Originally Posted by dba

I only watched the games once, so I could be remembering it wrong, but...

The zone the Pistons have been successful at most of the year often ran with Prince at the top. He chased, held out his arms and generally blocked the other team's view of the hoop.

In the fourth quarter of at least the last two games the Pistons went to the zone a lot, but it had Rip at the top. He ended up in many possessions watching LBJ bounce the ball until he took a step or two and then shot over Rip.

Having Prince at the top of the zone was one of the things that made it really effective. Not sure why the zone seems to have changed now, but is has not changed for the better.