#TBT: 2004 NBA Finals; Detroit Pistons Upset Over the Los Angeles Lakers

The summer of 2004 was a big disappointment being a Los Angeles Lakers fan. The Lakers beat some of the top teams in the Western Conference before reaching the 2004 NBA Finals. The Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets in the first round 4-1. The Rockets had All-Stars Yao Ming and Steve Francis on their team. The Lakers went on to beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-2 in the conference semifinals after losing the first two games of the series. The Spurs team consisted of All-Star Tim Duncan and future All-Stars Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

The Lakers then defeated the top seeded Minnesota Timberwolves 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals. The Wolves featured regular season MVP Kevin Garnett who averaged 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.5 steals per game that season. First time All-Star Sam Cassell, All-Star Latrell Sprewell and Garnett led the Wolves to their best season in franchise history before losing to the Lakers. The Lakers would advance to the NBA Finals where they would face the Detroit Pistons with home-court advantage.

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Lakers stars Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal made the All-NBA first team and Kobe was selected to the NBA All-Defensive first team. The Lakers starting lineup consisted of Shaq, Karl Malone, Rick Fox, Kobe and Gary Payton, a team with four future Hall of Famers. The Detroit Pistons had defeated the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals 4-2; the Pacers had the best record in the NBA that season. Detroit had a starting lineup of Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups.

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Ben Wallace was selected to the NBA All-Defensive first team and All-NBA second team that season. The Lakers were clearly the favorites and had won 3 of the last 4 championships in the NBA. Karl Malone and Gary Payton had joined the Lakers seeking to win their first NBA title after being beat by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls back in the late 90’s. The Pistons was the defensive underdogs in this series, a team that didn’t score much or neither did their opponents.

The Pistons shocked the Lakers in Game 1 with an 87-75 victory despite Shaq scoring a game-high 34 points. The Lakers did tie the series with a 99-91 overtime victory in Game 2, Kobe had a game-high 33 points. In Game 3 Richard Hamilton scored a game-high 31 points and led the Pistons to an impressive 88-68 victory. Shaq led the Lakers with 14 points and Kobe scored a disappointing 11 points. Shaq had a dominant Game 4 with 36 points and 20 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as the Lakers lost 88-80. Richard Hamilton led the Pistons with 21 points, Ben Wallace had 18 points and a game-high 22 rebounds and all the Pistons starters scored 11 points or more.

The Pistons would go into game 5 with a 3-1 lead and play the final game of the series in Detroit. Malone would not play in this game due to injury and Game 4 was the last game of his career. In Game 5, Detroit jumped to a 55-45 halftime lead and outscored the Lakers to 27-14 in the third quarter. The Pistons went on to win the game 100-87, win the series 4-1 and become the 2004 NBA champions. Guard Chauncey Billups was named the 2004 NBA Finals MVP.

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This was O’Neal last game with the Lakers and he was traded to the Miami Heat in the offseason. Lakers coach Phil Jackson retired after this loss. However, Jackson did return to the Lakers after a couple of seasons. The Lakers were clearly the better team, Detroit just played better team basketball. This was probably the biggest upset in the history of the NBA Finals. Defensive does always win championships. If the Lakers were on one accord and had better chemistry, they would have gotten past Detroit. Payton did win his first championship in Miami with Shaq. Malone made it to three NBA Finals and lost in all three of them. He lost two to Michael Jordan and the Bulls and one to the underdog Detroit Pistons.