Game Thread: Beat Steph-MJ-Shaq team 3 vs 3!

[CodeBreaker]

Here's an interesting fantasy thread.
All in prime, can you make a team that has the best shot in beating this one 3on3:

Stephen Curry: With his great ball handling, so overlooked playmaking, and out of this world shooting
Michael Jordan: With his unmatched basketball talent, skill, IQ and mental toughness
Shaquille O'neal: With his incredible strength, power, and dominance in the paint.

​

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Damn, this is actually going to be tough… their skill sets all compliment each other extremely well.


"Personally, I'd just go with Isaiah Thomas, Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe and just hack a Shaq all game long." -Ryan McDonough

 

[Arizona_Sting]

But in all honesty I cannot think of a better trio than that. You dominate the paint, 3 point line and have the GOAT on the wing. No way to stop that.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Replace Shaq with Dream and you are golden.

 

[msgkings322]

Replace Shaq with Dream and you are golden.

I thought the same thing, Shaq was great but there have been better centers. Why not use Dream to try to beat that team with 3 other guys. How about the above 3 versus Olajuwon, LeBron James, and Magic Johnson? Or if you need better perimeter shooting instead of Magic plug in another guard (no one shoots better than Curry but maybe you make up for it with other things like Magic, or Stockton, or Chris Paul)

 

[night]

Magic, Bird, and Olajuwan.

 

[logic]

Maybe the Big O and The Stilt for their prolific scoring, and Joe D to try and slow Jordan down (Jordan said he was the best defender he played against at one point).

 

[kramer1]

This 3 owns that team. Steph Curry? Hahahahahahaha
Shaq?! Hilarious

 

[CodeBreaker]

Replace Shaq with Dream and you are golden.

You can use Hakeem in making your team. IMO Hakeem in his prime was great, most skilled big man I've seen. But Shaq in his prime was just too much. He was nearly unstoppable and unguardable down low. And I know Hakeem did destroy Orlando Shaq but LA Shaq was a different monster.

 

[TDs3nOut]

You can use Hakeem in making your team. IMO Hakeem in his prime was great, most skilled big man I've seen. But Shaq in his prime was just too much. He was nearly unstoppable and unguardable down low. And I know Hakeem did destroy Orlando Shaq but LA Shaq was a different monster.

Okay, I'm gonna go all-UH with Dream, tBig E, and Glide. Defending Curry would certainly be a problem, but he would also likely struggle to defend anyone.

 

[CodeBreaker]

Just to include here, my friend suggested: LeBron, Kobe, Hakeem. Sounds good to me!

 

[CitySushi]

My three would be:

Dirk Nowitzki
Kevin Durant
Lebron James

I think the best way to beat any team is to create mismatches. Rather than simply matching to defend them, make it so that they cannot guard you. Dirk obv guards Shaq, but I put KD on Curry for added length and let Lebron guard MJ. Not sure how they hold up defensively, but the original 3 wouldn't be able to guard my 3 either.

You can run a P&R with any combo of these players and cause a huge mismatch. For sake of argument I have Shaq guarding Dirk, MJ guarding KD and Curry guarding Lebron.

Lebron/KD - Curry has to guard one of them, whoever he ends up on, can just take the ball to the rack unimpeded. Shaq can't camp in the paint to help because you have Dirk on the perimeter. Or simple pick and pop with KD.

KD/Dirk - Pick and Pop all day. Draw Shaq away from the hoop and Lebron flash cuts to the post and dump it down to him to go at Curry. If they switch, KD can take Shaq off the dribble every time.

etc, etc.

There's no way for the original 3 to guard this. There's a potential way for my team to guard the original 3.

 

[logic]

My three would be:

Dirk Nowitzki
Kevin Durant
Lebron James

I think the best way to beat any team is to create mismatches. Rather than simply matching to defend them, make it so that they cannot guard you. Dirk obv guards Shaq, but I put KD on Curry for added length and let Lebron guard MJ. Not sure how they hold up defensively, but the original 3 wouldn't be able to guard my 3 either.

You can run a P&R with any combo of these players and cause a huge mismatch. For sake of argument I have Shaq guarding Dirk, MJ guarding KD and Curry guarding Lebron.

Lebron/KD - Curry has to guard one of them, whoever he ends up on, can just take the ball to the rack unimpeded. Shaq can't camp in the paint to help because you have Dirk on the perimeter. Or simple pick and pop with KD.

KD/Dirk - Pick and Pop all day. Draw Shaq away from the hoop and Lebron flash cuts to the post and dump it down to him to go at Curry. If they switch, KD can take Shaq off the dribble every time.

etc, etc.

There's no way for the original 3 to guard this. There's a potential way for my team to guard the original 3.

I'd let Shaq camp out under the rim and bet that his dunk every time down is a higher percentage than they can shoot from the outside.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Lebron
Kobe
Kareem

Kareem is argueably the greatest center of all-time and a very good defender. Shaq will get his no matter who is on him. Then say what you want but Lebron can play with anyone, including Kobe. That would be a lethal combo, not great at outside shooting but you also get two lockdown defenders where you dont have to double. Curry isnt guarding any one of these guys, they would score at will.

 

[trojanfan12]

Kareem
Magic
Bird

Kareem is better on offense than Shaq and can hold his own on defense. Magic can distribute the ball, get to the hoop and hit the occasional 3 and Bird can also distribute the ball and won a 3 point shooting contest vs. the best in the league and didn't even take off his warmup jacket.

 

[trojanfan12]

Lebron
Kobe
Kareem

Kareem is argueably the greatest center of all-time and a very good defender. Shaq will get his no matter who is on him. Then say what you want but Lebron can play with anyone, including Kobe. That would be a lethal combo, not great at outside shooting but you also get two lockdown defenders where you dont have to double. Curry isnt guarding any one of these guys, they would score at will.

That might be the winning team right there. Kobe and Lebron could switch back and forth on Curry and MJ to slow them down. Kareem had a more advanced offensive game than Shaq (his skyhook is the most unblockable shot in league history) and was solid on defense.

Lebron is big enough to take MJ to the paint and Kobe can do the same to Curry and is at least solid from outside.

 

[ChrisGar15]

Kareem
Magic
Bird

Kareem is better on offense than Shaq and can hold his own on defense. Magic can distribute the ball, get to the hoop and hit the occasional 3 and Bird can also distribute the ball and won a 3 point shooting contest vs. the best in the league and didn't even take off his warmup jacket.

Kareem was on 1st or 2nd All-NBA defensive team 11 times. (often underrated there) But vs. a good 3-on-3 team, he would have trouble with all the switching required.

 

[trojanfan12]

he would have trouble with all the switching required.

Same would hold true for just about any center except maybe Hakeem.

 

[Wamu]

Trajon Langdon
Adam Morrison
Chris Dudley

 

[Wamu]

Mugsy Bogues
Spud Webb
Shawn Bradley