Past events in the Old City: Detroit with iron walls!

The Detroit Pistons, a team that is retro enough, has not performed enough in recent years. The last playoff victory dates back to 2008, but the Pistons are completely different. They reached the division finals for six consecutive years from 2002 to 08, even including two finals.

Although they only won one championship in the end, they defeated the Caijiao Lakers head-on, and the championship was valuable enough.

Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown leads the team, and the Iron Blooded Five Tigers build a defense line. There are no super-level players in the team. This is a very unique championship team.

We have adjusted our time to before the 2003-04 season. Under the leadership of the new generation coach Carlisle, the Pistons won 50 wins for two consecutive years, but unfortunately, they did not achieve satisfactory results in two years. In the first and second year, they were defeated by Green Kai, led by young double-gun Pierce and Antoine Walker. In the second year, they entered the Eastern Conference Finals and were swept out by the then East Guardian Jason Kidd.

Although the playoff situation is not ideal, around Ben Wallace as the core, the Pistons have already taken shape in defensive shape under Carlisle's training. The defensive efficiency achieved in the past two seasons ranks eighth in the league and fourth in the league respectively, with a clear trend of progress.

was quite unexpected. Dumas, the then general manager of the Pistons, quickly chose to fire Carlisle, although he won the best coach in the first year of his coaching position; then he found the old coach Larry Brown from Philadelphia. Larry Brown has produced the legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith, and has emerged with countless star players under Dean Smith, one of the most famous disciples is Michael Jordan. Before taking over the Pistons, Larry Brown coached the Spurs, Nuggets, Pacers and other teams. The Pistons are the seventh team he coached in the NBA.

"Play tough and unite. Use your mind more and enjoy the game"

This is Larry Brown's motto. In addition to these few sentences, executing the correct basketball is the core concept that Larry Brown adheres to. Before him, Carlisle helped the Pistons build a solid defensive foundation. Larry Brown continued to work hard on the basis of his predecessors, gave up the regional defense that he extremely disliked, insisted on advocating the defensive thinking of people-to-people, and emphasized that defense is greater than offense, which can also be seen in the teams he coached in the past. The offensive end emphasizes sharing the ball. Whether it is a ball-holder like Iverson, or an off-ball shooter like Reggie Miller, facing players of different styles, Larry Brown's core philosophy is that players must make the right choices on the court.

According to this coaching idea, Larry Brown gradually played in form after taking over the Pistons. When the performance in the first half of the season was quite good, but in February, the team was embarrassed to suffer a six-game losing streak. The team then ushered in a new deal, with Rashid Wallace being pioneered to trade to the Hawks, and then came to the Pistons through a three-party deal. Without sending any starting player, the Pistons got Rashid Wallace with just one role player and a 2004 first-round draft pick. Since then, the Pistons' Five Tigers have officially made their debut.

As a top frontcourt player in the league at that time, Rashid Wallace had the soft finishing touch of a big player and excellent bounce. During the Trail Blazers, he once made many powerful Western powers feel a headache.

However, in the later stage, personal emotional problems began to arise, and conflicts in the team's locker room began to surface. At the same time, in the same position as the team, the rising star Zach Randolph also made rapid progress. Many problems eventually led to a parting between him and the Trail Blazers.

Although he was given up by the Trail Blazers, Rashid Wallace is still a top player in the league. The biggest problem is that he needs a mentor who can control him well. At this time, Larry Brown appeared. There is actually an inexplicable fate between these two people. Rashid Wallace is the last group of players coached by legendary coach Dean Smith in North Carolina, and Larry Brown also played under Dean Smith. He was previously an assistant coach of the team. In terms of seniority, Rashid Wallace called out when he saw Larry Brown: Senior.

As a North Carolina, Rashid Wallace naturally has to obey and discipline her seniors when facing her seniors; and Senior Brown is also supporting him as much as possible, helping him shift his focus to the basketball court, abandoning interference from the outside world, and facing many negative voices from the outside world, Larry Brown also chose to help him block it.

After returning to basketball with all your heart, Rashid Wallace has less and less bad news on the court, and his performance is getting better and better, especially on the defensive end. In fact, the early Rashid Wallace was not known for his defense. As a big player who can run, jump and shoot, this was a very rare type at the time. Other teams basically focused on his offensive ability.

Surprisingly, after putting on the Pistons jersey, Rashid Wallace, who combines height and speed, began to show his superb defensive ability, especially the single defense influence in the penalty area under the basket. At that time, no one in the league could match him. With Ben Wallace, the best defensive player who is good at making up for defense, the Pistons' heaven and earth net was built.

Before Rashid Wallace joined the Pistons, there was only one Ben Wallace in the inside penalty area. In addition, whether it is veteran Elton Campbell, second-round pick Memit Oku, or Serbia's Zelkar Rebraca, although these big men have high advantages, their overall mobility is insufficient and their defense range is quite limited.

Although the East does not have historical power forwards like Garnett and Duncan like the West, there are also many strong players, such as Kenyon Martin of the Nets, Lamar Odom of the Heat, and even the biggest opponent in the same district, Jermaine O'Neal from the Pacers. These strong enemies are the difficulties that the Pistons must overcome to rush out of the East..

As for the latecomer Larry Brown, this is also a defensive coach. During the 76ers, Eric Snow and George Lynch were selected to start, and the unknown name was Laga Bale. Four defensive sharp swords partnered with offensive arrow Iverson. The same is true for the subsequent coaching of the Pacers. The team's defensive efficiency each season is at the top of the league. His style is almost in line with Carlisle, and the lineup of the Pistons Five Tigers is seamlessly connected.

In addition to the head coach, the player lineup is also quite distinctive. Ben Wallace is a short inside line with lack of offensive methods, and eventually counterattacked from the undraft to the best defensive player.

Although Hamilton and Billups are high-ranking players, they were abandoned by their parent team early because of their unsatisfactory early development. Billups even changed the team five times in six years, and urgently needed an opportunity to prove themselves.

Prince played for four years at the University of Kentucky before entering the league, and his weird personal style has been questioned; finally, the last piece of the Pistons Wuhu puzzle: Rashid Wallace. Before this, his reputation was bad. He was targeted by the referee on the field and was slandered by the media off the field. It was not until he came to Detroit that he truly found his own destination.

The five players with different characteristics came together by chance and finally united them together was a common goal: they all wanted to prove themselves.

Back to today's era, the league has never lacked players who actively fight for defense, and can also find defensive head coaches, but it is now difficult to create a Piston-type iron-blooded defense system.

The most important point comes from the change of league rules. In 2001, the league chose to open regional defense, and some players with obvious defensive flaws began to get playing time; in 2005, the league completely canceled hand contact defense, which was a fatal blow to defensive players.

The changes in rules, different standards of dictation, and the arrival of the three-point era have completely changed the league. Every team pays attention to the outside three-pointers, which has also made the league's overall offensive efficiency soar.

Based on the scoring efficiency of 115 points per 100 leg in the current season, it is well-deserved first in the league in the 2003 season. The offensive efficiency has improved and the offensive rounds have increased. In addition, the league's adjustment rules in 2018, after getting offensive rebounds, its attack time has been adjusted to 14 seconds, which has directly driven the league's scoring data to soar. In today's era, it is difficult for the league to see a game like the Pistons that can limit their opponent's scoring to 80 points.

Judging from the final effect, the league's intention to promote the offense did, but in the dark, we seemed to feel that we had lost something again.

Today, we often see the Pistons' Five Tigers chatting and laughing off the court. It can be seen that the personal friendship of these players is also quite good; no matter on and off the court, they are revealing the iron-blooded temperament of the team. Recalling this black romance that once belonged to Detroit alone, and looking at the weak Motor City today, there is inevitably a hint of remembrance and sigh in my heart.