- The Lakers were overwhelming favorites against the Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals
- Chris Sheridan of the Associated Press had some interesting thoughts prior to the series
- Sheridan’s breakdown of it recently went viral
Almost no one gave the Detroit Pistons any shot of beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals, and the Associated Press’ Chris Sheridan certainly didn’t. Sheridan thought the Lakers would sweep the Pistons, and had an interesting breakdown of the series, which has now gone viral.
Giving Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant the decisive edge was quite fair, but the whole Karl Malone-Rasheed Wallace comparison is quite bizarre. To give Malone the edge in cunning is fine, but I don’t think anyone has ever described him as remotely charming or charismatic.
It doesn’t apply to Wallace either, but I don’t think I’d give either of them the edge here. Where I would give the edge to one of them would be for their play on the court, as Wallace was clearly better than Malone at that point, which makes the choice here quite surprising.
It was quite a brutal breakdown of the two coaches too, and while Phil Jackson was and is obviously greater, Larry Brown deserved a little more respect. Sheridan’s assessment of Devean George and Tayshaun Prince as being even was quite something as well.
He, just like basically everyone outside of Detroit, would be proved horribly wrong once the action commenced.
The Pistons Crushed The Lakers In The Finals
Game 1 of the series itself would prove to be a sign of things to come. The Lakers, who averaged 98.2 points per game in the 2003-04 regular season, good enough for third-best, were powerless against the Pistons defense.
They lost 87-75, in what a shocker at the time. It seemed, though, as if the Lakers had gotten out of jail in Game 2 when they won 99-91 in overtime, but they wouldn’t win another game in the series.
The Pistons’ defense smothered the Lakers, who failed to even score 90 points in the remaining three games. Detroit blew them out 88-68 in Game 3 and after an 88-80 win in Game 4, the writing was on the wall.
To make matters worse for the Lakers, Malone, who had been dealing with a knee injury for much of the season, wouldn’t be able to play in Game 5. When the contest commenced, it was clear there was only going to be one winner. The Pistons cruised to a 100-87 win to clinch the NBA championship.
They had held the mighty Lakers to a paltry average of 81.8 points per game on just 41.6% shooting from the field. O’Neal, who was left one-on-one, was really the only Laker who had any kind of success, as he averaged 26.6 points on 63.1% shooting, but Ben Wallace still did a pretty good job on him.
Kobe Bryant, meanwhile, put up 22.6 points on a woeful 38.1% shooting from the field as the Pistons repeatedly trapped him. He wasn’t alone in being so inefficient, as nine other players on the Lakers’ roster failed to connect on 40% of their shots.
Chauncey Billups Says The Pistons Were Confident They Would Beat The Lakers
Billups was the only Piston to be given an advantage in those matchups, and Sheridan got that right at least. He was far better than Gary Payton, and Billups revealed the secret to the Pistons getting the better of Bryant and O’Neal.
“But we thought they [Los Angeles Lakers] didn’t have a shot. Like, for real, though. That’s not even cocky, though. We felt like the way that they played and the way that we played was different,” Billups said.
“We can’t stop Kobe. We can’t stop Shaq. They the best two players in the whole series. But our game plan was gonna be thorough, and we knew that they couldn’t stop pick and rolls with me, and they couldn’t stop Rip on pin-downs… I told my wife that, before the series, we’d win. She laughed at me.”
I wouldn’t blame Billups’ wife for laughing, as many would have done the same. He was the one laughing at the end, though, as he won Finals MVP with averages of 21.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.
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