Acknowledging the need to pick up their game, the Detroit Pistons were severely falling behind in the NBA and not getting invites in the NBA championships. A trip down memory lane to 2004 and prior that highlights the hard work the Detroit Pistons put in to be the winner of the 2004 NBA championship. A restoration brought from restructuring the team to an introduction of a successful team leader in the 1999-2000 NBA season. Who could the team leader that introduced the Pistons to their win after a while?
The Pistons win: 2004 NBA final
The game that took the Pistons to the finals was one where the Indiana Pacers faced the Piston’s heat in a game style the Pacers weren’t comfortable with. During the finals, the court felt the energy of the Los Angeles Lakers, and many were nervous for the Pistons as they seemed be no match. With heavy champs such as Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant the Lakers seemed to be the winner already, until the heat of the Detroit Pistons took over.
While the Lakers’ players were stars in their own right, their relationship was not as formidable as the Detroit team. “They may have had better individual players, but we always felt we were a better team,” said Billups. The end of the game saw a 100-87 victory for the Pistons, with Larry Brown saying, “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.”
Pistons’ downhill prior to the win
The light at the end of the tunnel for the Pistons came after the dark era they faced. Hired to help out the struggling Detroit Pistons, the shooting guard Joe Dumars was the team president of the Pistons after the 1999-2000 seasons. The desperation of Dumar came after the 1989 and 1990 season of the Pistons winning back-to-back, then the downhill journey beginning.
From 1991 to 2000, the Detroit Pistons could not go past the first round of the NBA playoffs, even missing the playoffs entirely in 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001. Being brought into the Detroit Pistons as the team president, the NBA Executive of the Year, Joe Dumars had no idea the success the team would face four seasons later.
How the Pistons rose to victory
The win of the Pistons is one that created a great upset in the Lakers and the team’s fans, due to crushing a team with four Hall of Famers. The foundation for the 2004 win started with the onboarding of the team president, Joe Dumars. The shooting guard put together a trade in 2000 for the guard Chucky Atkins and center Ben Wallace, who replaced, the All-Star forward Grant Hill who is sent to the Orlando Magic.
The former Pistons forward, left the team as a free agent and forced Dumars to grow the strength of the team as they lost a franchise player. With Atkins being the main prize in the trade and Wallace being an additional player, the role shift as Wallace became the greatest defence that led to the Pistons winning their first championship.
The induction of Wallace resulted in an amazing growth of the player becoming a four-time All Star, averaging 6.4 points, 13.2 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in the first season to averaging 10 rebounds and 2 blocks per game for seven seasons. More trade-offs under Dumar contributed to the championship of the Pistons; Jerry Stackhouse sent to the Washington Wizards for the guard Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups and the draft Tayshaun Prince.
Richard Hamilton was labelled as the NBA’s top shooting guards and Billups grew to be the 2004 Finals MVP. Putting together the final pieces of the championship puzzle, Dumars hired the Hall of Fame coach, Larry Brown to replace Rick Carlisle and then bringing on Rasheed Wallace in the 2004 trade deadline. It was all systems go with the great reshuffle of the Pistons, as they finish the season with 54-28.
An amazing four-year journey for the Detroit Pistons with their president and shooting guard, Joe Dumars preparing their win from the 1999-2000 NBA season. With all the preparation from the players, sacrifices in the roster and mental dedication from Joe Dumars, it’s evident how the win of the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA championship over the Los Angeles Lakers was not one of chance and luck, but a hard-earned victory. The dark moment for the Pistons has since been over with the team performing quite well.
