2005 NBA Eastern Conference Finals

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Contents 1 Miami Heat vs. Detroit Pistons 1.1 Miami Heat 1.2 Detroit Pistons 1.3 2005 NBA Playoffs

[edit] Miami Heat vs. Detroit Pistons

[edit] Miami Heat

The Miami Heat entered the 2004-05 NBA Season with high expectations after dealing Lamar Odom to the Lakers for Shaquille O'Neal. Miami also acquired PG Gary Payton. Shaq did not disappoint as the Heat drove through the season most of the time in front of everyone in the East and quickly showed that they were a different team with Shaq in the middle. The Heat finished with a 59-23 record and first in the Eastern Conference.

[edit] Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons ended Shaq's career in LA with a 100-87 Game 5 NBA Finals victory and captured their third NBA title. The 2004-05 season had a lagging start for the Defending Champs. They stumbled to a 15-15 record near November and needed to go on a run of wins to be a legitimate contender in the East. The Pistons found their stride just in time and were able to finish with a 54-28 record good for second in the East. The Defending Champs were still there sporting the best starting five to ever play the game, Billups, Hamilton, Prince, R. Wallace, and B. Wallace and arguably the best back court in the NBA today, Billups and Hamilton.

[edit] 2005 NBA Playoffs

The Miami Heat were the one seed in the East and drew the New Jersey Nets, the eight seed, in the first round. The Heat blew out New Jersey in Games one and two but a thrilling buzzer beater finish was what it took towin game 3. Miami crushed New Jersey in game 4 and easily swept the series 4-0.

In the second round the Miami Heat would take on the Washington Wizards who upset the Chicago Bulls in round one and were in the second round for the first time in thirty years. The Heat won games one and two easily with the final two games in Washington being no cakewalk. However the Heat were able to pull out victories in games 3 and 4 and moved on to the Conference Finals without losing a single game in the playoffs so far.

The Detroit Pistons entered as the Defending NBA Champions and were the two seed in the East drawing the seventh seeded Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. Led by Allen Iverson and Chris Webber the Sixers took early leads in games one and two at the Palace. The Pistons however would turn it on and take over both games one and to and a 2-0 lead heading to Philly. In Game 3 the 76ers came out with a lot of emotion and were able to post a win going away to get back into the series 2-1. Game 4 would be a classic with the 76ers leading for most of the game until Chauncey Billups' monsterous fourth quarter led to a tie game and his three pointer with 13 seconds left gave them the lead. Detroit native Willie Green a forward for the sixers drove and was fouled with 3 seconds left and a one point deficit. Willie had a chance to win it but missed the first free throw and made the second sending the game into overtime. The Pistons held Iverson to only two free throws and went on to post a 97-92 victory and take a commanding 3-1 lead heading back to the Palace. In game 5, the Pistons trailed early but eventually overwhelmed the demoralized Sixers and eliminated them in five games. This series showed how anyone can win at any time and that even the best of teams have trouble on the road at some times. In the Conference Semisthe Pistons found themselves against their biggest rivals, the Indiana Pacers who earlier in November of that year was involved in the Palace Brawl losing Ron Artest for the rest of the season but was still able to finish sixth in the East and beat the Celtics in seven in the first round. Game one was a Pistons victory from start to finish but game 2 was a different story as role player Jeff Foster came up with a huge game and the Pacers tied the best of seven series at two heading to Indiana for the next two. In game 3 the Pistons trailed by 18 going into the fourth but staged a dramatic comeback finding themselves leading with less than two minutes to play but the Pacers regained control and with that a 2-1 lead in the series. Leading up to game four Rsheed Wallace delivered one of his Guarantees putting a lot of pressure on himself for this pivotal game. In game 4 it went back and forth but the pistons eventually pulled away and delivered a game four victory and knotting the series at 2 games, GuaranSheed! Back in Detroit game five was a laugher as the Pistons steamrolled the Pacers and took a 3-2 lead to Indiana. The hype surrounding game six was if this would be Reggie Miller's last game. The game swung back and forth but it turned out this was Reggie's last hurrah as the Pistons eliminated the Pacers in six games moving on to their third straight Eastern Conference Finals. Pistons Head Coach Larry Brown took a timeout with less than a minute remaining so Reggie Miller could leave the game to a standing ovation not only from his friends and teammates, but from the Detroit Pistons as well. The Conference Finals were now set.