I know I busted on all the speculative talk in this forum in the past, but fuck it, let's figure out who would win between these two teams.

In today's NBA, who do you think wins a 7 game series? I say Pistons, 4-3 (5-2 if given home court advantage).

Starting lineups:

Pistons starters:

G – Billups
G – Hamilton
C – B. Wallace
F – R. Wallace
F – Prince

Bench:

G – Arroyo
G - Hunter
C/F – McDyess
F – Evans
F – Delfino


Bulls starters:

G – Harper
G – Jordan
C – Longley
F – Pippen
F – Rodman

Bench:

G – Kerr
G - Randy Brown
F – Kukoc
C - Wennington

Pistons offense, individual matchups:

Billups v. Harper. Edge: Billups. Chauncey will be able to get his shot off often and penetrate with regularity, either taking the shot or kicking it out for the open three.

Hamilton v. Rodman. Edge: Rodman. Worm was one of the game’s best defenders, and he had the wheels to keep up with Rip throughout the entire game. Rodman is the only guy the Bulls can realistically put on Rip, freeing Sheed to have his way with Pippen.

B. Wallace v. Longely. Edge: Longely. This is not the matchup that will make/break the series, for sure. Big Ben’s quickness will be too much for Longely, but he wouldn’t be considered an offensive option.

R. Wallace v. Pippen. Edge: Sheed. Although Pippen’s defensive game was great, there’s no way he could handle Sheed’s post game. Sheed also has the ability to step out and take the jumper. I think Sheed would give the Bulls fits the whole series.

Prince v. Jordan. Edge: Prince, barely. This is today’s NBA, remember, so no hand-checking is allowed. I think Prince’s game can exploit Jordan’s D. I can see Prince running Jordan all over the court and losing him regularly. Jordan will definitely get the better of Prince at times, but overall I think Prince can score on Jordan.

Bulls offense, individual matchups:

Harper v. Billups. Edge: Billups. Since Harper is mainly a distributor of the ball in this offense, I don’t see Chauncey having too much of a problem keeping Harper in check.

Jordan v. Prince. Edge: Jordan. MJ will get his, of course, but Prince will give him more problems than what he’s used to.

Longely v. B. Wallace. Edge: B. Wallace. Big Ben owns Longely underneath.

Pippen v. Hamilton. Edge: Pippen. Pippen’s length is too much for Rip to deal with. The Pistons will have to switch out Hamilton with Prince quite a few times, allowing Jordan to continue to have his way.

Rodman v. R. Wallace. Edge: Sheed. Rodman had no offensive game to speak of, which works to the Pistons advantage. Sheed is free to roam the middle and help out up top.

Bench: advantage: Pistons. Although the Bulls bench is formidable, it’s not as deep or diverse as the Piston’s bench.


Just my thoughts. Discuss.