wow you offensively, it was all a part his of defensive strategy: use the entire shot clock and move the ball from side to side; ball movement, down-screens, and little isolation-ball. This, in turn, limited transition opportunities for opposing offensives and allowed the Pistons to set up their half-court defense, where they were absolutely lethal. Kind of like a football coach having his quarterback milk the clock and spread the ball around with short passes, rather than gun-slinging the deep ball. Doing so keeps your defense off the field and well-rested, making them even tougher on an opposing offense. Larry Brown fit the Pistons perfectly, it's just a damn shame he had so many off-court issues that prevented him fulfilling his full contract as our head coach. Just a shame.
Bad finals by Kobe should've went to the rim more but they were collapsing the paint forcing him to take jumpers which he makes usually but this series they wouldn't fall but a post game would've helped then
Yeah prince really baited him into shooting and thinking he couldn’t get around him and his passing lanes were covered. Prince did a good good of looking like he was defending him from going around him and that he was not in position or anticipating to guard Kobe’s jump shot but prince was tall, long enough, fast enough and planning to contest Kobe’s jumper and did a great job of blocking Kobe’s view of the basket once he went up to shoot. Basically tricked Kobe into thinking that it was his best option to shoot and that he was beating prince/prince didn’t know he was going up to shoot/he’d get the shot off before prince took his view,space, away and get his arm up
They literally guarded him one on one for a large majority of the series Kobe just played like shit trying to play hero ball. His poor shooting cost them the series.
No he did not. He shot 41.4% against Minnesota in the West Finals. And 38.6% against Houston in the first round. Two series the Lakers were semi-lucky to have end the way they did. Without Kareem Rush going off in Game 6, they may have blown the T-Wolves series (Kobe was 6 for 17 in the closeout game after going 7 for 21 in the key game against Houston, the Game 4 when Karl Malone's last great game offset Kobe's 7 for 21). Y'all love to make shit up trying to defend Kobe.
@@manuginobilisbaldspot424 Cherry picking stats and FG% doesn't mean squat in the NBA. Kobe still averaged 24.5 points per game in a bad career playoffs that year. Had a 40 point game and two 30 point games.
@@paratext yes it does saying when he got hot makes up for the majority of the playoffs where his terrible fg percentage almost cost them series is ludicrous. Kobe was putting up shots he had no business shooting and that also resulted in other players not getting enough touches to get into rhythm and to not become rusty on what to do when Kobe isn’t open and they can’t get the ball to Shaq. Kobe was missing good looks that he should have made up he was jacking up bad shots when he was well guarded and trying to hit long threes and long twos stopping the triangle preventing Garry Payton and other’s involvement on offense. Kobe when he got the ball would stop doing the triangle leaving other guards and wings plus Shaq to be out of place and no direction to where to rotate. If resulted in Detroit not having to run much on defense and not get fouls so they had more energy and fouls to give on offense. Kobe played terrible for his standards and what you’d expect from an elite sg who was amoung the top 5 best players in the league. Kobe’s poor shot section, choosing to shot when he was defended and jack up long threes which he’d spent a ton of time dribbling, moving and doing fakes wasted a fuck ton of energy so he was fatigued resulted in flat arches to his shots, him not being able to get around his defender, and him missing open looks. Which caused a positive feed back loop in which Detroit didn’t need to double, him not being able to move as quick so he have to waste more energy to get a shot up against his defender and him taking more 3pts with a flat arch. His teammates movement was stopped from him not doing the triangle and they had to stand further back from the basket ti get long rebounds from his bricks but Detroit was tall so they couldn’t get them. Shaq played great against Detroit, Kobe’s performance caused Gary and the rest to not be effective or get going offensively in the game and it caused Shaq to not get enough touches so detriot did not need to double him. If he ran the triangle and rotated to pass to Shaq, Shaq would have gotten better looks and kept scoring resulting in Detroit needing to double. Kobe not jacking shots and running the triangle would have gotten other lakers moving on offense and going which would require detriot to guard them fully instead of just covering Kobe’s passing lanes and lanes to the basket. Man to man cover on Kobe would have gone different because they basically made it look like his passing lanes and lane to the basket was defended and bait Kobe into thinking he’d could get a good three off being guarded one on one but close out once he went up to shoot. The reality is if he used the triangle, pushed the ball, did quick passes and cuts he’d get better looks and his team going. He was ball hogging, thought his team didn’t no what to do with Detroit’s defense but they didn’t no what to do with Kobe jacking shots, and Kobe stupidly thought if he kept jacking shots he’d make enough that he’d get eventually double teamed or create opens for his teammates but detriot baited him to taking defended long 3 pt’s he wasn’t hitting at a high percentage and even if he knock most down, they were cool with him doing so because he couldn’t hit enough shots to win the series and they wanted to make sure Shaq didn’t go off and none of the other lakers to get going offensively. Kobe thought because they defended against everything else but him shooting threes he needed to hit threes to change the defense….when he needed to do was not shoot but move off ball, rotate, cut, get around his defender get the ball and pass to his teammates to get them going and figuring out how to attack the defense.
That Pistons team was hell on defense. Possibly the greatest defensive team of all time. Prince, Hamilton, Hunter, and even Billups all took their turn on Kobe and forced him into a lot of tough shots.
All the comments prior to Kobes tragic death are all taunting but after his death, they all seem genuine, and giving props, goes to show you how people forget about moments like these over time. This prolly ganna happen to LeBron too, people ganna forget about his failures and consider him to higher standards.
@@joezxc is that set in stone or unanimous? Because people saying Jordan is the goat is unanimous. People can say lebron is the goat or someone else but those are just small percentages, the majority pick Jordan.
Jt on top: I'm still here as a Kobe hater. But you're right people are now giving him his props and will happened to lebron. Who ever becomes the face of league like luka or Giannis or trey young people will start hating on that guy and will say when lebron played it was tough and now the league is soft. Which they were saying that since Kobe was the main guy in the league. They will also ignore 4-6 in the finals like they ignore 1-9 for west or 2-4 for wilt.
Watching Kobe Bryant his whole career and then rewatching this 20 years later. The dude was all about himself. Terrible team mate but great work ethic. Jordan built them up, Bryant broke them down.
I truly believe he wanted to loose that series. I think he got locked up…. BUT Kobe was maniacal… the man knew there was no equation of the lakers winning where Shaq wasn’t the clear best player and finals MVP.. he knew that would ruin his legacy.
Well that's only because he got injured in the WCF. before the knee injury he was arguably the Lakers best player in the first round and his defense on Duncan in Games 3-6 turned everything around for LA
JUst shows Kobe is not on Jordan's level. 22 ppg in 46 minutes a game while shooting 38 percent and 17 percent from 3FG? Abysmal. And if you watch the video, Prince was guarding him one-one one. The Pistons rarely used a zone, which BTW the Bad Boys pistons also played zone, getting around the rules with spacing. Before the rules changes, Kobe couldn't do anything against real defense. After 2004 and 2005, it was no longer possible to check offensive players like this, there would have been touch fouls called. That's why Kobe started going off in 2005-2006, because the league was adjusting to defending under the new rules. If you notice, Kobe did not average in the 30s again after the 2006-2007 season.
@@toneyayers6636 In 2001 The Spurs were No.3 defensive team, not No.1. And Kobe had a prime Shaq to draw double teams from Duncan/Robinson. The strength of that 2001 Spurs team's defense was Duncan and Robinson. And in 2003, the Lakers LOST when Kobe was the main scorer. Kobe shot 43 percent playing 42 minutes a game.
Look at what happened when Shaq left. This Kobe vs. Top 5 defenses in the 2004-2005 the season BEFORE the rules changes helped him score more points in 05-06. Against the Spurs, 8 of 22, 35%. vs. the Grizzlies, 4 of 19, 21%, vs. the Rockets, 7 of 20, 35%, vs. the Grizzlies, 2 of 16, 12.5%, vs. the Spurs, 5 of 16, 31%, vs. the Spurs, 6 of 19, 17%, vs. the Grizzlies, 4 of 8 (Only played 14 minutes in a blowout loss, vs. the Rockets, 4 of 19, 21%. Good shooting games vs. a Top 5 defense: vs. the Rockets in January 2005, 10 of 19 for 27 points in a Lakers win. 6 of 12 for 20 points in a blowout loss to Detroit. 12 of 24 for 37 points in a win over the Pacers was his best. Reggie Miller was 5 of 16 for 11 points. BUT Reggie would get him back when Kobe went 5 of 14, 36% 12 points to Reggie Miller's 13 of 18 for 39 points. And Reggie was 39 years old.
@@turtleislandlac1490 michael jordan wasnt even that good 🤣🤣.. never played against great Shooting guards or small forwards, he mostly bullied guys who were smaller than him
@@antihypocrisy1894 Let's see Jordan scored 54 vs. the Knicks in 1993, the No.1 defense in the NBA at the time. Jordan outscored 6-7 Clyde Drexler 35.6 ppg to 24.1 ppg in the 1992 Finals, when Clyde was the MVP runner up and later became a Hall of famer. Clyde had led the Blazers to the 1990 Finals. Jordan outdueled 6-8 Grant Hill with Pippen sitting out with injury. 6-7 Penny Hardaway couldn't guard him, so the Magic threw multiple taller defenders at Jordan including 6-8 Anthony Bowie and 6-8 Dennis Scott. The Pistons tried throwing their entire team at him, including 6-7 Dennis Rodman but Jordan still averaged 30+. 6-9 Magic Johnson could not keep up with Jordan in 91 so instead of wearing Magic out, they put Byron Scott on Jordan. Before 1990 6-6 Ron Harper guarded Jordan for the Cavs, not Ehlo. And Jordan also outscored Reggie in the 98 ECF, the same Reggie who would later outscore Kobe in the 2000 Finals.
This is the film I show these young boys when they say Kobe was better than MJ. MJ NEVER got locked up in the finals by anyone and never lost in the finals. Kobe has this on his resume with the most dominant player in nba history on his team. Shaq!
Yeah everyone quick to remember Lebron against the Mavs but they stay forgetting Kobe's biggest failure. Even Jordan fans brush over this more than Lebron. For me Kobe and Lebron are both legends no matter failures. Even Jordan failed: bounced in 5 games 2nd round as the MVP/DPOY in 88, only won 1 playoff game in 3 years without Pippen.
@@geordiejones5618 Thats not valid to use that failure in 88 because pistons had a far better team and in the 1st 3 rounds he literally went against all time teams with nobody on his unlike kobe and lebron in those situations
Hey man! Huge fan of your work here. If I can have a request, you could do Prince's defense vs TMac in 2003. That was basically when the world heard about Tayshaun for the first time ;)
I have a video of Prince's defense on T-Mac in Game 7 but he didn't guard him that much in that game "Tayshaun Prince Defense on T-Mac - 2003 1st Rd Game 7"
Yes my comment is a vacation is one of the greatest basketball player in Detroit Piston I think that the game is well playing with other teams also just to say that I'm his cousin Robert h Laney and I just wanted to see if I can get more details information about his homecoming game always had happened to him
Which is why he’s overrated and has no case for being in any debate regarding goats. What legendary finals performance does he have? Hell, great playoff performances? I just remember gm 7 against Boston dude was 6/24. 04 the whole series was brick city. 06 hit a game winner goes up 3-1..and the Suns comeback to win in 7 games. In 08 he was clamped by Tony Allen. Even Paul Pierce locked him up. What’s worse is the Lakers from 00-02 played the weakest finals comp ever. And his numbers were still sub par.
@@TheGr8-1then they'll say so what if he shot 6/24 and only had 2 assists, he grabbed many rebounds! LMAO the cope is hilarious. Killer/assassin at the big stage my a*s. 😂
Lakers spacing was atrocious when either star had the ball. Especially around Shaq, so easy to double or even triple. What was up with the Laker coaches?
I loved this finals. I'd been watching the Pistons for 2 seasons. Once Brown took over for that weak Carlisle, he made Detroit into a defensive powerhouse, and put Tayshaun into the starting five. They were the best team in the league, but all these poseur pundits still though t the (f)lakers would dominate like they had 2000-02. But this wasn't one of those weak East teams. Those fools had LA. as huge favorites. One doof said 'Lakers in 4, Pistons can't score'. After Detroit dismissed L.A. in a gentleman's sweep, I never saw the fool again.
Those pistons were great at defense. However, I don't think they would have had near the extent of success they had if the Lakers had shooters that year. Or if they weren't feuding with one another.
KobeConfidence the pistons should’ve won the finals 3/3 this year the cavs year and the year the loss to the spurs so this is kinda wild to say. They was really like that.
@@nonyobussiness3440 Malone was badly injured. Payton wasnt but he was just old and not playing well. He was a serviceable player for a couple years after but he should have been a role player by 04 not a starter. He had a bad series. My observation was Kobe just had a bad game 1 including missing lots of shots he normally makea. Game 2 he played good and they still barely won. Games 3-5 Pistons realized literally no one besides Shaq/ Kobe could score so they slowed the game down as much as possible except game 5. So there wasnt very many posessions even if Shaq went off since he was guarded 1 on 1. They focused on Not guarding players besides Shaq and Kobe by playing a floating zone which made it hard to get into Shaq all the time and made it so even if Kobe got by Prince or whoever there would be help. Verse a team like the pistons role players need to be playing well and they didnt. Just like the 05 spurs beat the 05 pistons I think the 04 spurs would have beat the 04 pistons if not it qould have been another close series at minimum
And a lot of these shots Kobe simply missed. He got free on screens at times and had an open look and just bricked it, Prince wasn't even in the picture. Kobe just had a bad shooting series aside from Game 2.
@@brucehera4675 I think Marc Cuban knows a bit more about basketball than RUclips randoms. blogmaverick.com/2009/02/04/if-its-not-broke-doesnt-mean-its-optimal-even-in-the-nba/
@@sabishiihito I'm quite aware of what Cuban did by approaching the NBA. It's a old story. Still doesn't change the fact Prince locked him up and Mark Cuban of ALL PEOPLE in the NBA is the worst example. Some guy who got lucky in The dot com boom and bought a team, change the rules with the help of his over payed lawyers Only to watch it backfire and blowup in his face when the mavs got their A** upset by the WE BELIEVE Golden State Warriors 😂😂😂
The Shaq & Kobe Lakers finally faced a finals worthy team and you saw what happened. They were exposed. This wasn't that pitiful beat up 76ers team, that very good (not great) Pacers team, or that sad Nets team (great on defense, mediocre on offense with no bench). Tayshaun gave Kobe fits. I think Kobe shot like 39% those finals.
Look at the shot clock when Kobe gets the ball majority of the time lol.. the offense collapsed and they gave the ball to Kobe with 10 seconds or less majority of the time. Not enough time to do anything but create a shot on his own.
The issue was Kobe didn’t realize he should attack the basket, detriot would have collapsed leaving his teammates open but they needed to rotate and go into motion in unison. Kobe unfortunately got the ball and would dribble where he scan the floor seeing if a passing lane and route to the basket was open then try to fake his out his defender defender with his jumper. Unfortunately, Detroit wasn’t really in position to stop Kobe from driving and passing to someone that was not Shaq, hell a lot of time prince would not have been able to stay with Kobe if he went down hill. What prince was doing was making Kobe think he was defending and thinking Kobe was going to drive towards the hoop and he could get a good look jumper off when in reality prince was able to defend it and anticipating the jumper and wanted Kobe shooting and would have had issues defending Kobe from going towards the hoop. Also when Kobe got the ball he need to just either attack the hoop/drive to the paint full bore or pass right where he got the ball. Shoot or drive, just go. Running out the shot clock against detriot is stupid with detriot. They like lower possession, half court, methodical, everyone involved basketball. If Kobe just attacked or shot the ball run back fast on defense it becomes chaotic higher possession short possession game. Detriot wasn’t a team that scored quickly or put a bunch of points up so it’s not like if those 17 to 18 second possession or scoreless shot or drive play’s would result in detriot creating a gap.
You can't do this in the league anymore. It's not because players are lacking in terms of skill but the rules made it impossible. Boring ass NBA becoming an All-Star exhibition game with three point shots.
I think there is somebody that can guard Kobe and thats Tayshaun Prince. In this game he straight up locked him down man to man with not much help from double teams. After game 2, they started to apply the Kobe rules.
+Young Rain This is what I recorded for Kobes FG/FGA against Prince in this series. The other games are also on my channel. G1 - 2/12 G2 - 7/17 G3 - 2/8 G4 - 4/13 G5 - 4/9 Overall 19/59 (32%) for the series. Which means 24/54 (44%) on other shots which is just below his average. In game 2 some of Kobes misses were after the game was over plus Prince got away with a foul on one. In game 5 there was one shot Kobe missed over Ben and Rasheed with Prince behind him that i didn't count. The Pistons under Larry brown were pretty much exclusively a man to man team. Which you see in all 5 games Prince guarded kobe. The John Daniels user posted some good quotes about the Pistons man to man principles on this video under "The Worst Boxing Judge" comment, and how they were uncomfortable with Flip Saunders zone principles post-Brown in 2005/06. Which led to Wade shooting over 60% for the only series of his career in 2006 ECF.
This is great defense but look at the paint, both wallaces are down there every time so kobe couldn’t take advantage of his quickness on prince like he wanted to. It wasn’t just prince although he did a great job. He needed to get to the basket but it was clogged so much more than todays game. Kobe just dominated the spurs in the previous series but malone was actually contributing. In the finals he was obsolete
Wade shot 62% in the ECF against the same team in just his 3rd year in the league, stop with the excuses. Kobe always had bad shot selections that's why he's 30th all-time in efficiency rating
@@lioninthesun still have the core of the 2 Wallace's that "clogged the lane" you gave an excuse to Kobe about, Prince who defended Kobe very well, Rip Hamilton who Wade chased around and made him tired yet Wade still shot 62% on them (lol), and the Finals MVP Chauncey who outplayed Kobe in 2004. Detroit had the best record in the league in 2006 season too, just so you know. LMAO keep the excuses coming
@@lioninthesun backread from your thread starter, down to every reply after that.. then construct a sensible REBUTTAL instead of moving the goalpost. If you cannot, take the L. I'm sticking to the topic of how Kobe failed against the Pistons in 2004, nothing less nothing more than that.
Lockdown means Kobe couldn't shoot at all. Any way this a typical dum dum trying to discredit Kob. I'm seeing 3ple and quad teams from your video alone yet the title Ty locked down Kobe. Hahahaha!
Pistons played a lot of 1-1 single coverage man to man defense under Larry Brown in 2004 and 2005 and that's when they held Kobe to his 2nd worst and Duncan to his worst Finals FG%. When Flip Saunders (RIP) took over they did a lot more zone and that's when they got destroyed by Wade in the 2006 ECF who shot over 60%. I can't think of any perimeter player who shot 60% on a top 5 defense like Wade did. Flip's overuse of zone really hurt the 2006 Pistons in the ECF. He should have used the 1-1 man to man defense like Larry Brown did
+Agent of Chaos
By Chris McCosky / The Detroit News, 2005
Thinking about the Pistons playing zone defense is a little weird, isn't it? They, after all, have been the NBA's standard-bearers for hard-hitting, *man-to-man defense* the last four years.
It's like picturing 50-Cent in a Subaru or Tiger Woods hitting an iron off the tee on a par 5 -- sort of tough to get your mind around. And, frankly, not all of the Pistons players have gotten their minds around it. Ben Wallace, the reigning defensive player of the year, isn't exactly thrilled with the concept. "We'll see," he said. Rasheed Wallace isn't completely sold, either. *"I am not a big fan of the zone*, myself," he said. *"I am more of a man-to-man guy*. But, hey, if it's for the team, I am with it."
Before we go any further, it must be pointed out that the Pistons are, by no means, scrapping their old defense. Man-to-man will continue to be their primary defense. *"Our bread and butter is still our man-to-man*," Chauncey Billups said. "That's not going to change."
Coach Flip Saunders, though, has long been recognized as the most ardent and effective teacher and practitioner of zone in the NBA. And when he sees the length, quickness and aggressiveness of the Pistons' frontcourt players, he can barely keep from salivating at the idea of deploying them in zones.
"I'll say this, we were known in the league for playing the best zone defense when I was in Minnesota," Saunders said. "In one day (with the Pistons), I can tell you we're going to be a much better zone defensive team here this season than we ever were in Minnesota." Saunders envisions using zone as a change-of-pace defense, one that can disrupt the opponent's offensive rhythm and create scoring opportunities in transition.
"The main part of our defense is our ability to protect the paint, play aggressively, give up no layups, contest every shot and give up no second shots," he said. "You know, I watched a lot of film from last year and they (the Pistons) played zone. They just didn't call it a zone."
*The players dispute that a bit*. Yes, some of their help techniques and switches resembled zone concepts. But they will proudly tell you that they played *mostly straight-up man-to-man, often refusing even to double-team.*
*"We never played zone* and we *hardly even double-teamed*," Billups said. "In a zone you are guarding space. It's tough to get used to. Larry (Brown, former coach) tried to do it a couple of times last year, but we never really worked on it. This year, we are going to work on it. It's going to be a change-up type thing for us."
"I think it's important we're a *great man-to-man team*, and rebounding team, because I think if you do those things, you can do anything defensively," Brown said. *"I don't like zones because I think it's a sign of weakness* for us, for us, and I worry about rebounding out of zones."
- Philadelphia Inquirer, 2001
One example is reflected in his philosophy regarding the Hack-a-Shaq strategy. The Detroit Pistons' 63-year-old coach refuses to embrace it, if only because of his anxiety-induced imagination for the worst. "It's like my assistants (who) keep telling me to play zone," Brown said. "Every time we talk about zone, I think every team we play against is going to make every jump shot."
- USA Today, 2004
Under Larry Brown's man to man principles they forced
- Kobe into his worst Finals performance (and perhaps overall series)
- Duncan into his worst-shooting playoff series ever in the 2005 Finals
- and Wade under 50% in the 2005 ECF including pre-injury
after Flip Saunders took over Larry Brown's Pistons and implemented much more zone principles, they never went back to the Finals and allowed Wade to shoot over 60% on them in 2006.
Larry Brown no longer is on the sideline. The coach who drove the Pistons to the 2004 title and within one game of a 2005 repeat is working for the New York Knicks. In his place arrives Flip Saunders, a coach who *favors the type of zone defense Brown had disdained*, a coach who accepts freelance play from his point guards, a coach whose offensive playbook makes Brown's come off as a pamphlet.
- Sun-Sentinal, 2005
Wallace knows that Pistons head coach Flip Saunders plans to have the team play more zone defense this year. *That doesn't mean Wallace has to like it*. (I think this is Rasheed, not Ben)
"I'm not knocking his coaching zone or nothing like that," Wallace said. "I don't want y'all to get it misconstrued, but in the system that I grew up in ... *I don't like zone. Zones are terrible*. It's just trying to hide the weakest defenders."
- A. Sherrod Blakely, Mlive 2006
so the best defensive team actually used man to man 90% of the time and the Piston players along with Larry Brown despised using zone defense
I made an archive of quotes and pieces of articles regarding the 2004-2006 Pistons defense and the changes that took place after Larry Brown's departure and Flip Saunders arrival.
I focused on 2004-2006 because those are the only years that Ben, Rasheed, Prince, Rip, and Billups were all on the team, after 2006 they lost Ben Wallace and before 2004 they didn't have Rasheed.
Feel free to check it out when you want, it's a lot of quotes and excerpts so you might not want to read it all at once
2004pistons.blogspot.com
Flip was an offensive guru, but didn't offer much in terms of defensive schemes. While Larry Brown's Pistons didn't exactly wow you offensively, it was all a part his of defensive strategy: use the entire shot clock and move the ball from side to side; ball movement, down-screens, and little isolation-ball. This, in turn, limited transition opportunities for opposing offensives and allowed the Pistons to set up their half-court defense, where they were absolutely lethal. Kind of like a football coach having his quarterback milk the clock and spread the ball around with short passes, rather than gun-slinging the deep ball. Doing so keeps your defense off the field and well-rested, making them even tougher on an opposing offense. Larry Brown fit the Pistons perfectly, it's just a damn shame he had so many off-court issues that prevented him fulfilling his full contract as our head coach. Just a shame.
wade got pistons under larry brown 3-2 lead until wade got injured.
Prince was a great defender. Blocking shots with his long beautiful arms.
Pause
Was beautiful necessary???
Yo pause
😂
Lmfao bruh wildin
I counted Kobe going 2-12 against Prince, not including the miss at 2:03.
and most of the misses were in single coverage
Bad finals by Kobe should've went to the rim more but they were collapsing the paint forcing him to take jumpers which he makes usually but this series they wouldn't fall but a post game would've helped then
Kobe cooked his Ass last night *****
yes he is *****
yeah great defense
Yeah prince really baited him into shooting and thinking he couldn’t get around him and his passing lanes were covered. Prince did a good good of looking like he was defending him from going around him and that he was not in position or anticipating to guard Kobe’s jump shot but prince was tall, long enough, fast enough and planning to contest Kobe’s jumper and did a great job of blocking Kobe’s view of the basket once he went up to shoot. Basically tricked Kobe into thinking that it was his best option to shoot and that he was beating prince/prince didn’t know he was going up to shoot/he’d get the shot off before prince took his view,space, away and get his arm up
They should have been wearing hardhats on the floor with all the bricks Kobe was throwing up.
Yessir!!!!
@@RooseveltAliWashingtonX Kobe still the 🐐
@@fredrickjohnson7711 --- Lol!!!!
@@RooseveltAliWashingtonX LoL 😀
@@RooseveltAliWashingtonX !!!!!!!!!
Detroit smothering defense Kobe couldn't breathe
They literally guarded him one on one for a large majority of the series Kobe just played like shit trying to play hero ball. His poor shooting cost them the series.
TP defense on Kobe was key to this series Kobe had cooked the whole Western conference prior to seeing the fresh prince in the finals!!!
No he did not. He shot 41.4% against Minnesota in the West Finals. And 38.6% against Houston in the first round. Two series the Lakers were semi-lucky to have end the way they did. Without Kareem Rush going off in Game 6, they may have blown the T-Wolves series (Kobe was 6 for 17 in the closeout game after going 7 for 21 in the key game against Houston, the Game 4 when Karl Malone's last great game offset Kobe's 7 for 21). Y'all love to make shit up trying to defend Kobe.
@@manuginobilisbaldspot424 Cherry picking stats and FG% doesn't mean squat in the NBA. Kobe still averaged 24.5 points per game in a bad career playoffs that year. Had a 40 point game and two 30 point games.
@@manuginobilisbaldspot424 he cooked the spurs tho 🙃
@@paratext yes it does saying when he got hot makes up for the majority of the playoffs where his terrible fg percentage almost cost them series is ludicrous. Kobe was putting up shots he had no business shooting and that also resulted in other players not getting enough touches to get into rhythm and to not become rusty on what to do when Kobe isn’t open and they can’t get the ball to Shaq. Kobe was missing good looks that he should have made up he was jacking up bad shots when he was well guarded and trying to hit long threes and long twos stopping the triangle preventing Garry Payton and other’s involvement on offense. Kobe when he got the ball would stop doing the triangle leaving other guards and wings plus Shaq to be out of place and no direction to where to rotate. If resulted in Detroit not having to run much on defense and not get fouls so they had more energy and fouls to give on offense. Kobe played terrible for his standards and what you’d expect from an elite sg who was amoung the top 5 best players in the league. Kobe’s poor shot section, choosing to shot when he was defended and jack up long threes which he’d spent a ton of time dribbling, moving and doing fakes wasted a fuck ton of energy so he was fatigued resulted in flat arches to his shots, him not being able to get around his defender, and him missing open looks. Which caused a positive feed back loop in which Detroit didn’t need to double, him not being able to move as quick so he have to waste more energy to get a shot up against his defender and him taking more 3pts with a flat arch. His teammates movement was stopped from him not doing the triangle and they had to stand further back from the basket ti get long rebounds from his bricks but Detroit was tall so they couldn’t get them. Shaq played great against Detroit, Kobe’s performance caused Gary and the rest to not be effective or get going offensively in the game and it caused Shaq to not get enough touches so detriot did not need to double him. If he ran the triangle and rotated to pass to Shaq, Shaq would have gotten better looks and kept scoring resulting in Detroit needing to double. Kobe not jacking shots and running the triangle would have gotten other lakers moving on offense and going which would require detriot to guard them fully instead of just covering Kobe’s passing lanes and lanes to the basket. Man to man cover on Kobe would have gone different because they basically made it look like his passing lanes and lane to the basket was defended and bait Kobe into thinking he’d could get a good three off being guarded one on one but close out once he went up to shoot. The reality is if he used the triangle, pushed the ball, did quick passes and cuts he’d get better looks and his team going. He was ball hogging, thought his team didn’t no what to do with Detroit’s defense but they didn’t no what to do with Kobe jacking shots, and Kobe stupidly thought if he kept jacking shots he’d make enough that he’d get eventually double teamed or create opens for his teammates but detriot baited him to taking defended long 3 pt’s he wasn’t hitting at a high percentage and even if he knock most down, they were cool with him doing so because he couldn’t hit enough shots to win the series and they wanted to make sure Shaq didn’t go off and none of the other lakers to get going offensively. Kobe thought because they defended against everything else but him shooting threes he needed to hit threes to change the defense….when he needed to do was not shoot but move off ball, rotate, cut, get around his defender get the ball and pass to his teammates to get them going and figuring out how to attack the defense.
@@nonyobussiness3440 I'm not going to read a word of this.
This game was really frustrating for Kobe. Most of his 25points in a whooping 47mins were made when Prince was off the court
Man I really wanted you to Prince defense on Kobe. Thanks a lot
??
That Pistons team was hell on defense. Possibly the greatest defensive team of all time. Prince, Hamilton, Hunter, and even Billups all took their turn on Kobe and forced him into a lot of tough shots.
Thought it would be the Spurs but okay
Love this type of ROUGH AND TOUGH early-2000s defense!! We'll never see it again!
Never seen that many hard ass bricks
'04 Pistons vs Kobe n Shaq at age 11
Launched my obsession 💝
R.I.P Kobe
Kobrick
RIP Hamilton
@@greatomeister675 grow up.
@@greatomeister675 Kobe hater
RIP Gianna Bryant.
All the comments prior to Kobes tragic death are all taunting but after his death, they all seem genuine, and giving props, goes to show you how people forget about moments like these over time. This prolly ganna happen to LeBron too, people ganna forget about his failures and consider him to higher standards.
brons already da goat
@@joezxc is that set in stone or unanimous? Because people saying Jordan is the goat is unanimous. People can say lebron is the goat or someone else but those are just small percentages, the majority pick Jordan.
Jt on top: I'm still here as a Kobe hater. But you're right people are now giving him his props and will happened to lebron. Who ever becomes the face of league like luka or Giannis or trey young people will start hating on that guy and will say when lebron played it was tough and now the league is soft. Which they were saying that since Kobe was the main guy in the league. They will also ignore 4-6 in the finals like they ignore 1-9 for west or 2-4 for wilt.
Bro prince did a great job here but kobe couldn’t get to the basket because both Wallace boys were clogging the lane a lot
2004 Detroit Pistons were a great defensive team. Especially with Tayshaun Prince's long beautiful arms.
RIP Kobe.
Kobe was the main reason why the Lakers lost in 5
This is true. He didn't want to play team basketball. He wanted to show that Shaq wasn't needed to win. He failed.
@@leogonzales4634 Exactly, he wanted that FMVP and froze out Shaq.
@@JoeKen3 he sure did. That's coming from a kobe fan since 98
Pistons knew what Bryant was up to, and let him fail miserably LOL 😆
That is a lie. Stop it.
Tayshaun Prince is from LA in Compton and he was playing defense against his hometown team the Lakers.
Watching Kobe Bryant his whole career and then rewatching this 20 years later. The dude was all about himself. Terrible team mate but great work ethic. Jordan built them up, Bryant broke them down.
I truly believe he wanted to loose that series. I think he got locked up…. BUT Kobe was maniacal… the man knew there was no equation of the lakers winning where Shaq wasn’t the clear best player and finals MVP.. he knew that would ruin his legacy.
Tayshawn in collage was hitting looong threes way before Curry.
Man you could just tell malone was just reduced to nothing at that point in his career
Well that's only because he got injured in the WCF. before the knee injury he was arguably the Lakers best player in the first round and his defense on Duncan in Games 3-6 turned everything around for LA
+Nobody Touches Jordan damn shame he had to go out like that
Malone was still decent, he just decided to shoot less because of Shaq and Kobe.
JUst shows Kobe is not on Jordan's level. 22 ppg in 46 minutes a game while shooting 38 percent and 17 percent from 3FG? Abysmal. And if you watch the video, Prince was guarding him one-one one. The Pistons rarely used a zone, which BTW the Bad Boys pistons also played zone, getting around the rules with spacing. Before the rules changes, Kobe couldn't do anything against real defense. After 2004 and 2005, it was no longer possible to check offensive players like this, there would have been touch fouls called. That's why Kobe started going off in 2005-2006, because the league was adjusting to defending under the new rules. If you notice, Kobe did not average in the 30s again after the 2006-2007 season.
2001 Kobe cooked the #1 defense Spurs and 2003 Kobe averaged 30ppg
@@toneyayers6636 In 2001 The Spurs were No.3 defensive team, not No.1. And Kobe had a prime Shaq to draw double teams from Duncan/Robinson. The strength of that 2001 Spurs team's defense was Duncan and Robinson. And in 2003, the Lakers LOST when Kobe was the main scorer. Kobe shot 43 percent playing 42 minutes a game.
Look at what happened when Shaq left. This Kobe vs. Top 5 defenses in the 2004-2005 the season BEFORE the rules changes helped him score more points in 05-06.
Against the Spurs, 8 of 22, 35%.
vs. the Grizzlies, 4 of 19, 21%,
vs. the Rockets, 7 of 20, 35%,
vs. the Grizzlies, 2 of 16, 12.5%,
vs. the Spurs, 5 of 16, 31%,
vs. the Spurs, 6 of 19, 17%,
vs. the Grizzlies, 4 of 8 (Only played 14 minutes in a blowout loss,
vs. the Rockets, 4 of 19, 21%.
Good shooting games vs. a Top 5 defense:
vs. the Rockets in January 2005, 10 of 19 for 27 points in a Lakers win.
6 of 12 for 20 points in a blowout loss to Detroit.
12 of 24 for 37 points in a win over the Pacers was his best. Reggie Miller was 5 of 16 for 11 points.
BUT Reggie would get him back when Kobe went 5 of 14, 36% 12 points to Reggie Miller's 13 of 18 for 39 points. And Reggie was 39 years old.
@@turtleislandlac1490 michael jordan wasnt even that good 🤣🤣.. never played against great Shooting guards or small forwards, he mostly bullied guys who were smaller than him
@@antihypocrisy1894 Let's see Jordan scored 54 vs. the Knicks in 1993, the No.1 defense in the NBA at the time. Jordan outscored 6-7 Clyde Drexler 35.6 ppg to 24.1 ppg in the 1992 Finals, when Clyde was the MVP runner up and later became a Hall of famer. Clyde had led the Blazers to the 1990 Finals. Jordan outdueled 6-8 Grant Hill with Pippen sitting out with injury. 6-7 Penny Hardaway couldn't guard him, so the Magic threw multiple taller defenders at Jordan including 6-8 Anthony Bowie and 6-8 Dennis Scott. The Pistons tried throwing their entire team at him, including 6-7 Dennis Rodman but Jordan still averaged 30+. 6-9 Magic Johnson could not keep up with Jordan in 91 so instead of wearing Magic out, they put Byron Scott on Jordan. Before 1990 6-6 Ron Harper guarded Jordan for the Cavs, not Ehlo. And Jordan also outscored Reggie in the 98 ECF, the same Reggie who would later outscore Kobe in the 2000 Finals.
This is the film I show these young boys when they say Kobe was better than MJ. MJ NEVER got locked up in the finals by anyone and never lost in the finals. Kobe has this on his resume with the most dominant player in nba history on his team. Shaq!
MJ would have killed Prince. Jordan’s first step is too much
@@Strongdadlifting lol easy 50. No double teams too? Sheesh. D Wade and Bron brutalized Prince idk why Kobe struggled so hard against him
@@iaintmissinWade shot 62% against Detroit in 06 ECF, and this is just in his 3rd season. Effing 62% for an SG lmao
Tayshaun was such an underrated player
In the Finals no less.
Yeah everyone quick to remember Lebron against the Mavs but they stay forgetting Kobe's biggest failure. Even Jordan fans brush over this more than Lebron. For me Kobe and Lebron are both legends no matter failures. Even Jordan failed: bounced in 5 games 2nd round as the MVP/DPOY in 88, only won 1 playoff game in 3 years without Pippen.
@@geordiejones5618 Thats not valid to use that failure in 88 because pistons had a far better team and in the 1st 3 rounds he literally went against all time teams with nobody on his unlike kobe and lebron in those situations
@@BigHeartNATIONin the 80s Mike was outmatched. Just like how Bron was outmatched in the 00s. Bron suffocated in ‘11, Kobe ‘04, and Mike in ‘95.
Game Changer!
❤❤❤❤
Prince is one of my favorite players. And he’d hit a dagger 3 onya
I don’t see no single coverage 🤦🏾 I see Prince and Rip sliding on the help defense
Kobe shot worse in the 90’s than he did in the 2000’s 🥶
Hey man! Huge fan of your work here. If I can have a request, you could do Prince's defense vs TMac in 2003. That was basically when the world heard about Tayshaun for the first time ;)
I have a video of Prince's defense on T-Mac in Game 7 but he didn't guard him that much in that game
"Tayshaun Prince Defense on T-Mac - 2003 1st Rd Game 7"
How about games 4-6? Prince was doing work.
I haven't found footage of those games, but if I do I'll be sure to put it up
nice defense
TP was Kobe's worst nightmare!
Yes my comment is a vacation is one of the greatest basketball player in Detroit Piston I think that the game is well playing with other teams also just to say that I'm his cousin Robert h Laney and I just wanted to see if I can get more details information about his homecoming game always had happened to him
Why was Kobe after the ball so bad a min in game just started. Series just started
Kobe to me was never a top playoff performer like Timmy mike bron those kind of dudes
Which is why he’s overrated and has no case for being in any debate regarding goats. What legendary finals performance does he have? Hell, great playoff performances? I just remember gm 7 against Boston dude was 6/24. 04 the whole series was brick city. 06 hit a game winner goes up 3-1..and the Suns comeback to win in 7 games. In 08 he was clamped by Tony Allen. Even Paul Pierce locked him up. What’s worse is the Lakers from 00-02 played the weakest finals comp ever. And his numbers were still sub par.
@@TheGr8-1 bro got 1 40 point game in the finals and played in 35 finals games but leave it to his fans his the greatest scorer they ever seen. Lol
@@TheGr8-1then they'll say so what if he shot 6/24 and only had 2 assists, he grabbed many rebounds! LMAO the cope is hilarious. Killer/assassin at the big stage my a*s. 😂
wow.. brother! is exelent
Lakers spacing was atrocious when either star had the ball. Especially around Shaq, so easy to double or even triple. What was up with the Laker coaches?
Let’s be real that Finals loss was a Kobe flop job. He was TERRIBLE. Prince locked him. But Manu came with the get back the next season and cooked him
Kobe was absolutely pathetic this series.
I loved this finals. I'd been watching the Pistons for 2 seasons. Once Brown took over for that weak Carlisle, he made Detroit into a defensive powerhouse, and put Tayshaun into the starting five. They were the best team in the league, but all these poseur pundits still though t the (f)lakers would dominate like they had 2000-02. But this wasn't one of those weak East teams. Those fools had LA. as huge favorites. One doof said 'Lakers in 4, Pistons can't score'. After Detroit dismissed L.A. in a gentleman's sweep, I never saw the fool again.
Those pistons were great at defense. However, I don't think they would have had near the extent of success they had if the Lakers had shooters that year. Or if they weren't feuding with one another.
KobeConfidence the pistons should’ve won the finals 3/3 this year the cavs year and the year the loss to the spurs so this is kinda wild to say. They was really like that.
The Pistons knew that Kobe wanted to get a MVP trophy so they let Shaq score. Ben Wallace just guarded Shaq 1 on 1. This wasn't an accident
Wasn’t Malone injured bad and Gary hurt too? I believe those injuries fucked up their offensive flow and chemistry
@@nonyobussiness3440 Malone was badly injured. Payton wasnt but he was just old and not playing well. He was a serviceable player for a couple years after but he should have been a role player by 04 not a starter. He had a bad series. My observation was Kobe just had a bad game 1 including missing lots of shots he normally makea. Game 2 he played good and they still barely won. Games 3-5 Pistons realized literally no one besides Shaq/ Kobe could score so they slowed the game down as much as possible except game 5. So there wasnt very many posessions even if Shaq went off since he was guarded 1 on 1. They focused on Not guarding players besides Shaq and Kobe by playing a floating zone which made it hard to get into Shaq all the time and made it so even if Kobe got by Prince or whoever there would be help. Verse a team like the pistons role players need to be playing well and they didnt. Just like the 05 spurs beat the 05 pistons I think the 04 spurs would have beat the 04 pistons if not it qould have been another close series at minimum
Nobody beats this team in a series…they beat themselves in 2005
And a lot of these shots Kobe simply missed. He got free on screens at times and had an open look and just bricked it, Prince wasn't even in the picture. Kobe just had a bad shooting series aside from Game 2.
It's the finals...you can't afford to have a "bad series" he had great game prior.
.the difference is the defender....
Nah he just got his ass locked up
Prince shut him down why are you denying it?
@@brucehera4675 I think Marc Cuban knows a bit more about basketball than RUclips randoms.
blogmaverick.com/2009/02/04/if-its-not-broke-doesnt-mean-its-optimal-even-in-the-nba/
@@sabishiihito I'm quite aware of what Cuban did by approaching the NBA. It's a old story. Still doesn't change the fact Prince locked him up and Mark Cuban of ALL PEOPLE in the NBA is the worst example. Some guy who got lucky in The dot com boom and bought a team, change the rules with the help of his over payed lawyers
Only to watch it backfire and blowup in his face when the mavs got their A** upset by the WE BELIEVE Golden State Warriors 😂😂😂
The Shaq & Kobe Lakers finally faced a finals worthy team and you saw what happened. They were exposed. This wasn't that pitiful beat up 76ers team, that very good (not great) Pacers team, or that sad Nets team (great on defense, mediocre on offense with no bench). Tayshaun gave Kobe fits. I think Kobe shot like 39% those finals.
Back when the players actually played defense and coaches called plays!!!
Look at the shot clock when Kobe gets the ball majority of the time lol.. the offense collapsed and they gave the ball to Kobe with 10 seconds or less majority of the time. Not enough time to do anything but create a shot on his own.
The issue was Kobe didn’t realize he should attack the basket, detriot would have collapsed leaving his teammates open but they needed to rotate and go into motion in unison. Kobe unfortunately got the ball and would dribble where he scan the floor seeing if a passing lane and route to the basket was open then try to fake his out his defender defender with his jumper. Unfortunately, Detroit wasn’t really in position to stop Kobe from driving and passing to someone that was not Shaq, hell a lot of time prince would not have been able to stay with Kobe if he went down hill. What prince was doing was making Kobe think he was defending and thinking Kobe was going to drive towards the hoop and he could get a good look jumper off when in reality prince was able to defend it and anticipating the jumper and wanted Kobe shooting and would have had issues defending Kobe from going towards the hoop. Also when Kobe got the ball he need to just either attack the hoop/drive to the paint full bore or pass right where he got the ball. Shoot or drive, just go. Running out the shot clock against detriot is stupid with detriot. They like lower possession, half court, methodical, everyone involved basketball. If Kobe just attacked or shot the ball run back fast on defense it becomes chaotic higher possession short possession game. Detriot wasn’t a team that scored quickly or put a bunch of points up so it’s not like if those 17 to 18 second possession or scoreless shot or drive play’s would result in detriot creating a gap.
I dont see any lockdown. Just Kobe who missed consistently. And his teammate who consistently missed wide opened shots
The Kobe fans will meltdown seeing the facts. Kobe is the sole reason the Lakers lost this series.
It was a noce game going to title
Mid fade/ mid spin fade. So one dimensional
Kobe got better but he did suck for a while whether anyone wants to believe it or not and he had more chances than anyone
You can't do this in the league anymore. It's not because players are lacking in terms of skill but the rules made it impossible. Boring ass NBA becoming an All-Star exhibition game with three point shots.
Plz locked him up he literally ran underneath every shot ...which would be considered flagrant.. not exclude the fact he's being fouled left and right
LeBron>Kobe
+Miltonman100 at losing in the finals
+Detroit Basketball shutup nigga
+Miltonman100 No way. Kobe > LeBum
+Miltonman100 shut up
Miltonman100 Facts dumbasses think Kobe is better
Prince didn't lock up Kobe. Kobe didn't get any calls and plus Kobe was off the whole game tf?
Savon Sanders locked tf up 🔒
Kobe did get locked by the pistons defense
Kobe shot 38% the entire series, yep he wasn't locked up 😂
Nobody can guard Kobe but the Pistons had there own set of Kobe rules going on
+Swaggy Jee
you just mad because tayshaun put your boyfriend Kobe on cuffs and f*cked Kobe and all you could do was watch
u mad cuz Tayshaun put Kobe on cuffs and fucked him while all you could was watch
+TROLL LOLOLOL-second account ha
I think there is somebody that can guard Kobe and thats Tayshaun Prince. In this game he straight up locked him down man to man with not much help from double teams. After game 2, they started to apply the Kobe rules.
+Young Rain
This is what I recorded for Kobes FG/FGA against Prince in this series. The other games are also on my channel.
G1 - 2/12
G2 - 7/17
G3 - 2/8
G4 - 4/13
G5 - 4/9
Overall 19/59 (32%) for the series. Which means 24/54 (44%) on other shots which is just below his average.
In game 2 some of Kobes misses were after the game was over plus Prince got away with a foul on one. In game 5 there was one shot Kobe missed over Ben and Rasheed with Prince behind him that i didn't count.
The Pistons under Larry brown were pretty much exclusively a man to man team. Which you see in all 5 games Prince guarded kobe. The John Daniels user posted some good quotes about the Pistons man to man principles on this video under "The Worst Boxing Judge" comment, and how they were uncomfortable with Flip Saunders zone principles post-Brown in 2005/06. Which led to Wade shooting over 60% for the only series of his career in 2006 ECF.
Pretty sure Prince was hitting Kobe on the arms a lot in this game/series with no calls.
Excuses Excuses.
Don’t be that fan. Kobe still legendary. With the ring or not
How I love Kobe fans lmaoooo
Kobe didn’t get locked up lmao he had a injured finger it’s easier to lock someone up when they’re injured
HAHAHAHAHAHA
This is great defense but look at the paint, both wallaces are down there every time so kobe couldn’t take advantage of his quickness on prince like he wanted to. It wasn’t just prince although he did a great job. He needed to get to the basket but it was clogged so much more than todays game. Kobe just dominated the spurs in the previous series but malone was actually contributing. In the finals he was obsolete
Wade shot 62% in the ECF against the same team in just his 3rd year in the league, stop with the excuses. Kobe always had bad shot selections that's why he's 30th all-time in efficiency rating
@@jukztv76 2006 pistons were not the 2004 pistons at all
@@lioninthesun still have the core of the 2 Wallace's that "clogged the lane" you gave an excuse to Kobe about, Prince who defended Kobe very well, Rip Hamilton who Wade chased around and made him tired yet Wade still shot 62% on them (lol), and the Finals MVP Chauncey who outplayed Kobe in 2004. Detroit had the best record in the league in 2006 season too, just so you know. LMAO keep the excuses coming
@@jukztv76 so you think wade is a better player than kobe bryant?
@@lioninthesun backread from your thread starter, down to every reply after that.. then construct a sensible REBUTTAL instead of moving the goalpost. If you cannot, take the L. I'm sticking to the topic of how Kobe failed against the Pistons in 2004, nothing less nothing more than that.
Lock down? Kobe just missing shots.
Cubo de Sangre are you blind he also was getting locked up by the pistons defence
HAHAHAHAHA
Lockdown means Kobe couldn't shoot at all. Any way this a typical dum dum trying to discredit Kob. I'm seeing 3ple and quad teams from your video alone yet the title Ty locked down Kobe. Hahahaha!
Kobe sxxks dxxk against tayshuan prince
LOCKDOWN PISTONS!!!!!