88-91 Pistons vs 08-11 Lakers. Who was better?

[Shaquille O'Neal]

Both teams in a 4 year span:

Year 1: Lost to the champs in the finals (88 Pistons lost to Lakers, 08 Lakers lost to Celtics)
Year 2 & 3: Won the chip
Year 4: Got swept by the eventual champs: (91 Pistons swept by Bulls in conf. finals, 11 Lakers swept by Mavs in conf. semis).

I realize the Pistons were much more dominant before they broke through (compare say, 86-87 Pistons to 06-07 Lakers, there's really no comparison).
However both dropped off the map after winning back-to-back and then getting swept.

So which team was greater?

[Shaquille O'Neal]

Lest you think it's clearly favoring the Pistons, let's examine their finals opponents:

1989: Hurt Magic Johnson, 400+ year old Kareem that retired at the end of the series. I think Byron Scott may have been injured, but can't remember.
1990: I was 16 during this series and can't remember anything about the 1990 Portland Trailblazers. But I do know they had Clyde and went back in '92, so they couldn't have been awful.

2009: Lakers beat a pretty good Magic club that had all those 3 pt. shooters & Howard; the same club that easily beat Lebron's 66 win Cavs team in a gentleman's sweep.
2010: Beat a very good Boston "Big 3" with Pierce, Allen, Garnett, although Perkins getting hurt in the series hurt the Celtics. Went all the way to the end of game 7.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

Don't forget 2008 lakers smacked around the prime Duncan\Manu\Parker spurs 4-1. They would of won the title that season but celtics were like the Durant Warriors of their era.

I got Lakers in this as the overall better team and better relative to their era. Kobe is by far the best player on both teams. Pau Gasol is a better player then Dumars or Rodman. So generally speaking, 2008-2010 lakers are just the better team. However, that's a tough matchup for lakers because they gave Jordan issues and Kobe is similar player, Rodman\Laimbeer would probably lock up Gasol. So if they face, it would go to 7.

[dankok8]

Pistons matchup very well with the Lakers. Gasol was kind of a finesse player and could struggle with the Pistons' dirty tactics.

I think if they face off 4 times they probably split it with 2 wins going each way maybe 3 wins for the Pistons... maybe.... The Pistons are a bit better but not enough to dominate IMO. The 2008-2010 Lakers are one of the historically most underrated teams.

[Shaquille O'Neal]

Don't forget 2008 lakers smacked around the prime Duncan\Manu\Parker spurs 4-1. They would of won the title that season but celtics were like the Durant Warriors of their era.

I got Lakers in this as the overall better team and better relative to their era. Kobe is by far the best player on both teams. Pau Gasol is a better player then Dumars or Rodman. So generally speaking, 2008-2010 lakers are just the better team. However, that's a tough matchup for lakers because they gave Jordan issues and Kobe is similar player, Rodman\Laimbeer would probably lock up Gasol. So if they face, it would go to 7.

Excellent assessment, and I completely forgot about the Lakers dispatching the former year champs 4-1. This might be a series where whichever role player (Fisher, Ron Artest) plays better, wins.

[Smoke117]

The Pistons, obviously.

[Akeem34TheDream]

Both teams lost to the champion in year 4 but Bulls went on to become a dynasty. Mavs had 1 year of success. Therefore, I go with the Pistons.

[iamgine]

Lest you think it's clearly favoring the Pistons, let's examine their finals opponents:

1989: Hurt Magic Johnson, 400+ year old Kareem that retired at the end of the series. I think Byron Scott may have been injured, but can't remember.
1990: I was 16 during this series and can't remember anything about the 1990 Portland Trailblazers. But I do know they had Clyde and went back in '92, so they couldn't have been awful.

2009: Lakers beat a pretty good Magic club that had all those 3 pt. shooters & Howard; the same club that easily beat Lebron's 66 win Cavs team in a gentleman's sweep.
2010: Beat a very good Boston "Big 3" with Pierce, Allen, Garnett, although Perkins getting hurt in the series hurt the Celtics. Went all the way to the end of game 7.

Don't forget the 1988 Pistons beat the Celtics and went 7 games with the Lakers. Within 3 points of winning. The way I see it, if the Pistons were around equal to 1988 Celtics and Lakers, then surely the question becomes is 08-11 Lakers better than '88 Lakers or '88 Celtics? I think most people will take '88 Lakers/Celtics.

[2much_knowledge]

Its incredible how similar those runs were. Im not sure whos better. Probably Detroit

[kawhileonard2]

Pistons.