The NBA got what it needed tonight- a championship victory by the underdog. The Detroit Pistons are 2004 champions after beating the Lakers 4 games to 1, and Larry Brown has won his first NBA championship in a 21-year coaching career that has taken him to, seemingly, half the teams in the league.
Brown is the first coach to win championships in both college and pro basketball, while Pistons/Lightning owner Bill Davidson is, I believe, the first owner to ever win the Stanley Cup and NBA title in the same year. And yes, that woman they kept showing was Larry Brown’s wife. Not his daughter. Sort of a Brenda Warner-in-reverse kind of situation.
In other developments, soon-to-be-ex-Laker Kobe guaranteed victory tonight; but you won’t ever see him try that stunt again, whether in basketball or his trial.
Gary Payton, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, and lots of other great players have never won a championship ring. But now, Darko Mlicic has.
And finally, we’re likely to now see a Lakers breakup, ala the Bulls in ’99, right down to the likely Phil Jackson resignation. Hey, I hear Tim Floyd’s looking for a job.
So congratulations, Detroit. And have a nice riot.
Posted by Stephen Silver at June 16, 2004 12:12 AMNext stop for Kobe likely is a Colorado prison cell.
Posted by: Michael at June 16, 2004 08:27 PM