2004–05 Detroit Pistons season

2004–05 Detroit Pistons season
Eastern Conference Champions
Head coach	Larry Brown
General manager	Joe Dumars
Owner(s)	William Davidson
Arena	The Palace of Auburn Hills
Results Record 54–28 (.659) Place Division: 1st (Central) Conference: 2nd (Eastern) Playoff finish Lost in NBA Finals to San Antonio (3–4) Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com Local media Television FSN Detroit, WKBD Radio WDFN < 2003–04 2005–06 >

The 2004–05 Detroit Pistons season was the 64th season of the franchise, the 57th in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the 48th in the Detroit area. The Pistons began the season as defending NBA Champions. After a lackluster start to the year that saw their entire season marred by a late November brawl with the Indiana Pacers, the Pistons eventually finished first overall in the Central Division, and second overall in the Eastern Conference. They narrowly missed out on repeating as NBA champions, losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2005 NBA Finals in seven games.

Draft picks

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club Team
2	54	Rickey Paulding	Guard	United States	Missouri

Roster

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Ben Wallace	Elden Campbell	Darko Miličić
PF	Rasheed Wallace	Antonio McDyess
SF	Tayshaun Prince	Darvin Ham	Ronald Dupree	Carlos Delfino
SG	Richard Hamilton
PG	Chauncey Billups	Lindsey Hunter	Carlos Arroyo	Horace Jenkins

Regular season

Standings

Central Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Detroit Pistons	54	28	.659	–	32–9	22–19	8–8
x-Chicago Bulls	47	35	.573	7	27–14	20–21	8–8
x-Indiana Pacers	44	38	.537	10	25–16	19–22	9–7
Cleveland Cavaliers	42	40	.512	12	29–12	13–28	7–9
Milwaukee Bucks	30	52	.366	24	23–18	7–34	8–8

Playoffs

East First Round

(2) Detroit Pistons vs. (7) Philadelphia 76ers

Last Playoffs meeting: 2003 Eastern Conference Semifinals (Detroit won 4–2)

East Conference Semifinals

(2) Detroit Pistons vs. (6) Indiana Pacers

Last Playoffs meeting: 2004 Eastern Conference Finals (Detroit won 4–2)

East Conference Finals

(1) Miami Heat vs. (2) Detroit Pistons

Last Playoffs meeting: 2000 Eastern Conference First Round (Miami won 3–0)

NBA finals

(W2) San Antonio Spurs vs. (E2) Detroit Pistons

All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)

Last Playoffs Meeting: This is the first meeting between the Spurs and Pistons.

Awards and records

• Ben Wallace, NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award
• Ben Wallace, All-NBA Third Team
• Ben Wallace, NBA All-Defensive First Team
• Chauncey Billups, NBA All-Defensive Second Team
• Tayshaun Prince, NBA All-Defensive Second Team

External links

• Detroit Pistons on Database Basketball
• Detroit Pistons on Basketball Reference

References

2004–05 NBA season by team Expansion Draft 2004 NBA Draft All-Star Game Playoffs Finals Eastern Atlantic Boston New Jersey New York Philadelphia Toronto Central Chicago Cleveland Detroit Indiana Milwaukee Southeast Atlanta Charlotte Miami Orlando Washington Western Northwest Denver Minnesota Portland Seattle Utah Pacific Golden State L.A. Clippers L.A. Lakers Phoenix Sacramento Southwest Dallas Houston Memphis New Orleans San Antonio

Detroit Pistons Formerly the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons and the Fort Wayne Pistons Founded in 1941 Based in Auburn Hills, Michigan Franchise Detroit Pistons All-time roster Seasons Draft history Head coaches Current season Arenas North Side High School Gym Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Olympia Stadium Cobo Arena Pontiac Silverdome Joe Louis Arena The Palace of Auburn Hills D-League affiliate Grand Rapids Drive Retired numbers William Davidson Jack McCloskey 2 4 10 11 15 16 21 40 Hall of Famers Walt Bellamy Dave Bing Larry Brown Chuck Daly Adrian Dantley Dave DeBusschere Joe Dumars Harry Gallatin Bob Houbregs Bailey Howell Bob Lanier Earl Lloyd Bob McAdoo Bobby McDermott Dick McGuire Andy Phillip Dennis Rodman Isiah Thomas George Yardley Fred Zollner NBA Championships (3) 1989 1990 2004 Culture and lore Hooper Jordan Rules John Mason Pacers–Pistons brawl Rivals Chicago Bulls Boston Celtics Los Angeles Lakers Cleveland Cavaliers Broadcasters TV Fox Sports Detroit Radio WMGC-FM Announcers George Blaha Greg Kelser Mark Champion Rick Mahorn John Long

Fort Wayne / Detroit Pistons seasons Franchise Fort Wayne Pistons (1941–1957) Detroit Pistons (1957–present) NBL 1940s 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 NBA 1940s 1948–49 1950s 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1960s 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1970s 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1980s 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1990s 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 2000s 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2010s 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 Bold indicates NBA Finals victory