After their first trip to the Conference Finals since 1991, the Pistons hired Larry Brown as head coach. Under Brown, the Pistons were once again a tough defensive team as they got off to a solid 32–16 start. However, they struggled in February losing six consecutive games. At midseason, the team acquired All-Star forward Rasheed Wallace from the Atlanta Hawks after playing just one game for them. The Pistons were able to finish 2nd overall in the Central Division (54–28), behind the Indiana Pacers.
2004 PLAYOFFS
In the first round of the playoffs, the Pistons defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in five games despite losing Game 2 at home. In the semifinals, they faced the New Jersey Nets. The Pistons would win the first two games at home, but the Nets jumped out to a 3–2 series lead, which included a triple overtime win in Game 5. However, the Pistons managed to win the next two games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they defeated the top-seeded Indiana Pacers in six games to advanced to the NBA Finals.
Let’s take a look back at Prince’s great block on Reggie Miller in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals:
NBA FINALS
In the Finals, the Pistons defeated the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers in four games to one, winning their third overall championship and first since 1990. Chauncey Billups was named Finals MVP. The Lakers had Hall of Famers in their roster like: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton and Karl Malone. Detroit swarmed the Lakers throughout the series with team defense and a pass-first offense L.A. simply couldn’t match. The Pistons would take three of their four victories by double-digits and easily closed out the series with a 100–87 Game 5 victory.
“Nobody gave us a chance, but we felt we had a great chance, they had Shaq and Kobe, but we just felt we were a better team.” said Billups, the finals MVP with 21 points and 5.2 assists per game.
“It’s about players. This sport is about players playing the right way and showing kids that you can be a team and be successful and it’s great for our league.” said Brown after winning his first NBA championship after 21 years of professional coaching.
“This team is built on defense, everybody knows that. They’ve got a lot of offensive weapons, but we got up in them pretty good.” said Wallace, who finished five incredible games of defense on O’Neal, held 10 points below his career NBA Finals average.
“We did it the right way: working hard, working together. This isn’t a star system we’ve got here. I just think this is the ultimate team.” said president of basketball operations Joe Dumars, who built the first championship team in Detroit since his playing days.
