At the commencement of the Playoffs just 7 short weeks ago, the NBA world was refreshed by the vitality of the teams participating this year; the league-leading Suns, the surprising Sonics, Yao, Dirk, Dwyane Wade, the Wizards, the Bulls. It was a postseason filled with optimism, youth and anticipation.

But instead, it’s San Antonio and Detroit, the 2 boringest teams in the entire league, that have elbowed their way to the top of the crab bucket. So despite game 1 of the Finals starting tonight (9pm, ABC), you’d be better off setting your sights on the boundless optimism, youth and anticipation offered by the NBA Draft instead. Right?

But no. Just because the coaches, the players and the bulk of the nations’ sporting media aren’t the least bit tingly with excitment about this years’ NBA Finals doesn’t mean they deserve to be ignored. The 2003 NBA Champs, the San Antonio Spurs, face the 2004 NBA Champs, the Detroit Pistons, in the 2005 NBA Finals.

Let’s break it down;

Detroit

Guards
Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Lindsey Hunter, Carlos Arroyo
As it did during last season’s playoff surge, the Pistons’ backcourt is providing the gasoline that allows the team’s blue collar engine to fire. Often taking it in turns to wear the hot hand, both Billups and Hamilton can shoot, and although they have range all the way to the 3-point line, Hamilton in particular prefers the efficiency of mid-range J’s. As you would expect from Pistons players, they are both strong defenders and although their ability to work themselves off the ball into open jump shots means they don’t get to the line very often, they’re both 80-plus-% FT shooters. Because Billups is not your traditional point man, Larry Brown has structured a simple yet effective offense that hides limitations, and it works – Billups is ranked 4th in the playoffs in assists (at 6½ per game) and commits just 2 turnovers per. Yet tellingly, unlike the Spurs who have the versatile Brent Barry as first man off the pine, the Pistons don’t have a tweener guard on their bench. This is a factor that forced Hamilton to play an inordinate number of minutes over the Miami series, so expect some consequent impact on his endurance as he chases Manu Ginobili up and down the court, even with 2 full days rest between games. For some reason, Brown prefers to play the vapid Hunter over the energetic Arroyo at the backup point guard spot, despite the fact that Hunter is averaging just 3 points on 28% shooting in the playoffs so far. Nevertheless, expect to see Billups and Hunter together in a small-ball backcourt for stretches of the 3rd quarter and early in the 4th as Hamilton gains some much needed rest before crunch time.

Forwards
Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess
If anything, Detroit’s 2005 frontcourt is even better than it was when it beat the Lakers last June. Part of this is due to the fact that the classy McDyess is on the roster instead of the corpse of Derrick Coleman, and his rugged play in the paint gives the Pistons a perfect foil off the bench for Rasheed Wallace’s alternately dazzling then confounding versatility. However, the real reason the 2005 Pistons are more dangerous than the 2004 verson is due to the development of Prince at small forward. Posessing a unique mix of youthful athleticism and veteran temprament, Prince can flat out fill up a stat sheet and is on the verge of taking his name off of everyone’s “most under-rated player” list. Why I dumped him from my Fantasy team at the beginning of the season so I could pick up Jamal Crawford, I’ll never know. The other, less appreciated, element that Prince brings to the table in this series is that his unique ability to be productive without the ball will all-but cancel out the defensive impact of Bruce Bowen. Bowen has been a significant factor throughout San Antonio’s 3 series victories so far, but unlike Phoenix with Shawn Marion or Denver with Carmelo Anthony, Detroit can still win if Tayshaun Prince finishes a game with a return of something along the lines of 7 points and 4 rebounds.

Centers
Ben Wallace, Elden Campbell
You know you’re an established factor in the NBA when you can be the current Defensive Player of the Year and the former Rebounding Champion and not get spoken about. Ben Wallace is all of that. And he’s only 6-foot-9, not counting the hair. Over the past 3 days, Larry Brown has toyed with the idea of playing Ben Wallace at the power foward position and Rasheed at the pivot, as a way of neutralising Tim Duncan on the low block. But those teams that play off Nazr Mohammed to double-team Duncan do so at their peril, and Wallace #3 is a substantially better rebounder in technique and attitude than Wallace #36. Still, Ben will be required to contribute in ways other than defensively in this series, and somehow, despite him never venturing beyond arm’s length of the rim (which admittedly is fair distance), he has attempted 4 three-pointers so far this playoffs. Elden Campbell, his backup, is older than 3 of the team’s 7 assisant coaches.

San Antonio

Guards
Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Brent Barry, Beno Udrih
If you were creating the backcourt for a team in the NBA Finals, would you pick a 180 pound point guard from France, a 28 year old shooting guard from Argentina, a rookie from Slovenia and the son of one of the league’s greatest players? Well, you would if you were Spurs General Manager RC Buford. Despite Brent Barry having, on paper, the pedigree, he’s actually the least important player of the bunch – it’s the eclectic mix of Parker and Ginobili that makes the Spurs’ backcourt rotation so difficult to contain. Parker averages less than 5 assists per game. Ginobili’s defense is to slap wildly at the ball. Udrih can’t shoot. Barry is 34. But as a group, these guys are versatile, skilled, and confident basketball players, and that’s why they’re here. They defend without fouling. They handle the ball without turning it over. They hit dagger 3’s and at the next instant shred your most diabolical defensive intentions and drive to the rim for a layup. And, because San Antonio’s guards do a tremendous job of controlling the tempo, they are able to successfully defend all types of opponents – already this playoffs they’ve defeated Earl Boykins, Ray Allen and Steve Nash, all players who, in very different ways, are almost impossible to stop.

Forwards
Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, Glenn Robinson
How many times throughout the Spurs’ 5 game victory over Phoenix did they look like something other than Tim Duncan’s team? Ginobili was nailing threes, Parker was knifing to the rim, Bowen was defending, Mohammed was blocking shots, and all the while Tim Duncan was making the odd high percentage post move and cleaning up defensive rebounds. Then, at the end of the game you look at the boxscore and there it is, Tim Duncan’s name proudly sitting there alongside a line with 9-15 field goals, 6 of 8 free throws, 13 rebounds and 25 points at the end. That’s why this San Antonio team is so dangerous – even if Duncan isn’t dominating for a game, or even a quarter, or if he’s in foul trouble, or if he’s got sore ankles – they have a superstar but they don’t ride him every posession. Parker knows how to run a play to get other people open looks, and the team as a whole responds if Gregg Popovich decides they’re to hitch this game up defensively and grind out a 87-78 victory or to keep on pushing it and win 113-103. The Spurs’ toughness up front allows them to dominate the all-important rebounding battles, and because their big men immediately pass the ball out to the wings, it allows Parker and Ginobili the opportunity to skirmish in transition if their opponents have sent too many men to the offensive glass. At the 3, Horry and Bowen share the minutes and both are master contributors – the type of players who are so limited yet so effective, and so infuriating if you’re playing against them – and deeper down the bench the former Big Dog is on hand when required to nail jumpers on back to back posessions. The Spurs’ forwards are uniquely effective, and all the while Duncan is playing his role, flawlessly, in proceedings.

Centers
Nazr Mohammed, Rasho Nesterovic
For the Spurs to be able to match the Pistons physically, both Mohammed and Nesterovic are going to play a major role. Ever since coming over from New York before the trade deadline, Mohammed has been a god-send for the Spurs, and for Duncan in particular as his days of getting forced into the middle against the big men that Nesterovic can’t handle are over. The Spurs will still go small with Duncan playing the 5, but they now do so by choice, to force their opponents into reactive substitutions. Although Nzar plays just 23 minutes a game, he works his butt off on the glass and has a soft touch around the rim, and he’ll earn his money one on one against Ben Wallace here. Nesterovic hasn’t gotten much time so far this postseason and he’s a liability from the free throw line, but, like the majority of these players, he’s been to the Finals before and knows what to do.

So, who will win?

Well, San Antonio are deserved favorites, but I can’t bring myself to pick them. At the beginning of this season, in a daring and ultimately futile attempt to get my girlfriend to show some interest in the NBA, I bet her $20 she couldn’t pick the winner of the Finals. I even printed off some season previews so she could have a sporting chance. Unfortunately, the previews I gave her were “too long and I didn’t understand them”, so she found Steve Kerr’s facile predictions at Yahoo! Sports and, obviously, chose the Spurs.

So I’m picking Detroit to win. Otherwise, I’ll never hear the end of it.