2004 NBA Finals

• 1. Introduction

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  On the 6th of June 2004, the Detroit Pistons walked into the Staples Center as 12-point underdogs and walked out with a victory. Their opponents, the Los Angeles Lakers, had four future Hall of Famers on the roster: Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton. Almost nobody gave Detroit a chance. What unfolded over the next nine days would produce one of the most lopsided upsets in NBA Finals history. How does a team with no single superstar dismantle a dynasty? What made the Pistons so difficult to stop? And what happened to each of those four Hall of Famers when the dust settled?

• 2. The Superteam That Stumbled

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  After winning three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002, the Los Angeles Lakers were knocked out of the 2003 playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals. The elimination stung, but management responded by assembling what looked like an unbeatable roster. Gary Payton, who had taken the Seattle SuperSonics to the Finals in 1996, and Karl Malone, who had reached the Finals with the Utah Jazz in 1997 and 1998, both signed for well below market value. Both had been denied championships three times by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. Los Angeles was now their best and perhaps last shot.

  Despite starting the regular season at 18-3, the Lakers stumbled to a 56-26 finish due to injuries and entered the playoffs as the second seed in the Western Conference. Their road through the West was still dramatic. Shaquille O'Neal squared off against a young Yao Ming in the first round before Derek Fisher's famous 0.4-second buzzer shot helped eliminate the Spurs 4-2 in a tense second-round series. A 4-2 win over Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves followed. By the time Los Angeles reached the Finals, the roster looked battle-tested. Karl Malone was nursing a knee injury that would eventually force him out of Game 5, but few anticipated just how completely the Pistons would shut the whole lineup down.

• 3. Joe Dumars Builds a Machine

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  Joe Dumars took over as Detroit's general manager in 2000 and immediately began collecting pieces that most other teams overlooked. He acquired Ben Wallace and Richard Hamilton by trading established stars in deals many considered controversial at the time. Chauncey Billups, widely regarded as an underachiever before arriving in Detroit, found his identity running Dumars's system. Tayshaun Prince was selected with the 23rd pick in the 2002 draft. Dumars was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2003 for restoring Detroit to relevance.

  The team's final move was among the boldest. Dumars fired Rick Carlisle, who had delivered consecutive Central Division titles and won the NBA Coach of the Year Award in 2002, and replaced him with Larry Brown, who had most recently taken the Philadelphia 76ers to the Finals in 2001. Then, at the 2004 trade deadline, Dumars engineered a three-team deal involving the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks to acquire Rasheed Wallace. Lindsey Hunter, dealt away in the same transaction, was waived by the Celtics a week later and rejoined Detroit, pairing with Mike James to form what teammates called "The Pit Bulls" off the bench. That completed roster went on to hold five consecutive opponents under 70 points, a feat no team in NBA history had managed before.

• 4. A Five-Game Sweep in All but Name

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  Game 1 set the tone immediately. On the 6th of June, the Pistons arrived in Los Angeles and held every Laker except Bryant and O'Neal to a combined total of 16 points. O'Neal put up 34 points and 11 rebounds, and Chauncey Billups answered with 22 points, four assists, and three steals. Detroit trailed by one at halftime, then outscored Los Angeles 47-34 in the second half for the road win.

  Game 2 was the one slip. The Lakers led by seven at halftime and eventually forced overtime after Kobe Bryant hit a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation. In overtime, Detroit scored just two points against Los Angeles's ten. On the bus afterward, Billups told his teammates and coaches: "We're not coming back to L.A."

  He was right. Game 3 at The Palace of Auburn Hills on the 10th of June opened with a 10-2 Detroit run. The Pistons won by 20, and the Lakers' 68 points set a franchise record for the lowest scoring total in a playoff game. Bryant was held scoreless in the first half and finished with 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Games 4 and 5 were more of the same; O'Neal scored 36 in Game 4 but Bryant shot 32 percent from the field. On the 15th of June, the Pistons closed it out with a 100-87 win, the only time either team cracked triple digits across the entire series.

• 5. Tayshaun Prince and the Block

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  Before the Finals, Tayshaun Prince had already delivered one of the defining plays of Detroit's playoff run. In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers, the Pistons clung to a 69-67 lead with under 30 seconds remaining. After Jermaine O'Neal blocked a Rasheed Wallace shot, Jamaal Tinsley stripped Billups and found Reggie Miller streaking toward an open layup. Prince sprinted from the left wing and blocked the shot as it left Miller's fingertips. Richard Hamilton recovered the ball, drew a foul, and made three free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal a 72-67 victory.

  That sequence gave the Pistons momentum they never lost. Detroit rode dominant performances in Games 3 and 5 to a 4-2 series win, reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in 14 years. The same defensive instincts that produced Prince's block against Miller would define how Detroit played in June: close every lane, contest every shot, and dare the opposing offense to find an answer.

• 6. William Davidson's Double

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  The championship meant something beyond basketball for Pistons owner William Davidson. Eight days before his team closed out the Lakers, his Tampa Bay Lightning had defeated the Calgary Flames to win the NHL's Stanley Cup Finals in seven games. Davidson became the first owner in American sports history to win two professional championships in a single calendar year.

  The same city had also seen the Detroit Shock defeat the Los Angeles Sparks to win the 2003 WNBA Finals, meaning the Detroit-Los Angeles pairing was mirrored across both major women's and men's basketball titles in the same general period. As of 2026, the 2004 championship remains the most recent major professional sports title won by a Detroit-based team at their own home venue.

• 7. The Aftermath

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  Phil Jackson resigned as Lakers head coach immediately after the series. Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat, where he won another championship in 2006. Gary Payton was dealt to the Boston Celtics. Karl Malone, who holds the NBA record for the most playoff games played without winning a championship at 193, never played professionally again. The 2004-05 Lakers won just 34 games and missed the playoffs entirely. Jackson returned the following offseason despite having written a book in which he called Kobe Bryant uncoachable. The two reconciled quickly; together they would reach the Finals again in 2008, 2009, and 2010, winning the last two.

  The Pistons returned to the Finals the very next season but lost to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games. They remained the dominant force in the Eastern Conference for three more years before management broke up the core following a loss to the eventual champion Boston Celtics in the 2007-08 season. Doc Rivers, who called the series alongside Al Michaels on ABC, left the broadcast booth at the end of the Finals to become head coach of those same Celtics. Larry Brown, who finally won a professional title in Game 5, became the lasting emblem of the 2004 Pistons: a coach who spent decades chasing a ring, and found it in the most unexpected five-game series the Finals had seen in years.