If you were born sometime after 2008 you wouldn’t know this, but the Detroit Pistons used to be one of the best teams in the NBA.
No, really.
The Pistons won back-to-back titles in the 1988-1990, vanquishing some of the NBA’s biggest legends in the process.
They were a mainstay in the Eastern Conference Finals for much of the 2000’s, winning a title and coming so close (it still hurts) to going back-to-back for the second time.
There were many memorable plays along the way, some which made their way into NBA lore and legend.
Not all of them were positive memories, as we have things like “The Steal” (I still hate Larry Bird), The Phantom Foul (and the Lakers), the sketchy ending to the 1988 Finals (I hate the Lakers even more) that would be my origin story had I turned out to be a villain.
If you don’t know any of these, congratulations on still having your youth, but go look them up as they are part of being a Pistons fan and an important part of franchise history as painful as they were at the time.
Here are the three most iconic plays when things went the Pistons’ way.
The Block
In game two of the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals, Tayshaun Prince made one of the greatest defensive plays of all time, which is now just referred to as “The Block.
The Pistons were up two with time running low when Chauncy Billups coughed up a turnover and Reggie Miller appeared to have an open route to the hoop for the layup and tie.
The Pacers were already up one game to zero in the series, and a tie at this point in the game would have given them all the momentum to go up 2-0 on their home floor. But Tayshaun Prince had other plans.
There were so many great things about this play: Prince wasn’t even on the screen when Miller got the ball and somehow caught up to him, which seems impossible.
He also got the block without fouling somehow, also seemingly impossible given he was sprinting and all of his momentum was carrying him forward.
Prince also managed to not only keep the ball inbounds, but blocked it directly to a teammate so the Pistons could salt the game.
It’s not an exaggeration to say this was one of the greatest defensive plays in NBA history given the context.
It’s also a great symbol of that “Goin to Work” team, which relied on everyone to make plays, which prided itself on defense and hustle. Prince was the most underrated player on that team but he may have ended up with the most iconic moment of the era.