Interesting series for sure. A lot of people rip on Kobe for costing the Lakers here and while he didn't have as great a series as he did during the 3 peat, people forget how bad the Lakers supporting cast was here. Malone and Payton were old and injured and the other guys were the same guys from the 3-peat but older and not as good. Pistons were able to key in on the main guys and did not have to worry about anyone else doing anything in this series.
But, they beat Minnesota, SA, and Houston and most people picked them for victory on ESPN. Even vegas favored the Lakers. Also, the Lakers still had Shaq. Also, to be fair in the two seasons, before there weren't that many difference in the supporting case between the 3rd Championship year and 03 were they got knocked out by the Spurs.
Chauncey Billups could have been considered an all-time great (I know he's still a likely HOFer, but I'm talking like upper tier HOFer) if he was 15 years younger. One of the original 3's/layups/FTs type player. The original Harden.
I'm still pissed about the first round. Call me a homer but the Rockets seriously could've upset the Lakers and humiliated them with a first round exit. Game 1 we lost by 1 point and it was off a Jim Jackson corner three with no one on him from an awesome Francis dish. Had he made it I swear it would have been the death knell for the Lakers. We would've taken them in 6 while Kobe/Shaq/Malone and Payton would've bickered and bumped heads and imploded before our eyes. Rockets likely would have lost in the next round to the Spurs but the Lakers getting beat would've been enough of a consolation prize.
Of course they did and no where am I saying that was a bad Laker team. You had 2 of the top 3 players in the NBA (3rd guy being Duncan) at that time on 1 team, no doubt they were still a great team. But this team took a chance on the veterans at the expense of role players and those veterans were not able to hold up by the time they reached the Finals. So when you got to that Pistons series outside of their big 2 and the non factor in the Finals old guys the only other player who was worth anything to the team was Fisher. Fox was past his prime and effectiveness for that team, Devean George was nothing more than a 9th or 8th man, and other guys who were part of the rotation (Rush and Medvedenko) offered little to nothing. Compare that to two years earlier and in addition to the big 2, Fisher was the constant between this time period, Horry was their and did everything we know he did, Fox was at the end of his usefulness as a contributor to a good team, Devean George was a better player by the end of the 3-peat and Samaki Walker and Brian Shaw gave the team more than Slava and Rush did. Also keep in mind the Lakers do not make it to the Western Conference Finals this season if not for one of the craziest shots in NBA history. Game 5 in a 2-2 series at San Antonio Fisher hits his famous buzzer beater with 0.4 seconds left to give the Lakers Game 5.
I think Harden only made the Finals once, and that as a 21/22 year old. Played very well in the previous rounds, esp. against the Spurs, then went cold/disappeared in the Finals.
This was my favorite non rockets team that I've ever rooted for. Not about super stars, but team basketball and gritty defense. And malice at the palace was maybe the craziest moments in sports that I've ever seen live.
All of what you are saying is valid, but couldn't argument be made about 2002-03 Lakers title team, which I will say was also not one of their better teams. Also, there are people out there who still believe to this day that the team had no business in the NBA Finals, because of Game 6, 2002 -- WCF. But, they won the championship that year, just as they won the WC in 2004. House in Vegas was riding on the Lakers -- just like most analyst, people, and fans in this country were picking the Lakers. Even in game 3 and game 4, there were quite a few people expecting historic comeback from the Lakers. http://www.esreality.com/index.php?a=post&id=694764 https://www.oddsshark.com/nba/nba-finals-historical-series-odds-list My point is that the Lakers were not seen as some kind of underdog or team lacking the talent to win, even with Karl Malone's injury. People thought Shaq and Kobe were that great. http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/06/03/nba-finals-predictions http://www.ttlg.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=84006 http://thecomeback.com/freezingcold...pistons-in-the-2004-nba-finals-not-quite.html John Hollinger: https://www.detroitbadboys.com/2012...ns-got-lucky-championship-should-come-with-an
Without a doubt they were still the favorites. That would have been year 5 of the 1st Phil Jackson era in LA and the Lakers went to the NBA Finals 4/5 times and the year they missed out was them losing to the Spurs in the Conference Semis. By year 3 which was their last title during this run you start to see some of the luster come off of this team. They were still able to sweep the Nets in the Finals but even that series was closer then most remember as each game was close and decided at the end. Because of their success during this run everyone was blind to what they should have seen come the Finals. An that was a team that was reduced to a two man team by this time due to injuries to the vets and the weakening play from the role players. Even with that, had Malone and Payton been healthy and able to contribute what they were able to during the course of the season that is probably enough for the Lakers to win this series. Lakers were beat up enough for a great team defense like the Pistons to figure out how to play them and win that series.
For some reason a lot of people look back on that era nostalgically, but man the basketball was tough to watch.
for real...teams struggling just to score 90 points left and right a lot of star perimeter players routinely having 9-25, 11-28, 10-32 type games it was ugly ball...then the 04-05 PHX Suns came through
That was one year after the Kobe rape case. And his head wasn't in the game. The year Rockets made the trade.
