Detroit Pistons "Dynasty" Flips Over, Sees Philadelphia Eagles in Mirror

The Pistons just finished their 6th straight Eastern Conference finals and for the 3rd straight year they find themselves on the outside looking in. They are the dynasty that isn’t; the team with the great run that was just short of greatness. Now everyone wonders if this is the end of the journey.

The Pistons Eastern Conference dominance is impressive. For 6 years they have put themselves on the cusp of the NBA finals. They have taken advantage of an inferior conference and given themselves the opportunity every team looks for: the chance at a championship. They just couldn’t capitalize on their chances. They are now 2-4 in these series. Why?

The tale of these Pistons is all about coaching. The Pistons reached their first conference finals under head coach Rick Carlisle, who appeared to be an up and coming coach that would lead the Pistons for the next 10 years. The Pistons ran into the K-Mart-Jefferson-Kidd trio in its prime. The Nets were defending eastern conference champions and had a chip on their shoulder. Carlisle and the Pistons weren’t ready to take the next step and it showed. The Nets swept them. Pistons General Manager Joe Dumars saw that Carlisle couldn’t get the Pistons to the next level and fired him.

In came Larry Brown. He was coming off a successful stint in Philadelphia, leading a team of Allen Iverson and a bunch of role players to the NBA finals. Now he was given a team with emerging stars in Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, and Ben Wallace. His coaching style of grinding his players’ day in and day out had worn out hundreds of players in their careers but Dumars felt he was the guy to push the Pistons to the peak of greatness. Then Dumars went out and traded for Rasheed Wallace. The Pistons now had a vocal leader and a jolt of energy heading toward the playoffs. The Pistons made the Eastern Conference finals and would play against Rick Carlisle and his Indiana Pacers. The Pistons came in with a solidified starting 5 as Tayshaun Prince emerged as a big time player. Carlisle hit the wall again and the Pistons made the NBA finals. As a huge underdog the Pistons ended the Lakers dynasty with a 4-1 series win. With a young core of talent the Pistons were on the verge of starting their own dynasty.

In year 3 the Pistons would reach the conference finals again. They would play a surprising Miami Heat team led by underrated coach Stan Van Gundy. The Pistons were supposed to win this series easily but the arrogance that would be their Achilles heel started to simmer. Miami was up 3-2 before the Pistons got their act together and rallied to reach the NBA finals, where they would face the Spurs. The finals went 7 games, and once again game 5 was the pivot point of the series. The Pistons had a 3-2 lead in their grasp until Robert Horry hit a 3 with 6 seconds left in overtime to give the Spurs the edge. The Pistons would fall short of back-to-back titles. With Larry Brown already talking to teams about his next job before the series was over it was clear his time with Detroit was over. Brown took his circus act to the Knicks, and to this point neither Brown nor the Pistons have recovered.

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