this version of Payton and Malone were no guarantee to mesh well with Shaq and Kobe. Part of why it even remotely worked as well as it did in 2004 is because Malone and Payton were past their prime so had to defer to O'Neal and Kobe. In their primes maybe Payton works out since he is a point guard and an elite defender but Malone's effectiveness came a lot from his heavy offensive usage which would not be there with Shaq and Kobe. Also their being past their prime is why they were available in the first place. That said, on paper they are probably a top 5 team ever. A few Lakers, Celtics and Bulls teams would be in the mix.
@@vedounamanicadimasochisti not even close to greatest team. Not only are teams not just about talent, they are about sacrifice, fit, role and chemistry. They might not even be the best laker team let alone beat team.
@@scottb3034HAHA In my opinion you just don't have that team figured. You're just being decoyed by the 2004 failure, that took place due to the fact that Malone got injured again in first place. Also that team was too damn short (especially the frontcourt), and that aspect would be fixed by the extra stamina for the most part (we're talking about prime Malone and Payton).
Seattle had it all going for them in this game. Payton (mediocre from 3) hitting all these threes and Kemp hitting jumpers while being inconsistent from mid range.
