2004 NBA Finals
The 2004 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2003–04 National Basketball Association season.
This Finals was contested between the Detroit Pistons of the Eastern Conference and the Los Angeles Lakers of the Western Convention; the Lakers held home court edge. The series was played under a best-of-seven arrangement.
Although the Lakers, headed by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, were believed the favorites that were heavy, the Pistons conveniently won the series in five games. This win marked the Pistons‘ fifth win overall as a franchise as well as its first name as the 1990-1991 NBA period; nearly fifteen years. The show featured the underdog Pistons, dominating a Lakers team composed of four Hall of Famers.
Pistons‘ owner William Davidson became the first owner in American sport history to win two championships in 1 calendar year; eight days earlier, the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League had won the Stanley Cup Finals in seven games over the Calgary Flames.
The Lakers had won three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002, but lost to the eventual champions, the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2003 to end their series at three. The Spurs beat the Lakers.
With initially varying results, alterations were made by the Lakers, From the 2003 offseason. Needing to find a point guard and a power forward to defend against Tim Duncan and the Spurs, the Lakers signed veteran stars Gary Payton and Karl Malone for well below market value; they also hoped to give both veterans their first tournament ring. The Lakers were later considered the favorites to win the NBA title.
Throughout the regular season, after beginning the season 18–3, the Lakers were suffering from numerous traumas and stumbled to a 56–26 record to finish the season with the second seed in the Western Conference.
The Lakers breezed beyond their ancestral opponent, the Houston Rockets, headlining a matchup between Shaquille O’Neal and a youthful Yao Ming, defeating the group 4-1 but then dropped the first two games in their series against the Spurs prior to a dramatic comeback that saw them triumph 4–two. [3] Then, they confronted league MVP Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers won the series 4–two to progress to the Finals. [4]
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