One Man's Opinion

A year ago the Detroit Pistons knocked off a team with two superstars to win the NBA championships. One of those stars happened to be Shaq, who was traded to Miami. The pairing of Shaq with awesome motherfucker Dwyane Wade was enough to dominate the Eastern Conference during the regular season. But the Heat aren't good enough to beat the Pistons in seven-game series. Here's why:

• The Pistons proved in last year's finals that they are not afraid of a healthy Shaq. Detroit played him largely one-on-one that whole series and, while he scored a lot of points and grabbed a ton of rebounds in that series, he didn't dominate the Piston front line. Shaq has bad wheels now, which make him less likely to step out on the pick-and-roll and turn him into a defensive liability because the Piston guards can destroy them.
• Tayshaun Prince is a good enough one-on-one defender to stop Dwayne Wade. Prince's long arms mean Wade has to get two steps on him instead of one to actually beat him off the dribble and I don't think that's possible.
• The Wallaces are better than the Jones. With Prince on Wade, Rip Hamilton is big enough to guard Eddie Jones so Miami gets no help there. I expect Damon Jones and Chauncey Billups to get into a 3-point shooting contest.
• Larry Brown is the best coach in the NBA while Stan Van Gundy has a porn mustache.
  

In the West, the Spurs will win if Tony Parker can light up Steve Nash. Parker did not play all that well against Seattle, and really, if you're going to date Eva Longoria you really need to be able to dominate Luke Ridnour. Anyway, Nash doesn't actually play defense so Parker needs to score about 25 points every game. I trust the Spurs the keep the floor balanced and play good transition defense, which is the only way they have a chance. I like San Antonio here, but that pick is a lot softer.

In fact, I can't imagine a more interesting series than Detroit-Phoenix.