I'm pretty sure Ben called Caruso the "Bald Mamba" in this video, which is an awesome nickname for him.
Great walkthrough of the adjustments made over the course of seven games to try to disrupt Joker, culminating with putting Caruso (who's 100 lbs lighter and 6 inches shorter) on him.
2 takeaways:
It bums me out that Russ gets so much disrespect, but it's also deserved.
Pretty much the Westbrook experience. He gives you 200%, full of energy, but would take bad shots and miss or have turnovers during critical moments. It's like a mystery box at this point; you don't know which version of Russ you will get and your team could win or lose because of his play depending on which Russ you got from the mystery box.
Ernie raised a great son, haha.
Caruso has vaulted into legendary defender tier for me. I'm not sure who I have up there other than Caruso and Rodman.
Ben Wallace?
Probably, but what's elevating Caruso now, and was unique about Rodman, is being deployed on the other team's best offensive player, regardless of position.
Ben Wallace could do that, but it's not really how he was used. Garnett is probably the other guy I think of in this category and Draymond really deserves some love too.
Edit: Just to make it completely clear, Ben Wallace is one of my favorite players ever. I'm just thinking about the very rare group of 1-5 defenders, here.
Yea, I didn't watch game 7 because I was on vacation, but judging by the highlights, the video you posted, and what you guys are talking about, it reminds me of when Rodman defended Shaq and pretty much shut him down.
Caruso did as good a job as anyone on Jokic.