I'll disagree with you. The reason being, Shaq had already moved past his prime and the team depend on him more than Malone, and Malone had not really played well all season for them. The Pistons won because they peaked at the right time and LA could not stop them from scoring. Was Karl Malone going to stop Richard Hamilton and Billups from scoring or something? Detroit had the fire and desire. LA did not, they were burned out from winning it the previous years.
if yao is relatively healthy, the rockets are finishing in the top 4. the same can be said about portland.
the rockets rotation looks like this: pg - aaron brooks/kyle lowry sg - kevin martin/courtney lee sf - shane battier/chase budinger pf - luis scola/patrick patterson/jordan hill c - yao ming/brad miller/chuck hayes the assumption that yao isn't going to be around is a bad one. he's never disappointed thus far coming back from injury. and really the biggest thing here is that the rockets will go back to being one of the top defensive teams in the league with yao's presence inside.
When was Shaq past his prime on a team that won a ring? He was still the most dominant force in the league when he got Wade his only ring. Not sure where that comes from. Obviously was past his prime with Phoenix and later then with Cleveland, but those teams didn't win rings anyway.
What the hell are you smoking? No he wasn't. He was the second fiddle to the Dwayne Wade show, and he even said it himself. The reason LA lost the last year he was there, is because he was so overweight he was hurt much of the year. You seem to have forgot the verbal barbs going back and forth between him and Kobe as well. When he came to Miami, he lost weight, and became the 2nd fiddle to Wade, who powered Miami over the top with a bunch of old players who were just there to not fuck up. Amazingly, just like in the past, the year after they won, he got fat and lazy, and eventually was shipped out again.
