Uhh, that was the Sixers right?
I gotta go with WOW on this one. Kobe was the number one target for the Pistons to stop. He was hacked, fouled, double and triple-teamed and got no calls. Crap, I remember Jordan getting fouls if another guy breathed on him.
The Pistons knew they couldn't stop Shaq, but with Prince they had a chance to stop or slow down Kobe. He was the one who managed to get the Lakers their only win in the series. After that, Brown knew that pressuring the ball to distrupt the triangle and to focus on Kobe would do it. No-one else on the Lakers played with any consistency at all. There were more than enough shots during the regular season for both players. When Fish, and Payton and Malone aren't makeing shots or plays, that's too much for anyone to overcome. It took MJ a few years before they finally built a team that he could go to the finals with.
This edition of the Lakers had too many weaknesses, Kobe wouldn't have been forcing all those shots if someone who could knock them down was spotting up around the 3-pt line ala Horry.
