The “Last Dance” documentary has everyone talking about the Bad Boy Pistons. Their use of brute force and physicality was not only unorthodox, but it was also highly controversial.
Using those tactics, and a roster of talented stars, they won back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 and went down in history as one of the best teams of All-Time.
But according to former NBA All-Star Richard Hamilton, the 2004 Pistons Championship team would have beat those Bad Boys.
@therealGM: Which team would win in its prime: Bad Boys Pistons or 2004-2005 Pistons?
04-05 Pistons. We all felt like we were the best five alive. That was our motto, a very special group with the starting lineup…but a lot of guys don’t talk about our bench…we were just perfectly joined together for one purpose, and that was to win a championship.
Hamilton is confident that his team would win, but confidence is something that no Championship team has ever lacked. Who really would have won?
While we’ll never know for sure, you can bet it would have been a tough matchup for both. Would the 2004 Pistons have been able to deal with the defensive toughness of the Pistons? It’s hard to say they would have considering very few teams have ever been able to.
But the 2004 Pistons were very deep and talented. The roster contained many veterans who were joined by former All-Star Rasheed Wallace. Though many claim they got lucky that year, the ’04 Pistons absolutely obliterated everything in their path with a +14.7 net rating over the final 26 games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzrcctiS8yI
With those facts in mind, it’s easy to make an argument for either team. But no matter who you choose, it’s not something we’ll have a definitive answer on anyway.
To watch a game between those two would have been an awesome sight. Unfortunately, we’ll have to leave that line of thinking to our imagination.
