I disagree. DET pads their stats against a lot of bad teams and by going full throttle strategy-wise during the year when they play good ones.

Their D is not nearly as good the rankings would make you think. (And it is not good enough to overcome their own offense against good teams.) They are fundamentally flawed in that they don't have a defensive mindset that says I, the individual, am responsible for guarding this man. This is especially true on the perimeter and it leads to the breakdowns that have become the norm for this group.

I hate to bring this up, but the antithesis of this was how DET guarded Shaq under you know who. Ben Wallace could not guard Shaq 1 on 1. At times he got help, but for the most part it was his responsibility to take him. That sense of accountability spread to the entire D. Guard your man. Role players didn't bury them back then. Watch Sheed the first play of almost any game and he will not even be looking at his man. It could be LeBron he's watching or it could be Blake Ahearn. DET might shutdown Mike Redd or Joe Johnson in January, but they haven't stopped anyone the last few Springs.