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We're all witnesses. I just watched the Celtics destroy the Lakers in every way shape or form in a 6-game sweep. What made the Celtics so much better than Kobe, Phil and the Lakers? There's one simple answer. A 6'11'' presence in the middle of the floor, anchoring the defense, especially when the offense goes stagnant. His name is Kevin Garnett. Kevin Garnett is now a world champion along with a never-ending list of top defensive big man. We've heard the cliché a thousand times, but for whatever reason, this NBA Finals made me come to the realization that "Defense [really does] win Championships".

That brings me to my question. Does this young Philadelphia 76er team have enough defense to one day hoist a Larry O'Brien trophy of their own? The answer is still remain to be seen, but if they do, it's all going to have to start with the man in the middle, the "Haitian Sensation", Samuel Dalembert.

Looking back at the NBA champions throughout the years, there is one constant variable. Big men who can anchor the defense. Michael Jordan's Bulls were the only real exception. The recent Spurs teams had him (Tim Duncan), Shaq and Kobe's Lakers (Shaq), the Pistons (Ben Wallace), the Celtics (Kevin Garnett), the Heat (Shaq), the Rockets (Hakeem). The list could go on forever; all the way back to Willis Reed, Kareem, Russell and Wilt. The other night, ESPN brought up an interesting point about how Bill Russell might not have been the greatest offensive option, but he gave his team the best chance to win (11 Championships) when they went up against a big man who once dropped 100 (Wilt).

Am I saying Sammy D is anywhere near the skill level, let alone be mentioned in the same breath as these guys? Absolutely not, but do I think he has enough talent to eventually anchor a defense for a championship team? Yes and here's why. (Be prepared for a ton of stats to be thrown your way).

Sammy just turned 27 years old and this past season was the year he really put everything together. He's always been a great shot-blocker (2.0 per for his career), but he was consistently a player who blocked a bunch of meaningless shots, not helping the overall team defense in the process. That explains why the Sixers allowed more than 98 points per game in the three seasons prior to this one. The biggest difference in his game this season was, he was able to stay on the court longer and develop a rhythm by fouling out a career-low, 3 times. The previous two seasons he had fouled out in 9 games. He also controlled the boards like never before, averaging 10.4 per game.

During the Sixers' 2nd half playoff run, Dalembert came up HUGE in the fourth quarter of games, shutting down the other team's best post player and doing it without the double team. The most memorable game was against the Spurs and Tim Duncan. I cannot give you the exact details about the plays, but I vividly remember Dalembert forcing Duncan into two horrible shots on back-to-back possessions in the fourth. Duncan missed the shots and Philly held off a furious Spur comeback to win the game. Sam held Duncan to a mere 16-6 in the win on 5-14 shooting, while Dalembert finished with 10-10-2. The other two games I remember where similar things occurred were, the big win in Boston late in the season and the game where Dalembert blocked Al Jefferson's potential game-tying shot, giving him 9 blocks for the game.

Here's what some of the NBA's best big men did against Sammy this season:

Duncan- 17 points and 11 rebounds on 46% shooting
KG- 19 points and 7 rebounds on 60%
Bosh- 21 points and 6 boards on 53%
Curry- 10 points and 4 rebounds on 59%
Dwight Howard- 17 and 15 on 61%
Okur- 18 and 1 on 60%
Kaman- 7 and 8 on 36%
Al Jefferson- 20 and 12 on 55%
Andy Bynum- I hate to even show this one, but 20 and 13 on 84%....Ouch!
and
Camby- 8 and 8 on 46%

Besides Bynum, no one handled Dalembert very well. None of these numbers really jump out at me, but Dalembert did hold some pretty good rebounders below their season average. The thing with Dalembert is, he went into his "anti-KG" mode this season in fourth quarters. Dalembert was in a defensive zone in the fourth quarter of games and absolutely baffled teams' best post-player. If the Sixers hung with a team through the first 3 quarters they knew they'd have a great chance to win with their suffocating fourth quarter defense, lead by Dalembert. In the month of March, which they solidified their playoff berth, they won 11 games. In those 11 wins Philadelphia outscored their opponents in the fourth quarter in 10 of 11 games. The only one where they failed to accomplish that was the San Antonio game I mentioned earlier.

The 27-year-old Dalembert is finally becoming the player we all thought he would be. Heck, he might even be earning about 7 of the 10 million dollars a year Billy King gave him. The most encouraging sign was his ability to take it up a notch in fourth quarters. Not even Garnett could do that. After what I saw this season from Sam, along with some very nice post-season performances, I'm very confident Dalembert will one day anchor a Philly team's championship defense and he might even bust out a Kevin Garnett type scream at mid-court. Oh, the possibilities.