NBA Playoffs: Destination Finals By Francis Walker Posted: Friday, March 28, 2004

Shaquille O'Neal

NEW YORK, NY--- As stated before in the very beginning, the road to the NBA championship goers through the Los Angeles and San Antonio. The journey began with 16 gritty playoff entries, and then there were four remaining: the Pacers, Pistons, Timberwolves, and behold the Lakers. Pretty soon two teams will grind it out for the prestigious NBA crown. The Pacers-Pistons are a tossup, but certainly the Lakers will reach the NBA Finals.

An interesting aspect involving each of the four teams left is the fact that last playoff season, three of the four teams in this year’s playoff race were ousted before the semifinals – the Timberwolves and Pacers were gone in the first round. The Lakers, who entered last season winning three consecutive NBA titles, were stopped in the second round by the Spurs. San Antonio went on to win the NBA title.

The Detroit Pistons were pummeled by the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference finals.

During the off-season, all four teams made tremendous adjustments to improve their club. Most notably the Lakers nearly revamped their entire roster to make room for Gary Payton and Karl Malone. Devan George, Derek Fisher, and Rick Fox (all starters), became bench players and saw their minutes cut.

Also, Robert Horry, winner of five NBA championships (3 with the Lakers, 2 as a Houston Rocket) said bye-bye.

Payton and Malone 1) took pay cuts and 2) adjusted their game so they could become role players along side Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in Phil Jackson’s triangle offense.

Despite injuries to Malone, O’Neal, along with Bryant’s bad shoulder and even more disappointing sexual assault trail pending, the Lakers gutted out 57 victories, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, and came from a 2-0 hole and swept the defending champion Spurs (4-2) out of contention.

The Pacers did nothing new to their player roster, but did make a drastic coaching change. Isaiah Thomas was fired as head coach by former rival and team vice president, Larry Bird after three consecutive first-round exits.

As a result, the Pacers have a chance to make the NBA Finals which would give Reggie Miller a second and perhaps his final opportunity to win an NBA title.

The Pistons hired Larry Brown, and acquired Rasheed Wallace from the Portland Trailblazers. The Pistons were the NBA’s best defensive team this season as they set a league record for holding five consecutive teams to under 70 points.
The Pistons ousted the Nets run and gun offensive attack and are in deep battle with the Pistons for one of the two spots in the NBA Finals.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are having the best season in franchise history after having acquired Sam Cassell and Latrel Sprewell.

The Timberwolves posted a franchise best 58 victories to earn the No. 1 seed in the West, Kevin Garnett won the MVP award (at last), and the ‘Wolves finally made it past the first-round in franchise history after seven previously failed attempts.

After successfully defeating the Denver Nuggets and surprising the Sacramento Kings, the Timberwolves have found a series of rocks in a hard place to move in the Lakers. The games are highly contested. However, without the presence of a big man with the skills of Yao Ming or Tim Duncan, there is only so much Garnett and Michael Olowokandi can do.

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