Larry Brown did not give the instruction as his brother had thought.
Zone defense? It wasn't time for that yet.
They still had time.
The Bucks relied on offense, and offense is unpredictable, while defense will never betray you.
Brown was counting on increasing defensive intensity to disrupt the Bucks' offensive flow.
"Rasheed, stop defending like a fucking weakling!" Brown roared, pale as a vampire, "Show me how fucking tough you are!"
If nothing seems to work, just drag your opponent into the mud and wrestle them down.
It seems to be a long-standing tradition of Eastern Conference teams.
The Pistons took it to an extreme.
During regular practice, Larry Brown instilled this concept in his players: defense is like a single mother struggling to support her family through hard times.
Defense causes both the opponent and oneself pain; there is no glory in it. If someone tells you they play defense for glory, they are definitely lying.