2004-05 NBA Finals

Result

Games

Finals MVP

Tim Duncan. Duncan won his third Finals MVP award as the Spurs outlasted the defending-champion Pistons in a seven-game series, the first Finals to reach Game 7 since 1994.

Series context

The 2004-05 NBA Finals brought together the San Antonio Spurs and the defending-champion Detroit Pistons in a rematch of styles: San Antonio's Tim Duncan-anchored, motion-offense approach against Detroit's stifling, defense-first identity that had upset the Lakers the previous year. The Spurs held home-court advantage after another strong regular season, while the Pistons returned largely the same core, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Ben Wallace, Richard Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince, that had won the title in 2004, seeking to become the first repeat champion since the Lakers' three-peat. San Antonio opened strong, winning Games 1 and 2 at home to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. Detroit refused to fold, however, winning Games 3 and 4 to level the series at two games apiece heading back to Texas. Game 5 became one of the most memorable games in Finals history: with the score tied late, Spurs forward Robert Horry, who had not scored since the third quarter, erupted in the fourth quarter and overtime, finishing with 21 points on five made three-pointers, capped by the decisive go-ahead three with 5.8 seconds left after Billups missed a potential go-ahead layup, giving San Antonio a 96-95 overtime win. Detroit forced a Game 7 by winning Game 6, setting up the first Finals Game 7 since 1994. San Antonio prevailed on its home floor, 81-74, on June 23 to capture the franchise's third championship. Tim Duncan was named Finals MVP for the third time in his career, anchoring the Spurs on both ends throughout the grueling seven-game battle, while Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker provided crucial secondary scoring and playmaking as the Spurs' 'Big Three' era began to take shape. Robert Horry's Game 5 heroics became one of the signature clutch performances in NBA playoff history, further cementing his reputation as 'Big Shot Rob.' This series represented the high point of a fierce, defense-oriented rivalry between two of the league's model organizations of the era, and its seven-game, low-scoring, defensively intense character stood in sharp contrast to the star-driven Finals of the immediately preceding years. It also affirmed San Antonio's status as the league's most consistent championship contender of the decade, a run that would continue with additional titles in 2007 and 2014. Detroit's path back to the Finals had been hard-earned, including a seven-game conference finals win over Miami after trailing 2-3, while San Antonio moved more efficiently through Denver, Seattle, and Phoenix. In the decisive Game 7, San Antonio trailed by nine points with 7:45 remaining in the third quarter before Duncan personally scored 10 of the Spurs' 18 points across that stretch to tie the game entering the fourth; he finished with a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds, with Ginobili adding 23. Horry's Game 5 heroics were part of a broader hot streak, as he finished the series shooting 5-for-6 from three-point range in that game and also threw down a fouled left-handed dunk late in overtime; the title made him just the second player in NBA history, after John Salley, to win championships with three different franchises. The Finals also drew a noticeably smaller national audience than the preceding year, with an average of 11.5 million viewers, down roughly 32 percent from the 2004 Finals, reflecting a broader ratings decline for defense-oriented, lower-scoring championship series during this stretch of the decade. Sean Marks, a Spurs reserve, became the first New Zealand-born player to win an NBA championship, while Ginobili's title came less than a year after he had helped Argentina win Olympic gold in Athens.

Sources

• Wikipedia - 2005 NBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference - 2005 NBA Finals