In a twist on the classic game "Six Degrees of Separation," how is Kevin Bacon related to the results of the NBA finals? The answer lies in his movie "The Air Up There" where goes over to Africa to recruit a player and ends up teaching the natives to play basketball. As he is working with them, he delivers one of the best sports movie lines ever, "Defense is more important than breathing." I love that line. Defense is always what will determine the winner of the Finals.
The old saying goes offense sells tickets, defense wins games and rebounding wins championships. Defense and rebounding are the keys to the championship. Stats prove out the fact that the teams that play better defense and grab the most rebounds are the teams that win the championship. Taking a look at the the past 5 Finals series bears this out.
Last season, The Spurs and Cavs met in the finals. Both play good defense, but the Spurs were the better defensive team. In their 4 game sweep of the finals, the Spurs shot 44% and held the Cavs to 36%. The Spurs averaged 46 rebounds per game while the Cavs averaged only 39 rebounds.
In 2006, the Heat beat the Mavs in 6 games. The Heat shot 46% for the series while holding the Mavs to 41%. The Heat out rebounded the Mavs by 5 rebounds per game. In 2005, the Spurs beat the Pistons. This series was a war as both teams played tough defense and it went to 7 games as they battled each other to a virtual standstill. The Spurs shot 43.4% while the Pistons shot 43.1% for the series. The rebounds were also also very close with the Spurs edging the Pistons by one tenth of a rebound. It is no surprise that this series went 7 games and was a battle right to the end. But, the team that had the slight edge in both defensive categories came out the winner.
In 2004, the Lakers and the Pistons faced off in the Finals. The Pistons won the series in 5 games. The Pistons shot 43% and hled the Lakers to 41%. The Pistons also out rebounded the Lakers 46-38. In 2003, the Spurs beat the Nets in 6 games. The Spurs shot 44 % while holding the Nets to 37%. The Spurs also out rebounded the Nets 46-42. As with the other four series, the team with the better defense won the title.
Looking at the teams that are matched up in this year's finals, if the regular season is any indication, the Celtics have an edge in this area over the Lakers. The Celtics were the best defensive team in the league in the regular season, followed closely by Detroit. The Celtics allowed only 90.2 points per game and they held opponents to 42% shooting. The Lakers allowed 101 points per game and allowed teams to shoot 45%. The Lakers have plenty of offense as they averaged 108 points per game, but don't have the defensive intensity of the Celtics.
The Lakers seemed to waltz through the playoffs while the Celtics seemed to struggle at times. The answer to this is defense as well. The Hawks, Cavs and Pistons all played tough defense in their series with the Celtics. In the regular season, the Cavs allowed 45%, the Pistons allowed 44% and the Hawks allowed 46%. In the West, the Lakers played the Nuggets, Utah and the Spurs. The Nuggets might as well be called the Enver Nuggets because there is no D there. They allowed their opponents to shoot 46% in the regular season as did the Jazz. The Spurs have been a defensive juggernaut and in the regular season, they allowed only 44% shooting. But, in the playoffs, they were a shell of their former selves and their defense didn't come close to what we have come to expect from them.
The Celtics struggled early on the road and the one constant in their losses was the fact that their defense was lacking. When the Celtics played the defense that made them the best defensive team in the regular season, the games weren't even close. The Celtics can beat themselves by forgetting their defensive intensity but if they play their brand of defense, they will be very hard to beat. Defense may not be more important than breathing, but it certainly is important to winning a championship.
