The Detroit Pistons’ most intense rivalries: New Jersey Nets

It’s Rivalry Week on NBA TV. The network will broadcast some of the most heated contests in league history over the next few days. Not surprisingly, the Bad Boys made the cut. But in addition to the Detroit Pistons-Chicago Bulls rivalry of the late 1980’s, what other Pistons’ nemesis stands out?  First up in this series, are the New Jersey Nets.

When your franchise history includes the Bad Boys, the Malice at the Palace and three NBA championships, you’re bound to make some enemies along the way. The Detroit Pistons have certainly made their fair share.

So it wasn’t a surprise to see NBA TV include the Pistons in their Rivalry Week special.

The Pistons-Chicago Bulls rivalry is well documented. However, it’s not the only estranged relationship Detroit has found themselves in over the years. Players like Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn and Rasheed Wallace drove opponents to the point of insanity.

Emotions boiled over, punches were thrown, and things got ugly. But most importantly, that hatred translated into some incredible basketball at the highest level. There aren’t any memorable scraps from the Pistons-New Jersey Nets rivalry of the early 2000’s. But this match-up certainly featured plenty of drama.

Detroit Pistons vs. New Jersey Nets (2003-2004)

Memorable moments: 2003 Eastern Conference Finals, 2004 Eastern Conference Semifinals

Heading into the 2003 NBA playoffs, Detroit and New Jersey finished No. 1 and No. 2 in the Eastern Conference, respectively. The Pistons had posted a 50-32 record for the second straight year.

However, the defending conference champion Nets were just one game behind them at 49-33. So when the teams eventually met up in the Conference Finals, Detroit held the coveted home-court advantage.

But it didn’t seem to matter. New Jersey stole the first two games at The Palace in gut-wrenching fashion. Nets’ point guard Jason Kidd was hero in Game 1.

With 22.2 seconds to go, he received the in bounds pass near center court. New Jersey isolated him up top, as Kidd began to dribble out the clock in the face of Chauncey Billups. As the clock reached 6 seconds, he drove to the right baseline, pulled up off the dribble, and nailed the game winning jump shot.

Billups and Mehmet Okur did their best to close out, but Kidd found just enough space to silence a raucous Palace crowd. I was sitting in the upper bowl that night. The energy in that building quickly deflated.

Now the Pistons still had a chance to respond. Kidd left 1.4 seconds on the clock, and Detroit head coach Rick Carlisle used one of his two remaining timeouts to draw up a play. New Jersey prevented Billups and Hamilton from breaking free offensively, and Carlisle was forced to use his final timeout.

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Tayshaun Prince threw up a desperate lob to Okur near the basket. Okur boxed out Jefferson and ended up with a pair of cleans looks. Neither of them would fall. The Pistons not only lost the game, but also the home-court advantage.

Detroit would never recover in the series. Once again, they came close in Game 2. Yet they squandered lead late in fourth quarter, and fell 88-86. New Jersey would easily finish out the sweep back on their home floor.

A series for the ages

The Pistons and Nets would meet in the playoffs the very next year. Detroit would again have the home-court advantage. But this series would be vastly different.

The Detroit Pistons shredded the Nets in the first two games by a combined score of 173-136. However, New Jersey would return the favor as the series shifted to East Rutherford. Despite Ben Wallace‘s 24 rebounds in Game 3, the Nets won 82-64.

Game 4 was more of the same. Richard Hamilton‘s 30-point performance was wasted, and the Nets tied the series with a 94-79 victory.

It was anybody’s guess as to what would occur in Game 5. But nobody could’ve predicted what transpired that night in Auburn Hills.

In a game that featured 24 lead changes, the Nets and Pistons went down to the wire. New Jersey held the lead for the final 1:09. But Detroit had one more chance.

Trailing 88-85 with 2.9 seconds to go, Chauncey Billups received the in bounds pass from his own free throw line. He crossed half court with two dribbles, and pulled up for a 43-footer with a second remaining.

Bang! Billups banked in the tying three-pointer, and sent Game 5 into overtime.

Kerry Kittles, off-balanced and out of position, wasn’t able to get a hand in Billups’ face. The Palace erupted, as did TNT play-by-play announcer Dick Stockton. Check out the video above to hear Stockton’s call of the memorable shot.

The Detroit Pistons appeared to have momentum heading into overtime. Yet neither team was able to pull away from each other in the extra period. The buzzer sounded, and after 53 minutes of play, Detroit and New Jersey remained tied at 99.

An additional five minutes yielded another tie. At this point, foul trouble was starting to become an issue for both teams. Nets’ coach Lawrence Frank had no choice but to keep reserve forward Brian Scalabrine in the game. The “White Mamba” would be the difference.

Scalabrine scored 9 of his 17 points throughout the three overtime periods. But his 23 foot dagger with 41 seconds to go sealed the Pistons’ fate. New Jersey was now up 122-118, and would eventually walk away with a 127-120 victory.

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Resiliency

The series was slipping away, and the Pistons had just endured their most heartbreaking loss in recent memory. Detroit would certainly play desperate in Game 6. But in the first few minutes, it was the Nets who played like the team on the brink of elimination.

New Jersey jumped out to a 13-2 lead with 8:09 remaining in the first quarter. It seemed that they were well on their way to a third straight Eastern Conference Finals.

A disgusted Larry Brown called a timeout to stop the bleeding. Whatever Brown said must’ve resonated with his team. The Pistons quickly erased the early deficit. From that point on, it was all Detroit.

They grabbed a 27-25 lead with 10:50 to go in the second quarter, and would never relinquish it. Detroit escaped with an 81-75 win, thus forcing a deciding Game 7 at The Palace.

Detroit picked up right where they left off in Game 6. They raced out to a 21-14 lead at the end of the opening quarter. New Jersey quickly wilted away, and four Pistons would score in double figures. Billups led the offensive onslaught with 22 points on 6 for 16 shooting.  He finished with 7 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal.

The Nets were out of it by the third quarter, and managed to score only 69 points in the game. Kidd was a non-factor. He was held scoreless and went 0 of 8 from the floor in 42 minutes of play.

The Detroit Pistons closed out the series with a 90-69 victory. They had gotten their revenge on New Jersey, and ended the Nets’ two-year reign as Eastern Conference Champions.

Next: Pistons schedule has been released

Every great team goes through adversity. For the Going To Work Pistons, the New Jersey Nets were their first real test. This rivalry may have been short-lived. But it was really a passing of the torch, and a significant step forward in one of the most successful eras of Pistons’ basketball.