"Rasheed is known for offense and defense," Al Michaels said on the broadcast. Two possessions later, with 10:28 left in the first quarter and the score 3-2, Hamilton turned the corner on Kobe Bryant and found Ben Wallace on the left wing, O'Neal sagging off dramatically to leave Wallace wide open for the pick-and-pop. Carving out his territory in the paint, O'Neal then snared the ball from behind a leaping Ben Wallace, tossing the league's best rebounder aside, and opened the Lakers' account in the series with a dunk. The Lakers then took their first possession, hammering through a set that ended with Malone attempting his patented free throw line fadeaway, which bounced woefully short off the front iron. The Pistons opened the scoring 12 seconds in with a 3-pointer from Rasheed Wallace, set up on a sweet, free-flowing set with weakside screens and sharp cuts. It was Shaq and Kobe, plus Karl Malone and Gary Payton, led by the legendary Phil Jackson versus a collective of Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace led by famously title-less Larry Brown. The Lakers, aiming for a fourth title in five years with their megawatt superteam full of star power and ring-hunting veterans, faced a Pistons squad full of outcasts and underdogs. Over the next 90 seconds, three plays summarized the prevailing series narrative: the small-market, outmanned Detroit Pistons against the championship institution that is the Los Angeles Lakers. The ball went up and the 32-year-old O'Neal quick-jumped it, swiping the ball before it reached its apex. And on the other side, there was Ben Wallace, nearly 100 pounds lighter and maybe not quite the 6-foot-9 he was listed at. On one side was Shaquille O'Neal, the gargantuan almost myth of a man, 7-foot-1 and some 330 pounds of pure power and force. THEY STOOD SIDE to side in the center circle, waiting for referee Joey Crawford to loft the ball in the air to kick off the 2004 NBA Finals. How a 2004 NBA Finals win over Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers cemented Ben Wallace's Hall of Fame legacy You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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