Better Defensive team: 2004 Detroit Pistons or 2008 Boston Celtics

[john_d]

kobe and jordan in a thread together really is a bad mix.

[whoartthou]

detroit pistons of 2004 are probably top 3 defensive teams of all time (mix in the new york knicks of the 90s, and the bad boy pistons.) So the 2004 pistons are definately > celts 2008. But the 2008 celtics team was great.

[Durant35]

2004 Pistons were the better defensive team. Kobe had a better overall productions againts the 08 Celtics.

[AK47DR91]

kobe and jordan in a thread together really is a bad mix.

Nobody mentioned Jordan at all until a Kobe fan showed up and had to put Jordan into the mix...Typical Kobe stan routine.

I only mentioned Kobe b/c he actually faced both teams.

[PHILA]

'04 Pistons, I've never seen a defensive team quite like them after they got Sheed.

Indeed.

[Snoop_Cat]

Easily the Pistons, better team AND individual defenders

[Desperado]

Bad Boys Pistons say hi.

@ people talking about the bad boy Pistons.


The same team that whooped Jordan 3 years in a row and sent him home fishing.

Whats you point? It took 4 attempts for Jordan to finally get past the Pistons in the playoffs, but people always give Kobe a hard time for going down to the Celtics once? What kind of sh*t is that?


There were bruiser teams playing back then, but there is a reason why Jordan was able to average 30+ a season like it was nothing while shooting well under 100 attempts from downtown. He could get by off of sheer athleticism, that sh*t will NOT fly in today's game.



You put a player like J.R smith and put him in the 80's and he would be in the hall of fame right now.

[Calabis]

2004 Pistons, they are the ones that got the defensive rules changed for the 2004-05 season. Go ask Mark Cuban

[Calabis]

The 04 Pistons and both the Celtics teams Kobe played in the Finals would have beat any of the teams Jordan played in the Finals.

And Kobe showed his true colors against a good Jordan style defense, 38%, 41% and 40% shooting, also most missed shots in finals history

[Calabis]

@ people talking about the bad boy Pistons.


The same team that whooped Jordan 3 years in a row and sent him home fishing.

Whats you point? It took 4 attempts for Jordan to finally get past the Pistons in the playoffs, but people always give Kobe a hard time for going down to the Celtics once? What kind of sh*t is that?


There were bruiser teams playing back then, but there is a reason why Jordan was able to average 30+ a season like it was nothing while shooting well under 100 attempts from downtown. He could get by off of sheer athleticism, that sh*t will NOT fly in today's game.



You put a player like J.R smith and put him in the 80's and he would be in the hall of fame right now.

2004 rule changes enough said

[Apocalyptic0n3]

I realize we are doing championship teams, but the 05 Pistons were better defensively than the 04 team (Sheed playing with us for a full season definitely helped us). I would take both the 05 Pistons and the 05 Spurs over the 08 Celtics, though. That Finals was one of the greatest defensive matchups ever and may never be surpassed.

[wang4three]

Pistons. Outside of an outstanding starting 5 defensively, they had great ball pressure players in James and Hunter.

[Quickz]

I'll go with the Piston's, they where a scary bunch on defense...FEAR THE FRO haha as shitty as Ben Wallace was on Offense boy did he make up for it on defense. I take his D over KG's any day....Same with Sheed over perkins, and Prince over peirce and Allen combined. Plus Billups was such a good leader for them on both ends.

[ShaqAttack3234]

In Sheed's 21 starts in the '04 regular season, the Pistons allowed an average of just 76.8 ppg and they were 17-4 in those games. They held opponents under 70 points in 5 consecutive games in that stretch and under 80 points in 8 consecutive games during that same stretch. In those 21 games, an opponents high was 94(the only time an opponent scored over 90 vs Detroit in those 21 games Sheed started). They held Indiana to just 61 points one game and in 8 out of those 21 games, they held their opponent under 70 points. In a playoff game, they held the Nets to just 56 points.

That's incredible, it's the first time I looked up the numbers, but even before that I was sure they were the best defensive team I've ever seen. And they were a true team at both ends. Everyone knew their roles and they're the only championship team in the last 2, maybe 3 decades with no clear best player which was the beauty of that team, though to me, Big Ben was their MVP.

I'll admit, I hated them at the time! I root for the Knicks and Nets and with the Marbury/Houston combo being a let down in the first round, I was rooting for the Nets again, yet Detroit beat them in a devastating series, they beat the Pacers and I was a Jermaine O'Neal fan and of course, they beat the Lakers and Shaq was my favorite player.

But looking back on them, that has to be one of my favorite teams now, along with the 2002 Kings who I also rooted against, but ran the most gorgeous offense I've ever seen.

[Quickz]

In Sheed's 21 starts in the '04 regular season, the Pistons allowed an average of just 76.8 ppg and they were 17-4 in those games. They held opponents under 70 points in 5 consecutive games in that stretch and under 80 points in 8 consecutive games during that same stretch. In those 21 games, an opponents high was 94(the only time an opponent scored over 90 vs Detroit in those 21 games Sheed started). They held Indiana to just 61 points one game and in 8 out of those 21 games, they held their opponent under 70 points. In a playoff game, they held the Nets to just 56 points.

That's incredible, it's the first time I looked up the numbers, but even before that I was sure they were the best defensive team I've ever seen. And they were a true team at both ends. Everyone knew their roles and they're the only championship team in the last 2, maybe 3 decades with no clear best player which was the beauty of that team, though to me, Big Ben was their MVP.

I'll admit, I hated them at the time! I root for the Knicks and Nets and with the Marbury/Houston combo being a let down in the first round, I was rooting for the Nets again, yet Detroit beat them in a devastating series, they beat the Pacers and I was a Jermaine O'Neal fan and of course, they beat the Lakers and Shaq was my favorite player.

But looking back on them, that has to be one of my favorite teams now, along with the 2002 Kings who I also rooted against, but ran the most gorgeous offense I've ever seen.

Very rare when a team like the 2004 pistons come along hate em or love em, such a complete team.