The Detroit Pistons were the one true basketball “team” in the NBA. Individually, the starting five had tremendous faults that kept them from being true NBA stars. Rasheed Wallace had an attitude problem, Chauncey Billups had a spent too many years as a journeyman, Tayshaun Prince had a limited offensive game, Richard Hamilton could not play alongside dominant personalities like Michael Jordan, and Antonio McDyess had his prime dampened by injuries. Together they erased each others flaws. Together they beat the star-studded Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals.
Let’s refresh the memory with a top ten list from NBA TV…
NBA lore has it that the team came and conquered the sure champions. It was a lesson in the lack of appreciation for teamwork. It was a return to the phenomenon reminiscent of March Madness where no powerhouse is safe from the inspired Cinderella with nothing to lose. It was a great story, but it was also mostly fiction.
Much like Wicked tells the story before Dorothy came to Oz and defeated the Wicked Witch of the West, this blog entry will tell what happened before the Pistons unexpectedly arrived in the championship series. The volatile relationship between Shaq and Kobe had become too much to bear. Both wanted to be the leader of the team and no matter how many alley-oops and kick outs highlight films show from those playoffs, the team had become split with factions and egos that even Phil Jackson could not hold together.
The other two stars, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, were shadows of former great players. Malone was hobbled and useless apart from an occasional spot up jumper and Payton rarely made it off the bench as it seemed Jackson held a grudge despite beating him in the 1996 NBA Finals.
Warning, this clip contains language some may not find appropriate from www.faym.ebs.com…
The Lakers were waiting to fall apart and the Pistons were simply good enough as a team to beat a Los Angeles squad that played as individuals and not the team that the team that won three straight championships. The following year the Detroit Pistons returned to the NBA Finals and put up a fight, but could beat the San Antonio Spurs, a team with talent and an all for one mentality.
The reality is that Joe Dumars knows this and is starting a new philosophy – star talent. Allen Iverson is hungry for a championship. His career is entering its limelight and he wants to go out with more than a single game win in the finals. His hunger, his drive, and his still-shocking ability to score at will are what Dumars wants.
Iverson will have Hamilton, Wallace, and Prince to help him. That is a much better supporting cast than he had in 2001 when he led the 76ers to the finals and single-handedly won game one before dropping four straight.
These are some highlights from one of the most dominating single game performances in NBA Finals history from the NBC archives…
The loss of Billups will hurt and whether or not McDyess accepts a buyout and returns to Detroit remains unknown (but highly suspected). The change at point will mean a new game in the Motor City. It is too early to tell what will happen, but not too early to guess. I think the abrupt change in team chemistry destroys the team. Luckily, Iverson’s $20 million contract expires after the season so it is a calculated risk.
