Not completely true. We never saw them against Spurs in the playoffs so we can't conclude that yet. And Aldridge never have the defensive prowess of Rasheed. You need to shut down their 3 point shooting. Cavs already showed blueprints. Both Klay and Curry were terrible in the finals. If they ain't hitting threes, they are pretty average. Teams like Celtics were close on sweeping them last regular season and there were only 2 or 3 teams with elite perimeter defenders. Billups and Prince aren't slouch on on the defensive end either and capable enough of shutting down Warriors three. Now that only leaves Durant to create something out of nothing, but could also end up bricking shots like he did during the WCF.
Let's not forget that they took Spurs with prime Timmy to 7 games. That Spurs team can definitely beat the Warriors too
Aldridge shot just 42% against the Warriors this season. Idk why we need to see it in the playoffs when defenders actually get away with more contact and it's harder for offensive players to maintain their effectiveness. and then you can just look at the hard evidence of Green being nothing short of an elite post defender, allowing just 36% shooting on the season.
Aldridge IS better than Sheed ever was offensively, and I'm telling you if he can guard LMA it doesn't make sense to say he can't guard a guy that averaged 13ppg with the Pistons. If you are relying on him to beat the Warriors you already lost.
You know why the Cavs won the Finals? Because they had a top five player in NBA history and the best isolation scorer in the game today. Look at the shyt they averaged for 3 straight games to win that series by a net margin of 4 points:
LeBron: 36ppg 11.7rpg 9.7apg 3.0spg 3.0bpg
Kyrie: 30ppg on 53.2 FG%
who the fukk on Detroit is doing that? You're making a mistake thinking that defense is enough to beat that team, you need to combine that with a dominant offensive force and the Pistons did not have that.
and we aren't even getting into Bogut getting injured, Iguodala getting injured, and Green being suspended. Even with Curry & Klay inconsistent it was enough to be up 3-1 on team with the best player of this era.
The 76ers and Nets played the Warriors close in the regular season. Let's not compare the two stages, Boston would get waxed by them in a series.
Billups nor Prince is shutting down the Warriors 3PT attack. They will generate open shots no matter what, there is too much firepower in that offense to defend everyone simultaneously. The question is who they leave open.
Durant in the WCF was on a different team with less talent who utilized him in a vastly different way. It will be much harder to guard KD in a Warriors jersey than in a Thunder jersey. If the Pistons don't double him he's going to blow them up. If they do double him, someone is wide open.
and about Curry, the Cavs were getting away with doubling him aggressively with no repercussions because Barnes couldn't hit anything in the final three games. That is the safety valve the Warriors relied on when teams tried to take him away. Now that guy is replaced by Kevin Durant. LeBron isn't ball hawking off KD the same way he did Barnes and they can't hide Kyrie there anymore.
Those Spurs had two above average offensive anchors in Duncan and Ginobili. Everyone else was a role player and that's why the Pistons had so much success against that offense who also liked to play a slow pace grind it out game. From a matchup perspective, it would be easier for them to play the '05 Spurs than the current Warriors.