1 -- Heat have Shaq. He's hard to guard and he probably does get away with too much shit
2-- it's the playoffs... team's that are jump shooting teams can be hurt and hurt often. defenses are night and day in the playoffs. you don't get a free step to shoot anymore.
3 -- defense wins games in the playoffs. if you are a slow down, defense oriented team, you'll always, always have an advantage over a team that's jump shooting and doesn't pound it down low.
all that being said, Flip is probably the worst playoff coach in the history of the Earth. he makes no adjustments, does not play matchups, does not prepare like many others... especially Pat Riley.
the regular season and playoffs are very, very different ballgames. the reason Phil Jackson is so good is because he is a master of breaking down a team's weaknesses and creating a gameplan to isolate them. the same thing with Riley and even Larry Brown -- even though I think he's an asshat.....
Agreed, but the numbers are simple. The pistons D was pretty much identical all year, and they held miami to only 89 points a game rather then 84. The pistons scored 19 FEWER, thats why they lost. They were a jump shooting team all year, even led the league in 3pts attempted. During most of the season it was fine, because they were averaging 45% on the deep ball. That didnt carry over into the playoffs though. Their FG% was horriffic, along with the 3 ball.
They were too tired, chauncey even said so. He said that physically he felt ok, but mentally he was dead.
