’04 Pistons Were So Dominant That Their Opponents CELEBRATED A Loss

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Watch what happens here. The Pistons are celebrating their blowout win against the Nets, but New Jersey is still pressing with 15 seconds to go trying to foul and stop the clock.
The reason is extremely bizarre.
This would have been Detroit’s 6th consecutive game of holding their opponent to under 70 points. So in an act of desperation the Nets wanted another shot, and they made it at the buzzer, prompting this hilarious celebration of a 17 point loss.
This team was a force in the league for almost a decade, but the 2004 Pistons squad may have been the best defensive team in NBA history.
This is the 5 game streak that New Jersey snapped, with this second game being particularly interesting. Detroit faced off against the Nuggets and a rookie Carmelo Anthony.
The game was pretty even up until the middle of the second quarter when the Pistons decided that they weren’t going to allow any field goals for a while. A whole 22 possessions to be exact.
Denver could not score against this defense, so the lead went from 35-34 all the way to 64-39 with those 5 points for Denver coming from the free throw line.
And sure, back then the pace was slower so you could see teams scoring under 70 points.
But if we take into account that in the 04 season this happened in 47 out of 1230 games in total, and Detroit’s defense was responsible for 11 of those games, you understand how tough they were.
This was especially the case once they traded for Rasheed Wallace.
From the moment he stepped in the Pistons locker room, Sheed was a perfect fit.
A boost both on offense as well as defense, but also giving the team that extra bit of edge that he always played with.
For the remaining 26 games of the regular season since they acquired Wallace, the Pistons only allowed 78.9 points which would blow out any record for a full season.
And on that topic, overall, they did finish with the number 1 defense overall that year. So then came the playoffs.
And right from the jump in game 1 of the first round against Milwaukee, their defense was dominant. Block after block, the Bucks were suffocated and virtually couldn’t see the rim.
Most of those stops opened up a transition opportunity for the Pistons and they capitalized on it.
And not only that but the guards hounded the ball, often pressing full court so Milwaukee couldn’t even get past half court.
Detroit forced 24 turnovers in that game and it looked like the big brother playing against the little brother. It was that dramatic.
The Pistons advanced in 5 games, and went head to head against the finalists of the previous 2 seasons, the New Jersey Nets.
And once again in the series opening Detroit would offer a defensive spectacle.
In a blowout win, they held the Nets to a miserable 56 points. 56 for the entire game. And not only that but the Pistons allowed a laughable 27.1% shooting from the field for their opponents.
They became 1 of 2 teams to allow under 60 points in a playoff game. Only MJ and the Bulls share the same defensive achievement.
This was a tough series however. It included chipiness, close games and even a triple overtime showdown that the Nets won, despite this unbelievable buzzer beater by Chauncey Billups.
The Nets even took a 3-2 lead. But the defensive mindset of this team prevailed once again and they were able to escape with a close win in New Jersey, setting up the deciding game 7 in which the Pistons absolutely destroyed their opponents with a 90-69 blowout win.
An interesting note here is that Ben Wallace had one of the best offensive nights in his career scoring 18 points, and even looked like a knockdown shooter in a few situations.
In the conference finals Detroit faced off against the Indiana Pacers, the number 1 seed in the east. And despite having the lead late in game 1, Reggie Miller delivered yet another one of his iconic daggers in the clutch, for a heartbreak defeat for the Pistons.
Knowing that they can’t fall in a 2-0 hole, Rasheed Wallace guaranteed a win in game 2.
This statement sparked a war on the court. A defensive slugfest that wasn’t the prettiest to watch with 26 blocks in total. Detroit had 19 of those.
And once again they would find themselves clinging to a 2 point lead in the closing seconds. Which set the stage for one of the most legendary defensive stops in NBA history.
This was another game where the Pistons held their opponents to less than 30% from the field similarly to the game against New Jersey. Only this team and the 99 Knicks were able to do such a thing 2 times in a single playoff run.
They survived game 2 with a win, and also won the next 3 out of the 4 to ultimately defeat the Pacers and head to the NBA finals as a massive underdog against the Lakers superteam.
The one thing that Detroit had going for them was their perfect team chemistry, compared to the ego filled roster of the Lakers led by the beef between Kobe and Shaq.