Rasheed Wallace Says 2004 Pistons Would Beat Warriors

Rasheed Wallace believes the stout defense of his 2004 Detroit Pistons would slow the current star-studded Golden State Warriors enough to win a hypothetical head-to-head battle.

On Thursday, Ryne Nelson of Slam Online passed along comments Wallace made during an appearance on the Timeout with Taylor Rooks podcast about that Pistons squad and the top NBA teams of the current era, led by the Dubs.

"Oh, we'd run through them. Not even close," he said. "We play defense."

Ben Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups joined Rasheed Wallace to create one of the most defensively stout starting lineups in recent history.

The Pistons allowed 83.4 points per game during the 2003-04 regular season and put the clamps down harder in the playoffs, giving up just 80.7 points per contest. They capped their championship run by beating the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the NBA Finals.

Wallace told Rooks no team in the current NBA is playing the type of defense they did over a decade ago, and that's what would be necessary to slow down the high-powered Warriors offense.

"With the way that we played in Detroit, we'd lock [players] down. The things that we did in Detroit will never be done again," he said. "Our record of holding seven teams under 70 points will never be done again."

The outspoken Wallace is the latest former player to claim his team could have handled the Warriors, who could complete one of the most impressive three-year runs in NBA history (207 regular-season wins, three Finals appearances) by sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night to complete a 16-0 postseason.

Last year, after the Dubs finished the regular season with a record-setting 73 wins, Bulls legend Scottie Pippen still didn't believe they'd be a threat to the 1995-96 Chicago team.

"Bulls in four [games]," Pippen said, per ESPN.com.

So, while the Warriors may never get past championship teams to concede their greatness, there's no doubt that stopping Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Co. would be a massive challenge for opponents from any era.