- [Clara] It's May 24th, 2004.
We're at Conseco Fieldhouse for Game 2
of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals
between the Indian Pacers and the Detroit Pistons.
There's 21 seconds left, Pistons are up by two,
but look at that.
Reggie Miller is out ahead
with nobody between him and the basket.
So I think it's safe to assume
Reggie's about to tie up this game.
And you know what they say about assuming:
it's always, always safe to assume,
and nobody is an ass.
Before we get ahead of ourselves,
let's see what it took to get to this point.
Let's rewind.
(pensive music)
You might note that Rick Carlisle
is near the Piston's bench, but not on it.
He coached the Pistons in '02 and '03,
but now he's the Pacer's coach,
'cause the Pistons fired him.
Even though he was really good in Detroit.
In the 2002 season, Carlisle took over a 32-win Pistons team
and made 'em a 50-win team despite a lack of All-Stars.
And that's not all.
They won the division title, finished second in the East,
and Carlisle was voted Coach of the Year.
If a coach ever felt secure in his job,
it would be Rick Carlisle in 2002.
The next season, Carlisle's Pistons
again won 50 games and the division title,
and this time they were first in the East.
Two-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace
had been elevated to All-Star,
and they boasted a new backcourt:
Chauncey Billups, a former journeyman,
found a home in Detroit;
and speedy leading scorer Richard Hamilton.
They made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals,
Detroit's first appearance since 1991.
And yes, they were swept by the Nets,
but nobody expected Carlisle to be fired.
He was building something that kept improving.
And also, he had a year and $2 million left on his contract.
But coaching is not a secure career choice.
Remember that when you're choosing a major.
Days after the Eastern Conference Finals, Carlisle was out.
The press was left to speculate
and cull shreds of reasons together into an explanation.
Carlisle was kinda stubborn with management.
His offense didn't allow for variety or improvisation.
Players were annoyed with his rotation,
but also didn't complain about it publicly.
The reasoning may not be satisfying,
but that's life for you.
Or, rather, for Carlisle.
Instead, this year, the Pistons are helmed by Larry Brown,
2001 Coach of the Year.
Brown's Pistons were predicted to do well,
but the team themselves stayed humble.
Their goal was simply to get back
to the Eastern Conference Finals and build off that.
It's almost as if they were afraid to say the word "Finals."
As the season unfolded, the Pistons were inconsistent.
They had a 13-game winning streak in December,
but in February lost six in a row.
It didn't look they were gonna get to June,
or maybe even not late May.
Something had to change.
Good thing it was before the trade deadline.
The Portland Trailblazers
were fed up with their "Jailblazers" image
and shipped bad boy Rasheed Wallace off to Atlanta.
And Pistons president Joe Dumars pounced,
orchestrating a three-team deal for R. Wallace.
With the addition, Detroit still wasn't saying "Finals,"
but they were thinkin' it.
Sheed slotted into Detroit perfectly.
With him, the Pistons went 20-5
to close out the regular season.
They were hot,
but it was a little too late to catch Indiana,
who took the one seed.
Detroit battled through the playoffs--
New Jersey took 'em to seven games--
and Detroit made it back to the Eastern Conference Finals.
But once there, Detroit's missing piece went missing.
Not to worry!
After the game, Rasheed guaranteed
the Pistons would win the next one.
- They will not win Game 2.
And you heard that from me.
Y'all print whatever the hell y'all want.
Y'all put it front page, back page, middle of the page.
They will not win Game 2.
- [Clara] And after sleeping on that bold statement,
he said it again before Game 2.
- No more to be said. We will win Game 2.
- [Reporter] Teammates have any reaction?
- We will win Game 2.
- [Clara] His teammates weren't upset
or even annoyed with him.
This team tried humility.
Now they were ready to be bold and brash.
How's his guarantee going?
Well, uh, would be going a little bit better
if this guy wasn't alone in the open court, huh?
And I say "this guy,"
but you probably recognize Reggie Miller
because, one, he has a unique lankiness,
and two, he's been on the Pacers for 17 seasons.
The Pacer's all-time leading scorer
has had a lot of, limited, success.
He played the hero in some of the most heroic
late-game heroics ever heroicked.
There was the time in the 1995 Easter Conference Semis
when he scored eight points in nine seconds
to pull off a win.
Then there was the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals.
Miller hit a game winner with .7 seconds left,
over Michael Jordan.
- [Announcer] Unbelievable!
- [Clara] Before this year, Reggie Miller
got to the Conference Finals five times and the Finals once.
But wait. That sucks.
And each year, the Pacers were legitimately competitive.
Look.
In '94, the Pacers lost the Conference Finals
to the Knicks in seven games.
In '95, they lost to the Magic in seven games.
In '98, they lost to the Bulls in seven games.
In '99, they lost to the Knicks, this time in six games.
Does that make it better?
You were two victories away from the Finals, not one?
Maybe that stings less?
In 2000, the Pacers finally gained entry to the Finals
after defeating the Knicks in six games.
It had been a hell of a journey,
but at long last they got the opportunity
to compete for the most coveted trophy...
Ugh, I can't build it up.
That's cruel.
They lost to the Lakers in six games.
Another close-but-no-ring season for Miller and the Pacers.
After the 2000 Finals,
Indiana dismantled their core and entered rebuilding mode.
Reggie, however, decided to stick around
and try to get back to the Finals
with the new iteration of the Pacers.
This required the aging sharpshooter
to step back and relinquish go-to guy status
to the team's new young stars:
Jermaine O'Neal, who has grown into Indiana's leading scorer
and a three-time All-Star;
and Ron Artest, a versatile strongman
who can be a bit of a hothead.
In 2003, he missed 12 games due to suspension.
But with a new pledge to maturity,
he's been cool, calm, collected, and real good this year.
Just four years after beginning a rebuild,
the Pacers and the 38-year-old Reggie Miller
found themselves back in contention.
They won a league-best 61 games this year,
swept Boston, got past Miami in six games,
but you heard me correctly.
Reggie Miller is 38.
He can't keep this up.
If he's gonna get a ring, it's gotta be now.
In Game 1 of this Pistons series, he looked his age.
Well, no, I mean,
he didn't look like an average 38-year-old.
He was still an NBA player.
But he looked way older
than his Pistons counterpart, Rip Hamilton.
And to be fair, he is 12 years older than Hamilton.
Miller was 0-6 from the field
until the last 30 seconds of the game
when he turned to the camera, said, "I'm not washed up yet,"
and hit a game-sealing three.
He didn't really say that, but he kinda did,
know what I mean?
I do have a real quote for ya.
After the game, Miller said,
"All I need is a half-second of daylight."
And tonight he's got an Alaskan summer's worth of daylight.
Plus, he's played better this game.
He has 21 points, which is huge in such a low-scoring game.
Wait. Why is the score so low?
'Cause Detroit and Indiana are really good at defense.
During the regular season,
the Pistons allowed the fewest points in the league.
The Pacers allowed the third-fewest points in the league.
In the first two rounds of the playoffs,
both teams held their opponents to under 85 points per game.
And they held each other under 80 in Game 1.
Tonight had been similarly low-scoring.
At halftime, Indiana was up 43-37,
and then the defense really got going.
In the third quarter, the Pistons had three blocks in a row.
Then they had three other
nonconsecutive blocks that quarter too.
They held Jermaine O'Neal scoreless in the second half.
And with defense,
stats don't always convey just how much is going on,
so let's check out this fourth-quarter Indiana possession.
First, Rip Hamilton anticipated where Reggie was running,
cut off the passing lane, and avoided the screen.
Then, with the shot clock winding down,
Billups got close and turned up the heat
while avoiding a reach-in foul.
He did not give up a half-second of daylight.
And that's a 24-second violation.
This level of D has been the norm.
In the fourth, Detroit held the Pacers
to just three made field goals.
The Pacers have stayed in the game
because they've held Detroit
to just four made field goals in the final quarter.
They didn't let Detroit inside,
forcing them to shoot jumpers
their tired legs couldn't convert.
Sheed missed three in a row.
But thanks to free throws
and some jumpers Hamilton squeaked through,
with less than a minute and a half to go,
the Pistons were up six.
Then they fouled Reggie Miller.
Lead cut to four.
Then they fouled Reggie Miller again.
Lead cut to two.
30 seconds left, Pistons' ball, but defense wins games.
Hamilton dished to Rasheed,
who's finally open near the basket...
Oh! No, he's not.
Jermaine O'Neal with the block.
Billups chased it down, and with four on the shot clock,
Jamaal Tinsley stripped him, found the streaking Miller,
and here we are.
Reggie Miller's about to grab two easy points
in a game where baskets are few and far between.
He'll tie up the game and inch his way closer
to what could be his final opportunity for a ring.
Welcome to a mo...
Wait.
What the hell is that?
Oh. It's the foot of Tayshaun Prince.
The small forward was drafted 23rd overall
by the Pistons in 2002.
He did not see much action his rookie year.
He spent 40 games on the bench.
Carlisle did give him a bit of a chance,
starting him for a small stretch in November,
but Prince committed a cardinal sin against Carlisle.
He missed an easy layup,
then sulked while his man ran down the court
and hit a three.
Carlisle benched Prince for the fourth quarter,
and after the game he didn't call Prince out,
but he lambasted the team's defensive effort.
Prince didn't see much playing time after that.
Oh, until the playoffs.
Losing to the eighth seed,
Carlisle was willing to try anything,
so he turned to Prince.
And Tayshaun didn't take his second chance lightly.
He scored a career-high 15 points in Game 5,
then in Game 7--
yes, this one seed-eight seed series went to seven games--
Prince scored a new career high,
while holding Tracy McGrady to just 21 points.
Which is pretty big, considering McGrady scored over 40
in two other games in that series.
Tayshaun was a bit of hero in the following round,
hitting clutch shots in two games
to help Detroit escape the Semis.
He was quiet in the Eastern Conference Finals
against New Jersey, but so was everyone.
They were swept.
And now Carlisle's in Indiana.
Brown's in Detroit. New coach, new rules.
Prince was a starter this year.
Tayshaun was inconsistent, but Brown forgave him.
They guy played so little last year,
he was basically a rookie.
The only thing: the Pistons need Prince to play well
if they want to win it all.
Tayshaun's contributions are invaluable,
and when he's a viable threat,
it takes pressure off Billups and Hamilton.
As Rip Hamilton put it, the Pistons are a much better team
when Tayshaun stays aggressive.
Good thing the near-rookie had experience
in at least one area: stepping up in the playoffs.
Game 1, Round 1 against the Bucks,
Prince scored 14 points, grabbed 11 boards,
and had a team-high four blocks.
Impressive, but it was the Eastern Conference Semis
against the Nets where Prince really stepped up.
He scored 15 points in just 10 shots,
but more than that, he showed impressive grit.
He could get elbowed in the face on one end of the court,
run back, and score.
He could take hard contact, spin with it, and get a bucket.
He'd come a long way from giving up after a missed layup.
But New Jersey wasn't about to let Prince dominate them.
After Game 1, they focused defensive attention on him,
which did allow Billups and Hamilton
to get more opportunities,
but it shut Prince down and shook his confidence.
And I'm guessing his confidence was further shaken
when everyone everywhere predicted Prince
as the weak point in the Pistons-Pacers series.
He was matched up against Ron Artest,
who had 30 pounds on him,
so what were people supposed to predict?
In Game 1, Prince got on the board
and even hit a late-game three,
but Artest scored 17 points.
Detroit media wasn't impressed.
Tayshaun hadn't been the aggressive playoff spark
Detroit needed to survive.
Tonight he has just five points,
but his defense has been messing with Ron Artest.
He's blocked him three times and held him to 5-21.
Which has frustrated Artest out of his new mature role.
Late in the fourth quarter,
Artest actually gets the better of Prince,
but his pent-up frustration still comes out
in the form of quick double middle fingers to the ref.
The broadcast didn't see that comin'.
And a few minutes later, here we are:
Pistons up by two, hoping to beat their former coach
and make it further than they dared vocalize.
Reggie Miller, nearly aging out of ring contention,
has an easy opportunity to out-clutch Detroit
for a second game in a row.
Prince, the inconsistent second-year forward, chases.
Welcome to a moment in history.
- [Nessler] Tinsley! Reggie Miller!
And it's blocked again!
- [Rivers] Wow!
What a block!
- [Nessler] How did Prince get there?
- [Rivers] What a block!