Lessee, team C is going to dominate inside. Stockton knows how to set up bigs, and Truck, King and Chambers were all stellar at the rim. Then you add in that Chambers could shoot the long ball, Hornacek was one of the best ever and Stockton himself had no problems shooting the 3. Then team B has little defense at the rim beyond Favors, who could not hang against Truck, nor Chambers. Dantley and Gay were not exactly defensive stalwarts even in their prime.
Mitchell will struggle against Stockton, one of the most hard-nosed defenders at the PG position who had no problem hanging on the perimeter against premier guards. Hayward/Jefferson will get eaten alive by King. Starting Hayward at the 2 might be a mistake, should probably start Rubio and Mitchell together and bring Hayward off the bench, but beyond Rubio team B has little to no play-making, but 2 of the highest usage players the Jazz have ever seen in Dantley and Mitchell. I think B looks strong on paper but when you get into matchups it is very much looking like team C will dominate this series. Add in Kessler defending the paint, good luck getting past him at the rim. And Truck was no slouch on D in his prime especially, I think he averaged almost 4 BPG one year.
Team C will run away with this.
Team C's biggest weakness is they didn't get enough straight up shooting to go with the inside play. They only have 2 legit 3 point shooters. Howard, Harris and Chambers were all right, but not a real threat to load up from the perimeter. But the Stockton factor combined with excellent defenders at multiple positions makes them pretty tough.
