The 2004 NBA Finals was a classic "David vs. Goliath" match-up. On one side was the mighty Los Angeles Lakers, a team that featured four surefire Hall of Famers in Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant , Karl Malone, and Gary Payton. Standing opposite the Purple and Gold was the Detroit Pistons , a team composed of gutsy, hardworking players with no big-name superstars. Many expected the Lakers to easily sweep the series and claim their fourth title in five years.
Nobody believed the Pistons could pull off a massive upset over the heavily favored Lakers, not even the kids at Tayshaun Prince 's high school, Dominguez. Prince, the Pistons' defensive ace, had visited the school before Game 1 to talk to students about staying focused and working hard. When he opened the floor to take questions from the students, one stepped forward and boldly asked who would take on the crucial responsibility of defending high-scoring wingman Kobe Bryant.
When Tayshaun admitted he would, the crowd's reaction spoke volumes of how everyone felt about the Pistons' chances of toppling the league giants.
Tayshaun got laughed out of the gym
As the Pistons arrived in the "City of Angels" for Game 1, Tayshaun returned to his old stomping grounds in Compton to speak to the kids at Dominguez High School.
"True story, three or four days before the first Finals game, I go to—they had something at my school, right? Had all the kids in a gym, in the gym, and they wanted me to come speak. So after I speak, I opened it up for questions. First question was, a kid came up and was like, 'Who on y'all team gon' guard Kobe?' So I was like, 'That's going to be my responsibility.' The whole gym laughed. The whole gym," the 6-foot-9 forward recalled .
Rather than get dismayed, Tayshaun just laughed it off. He understood Kobe's stature in basketball lore. And given they were in Bean's backyard, he was not at all surprised by the question and the crowd's reaction to his answer.
"You gotta think about it, yeah, this L.A. Yeah, it's my high school, but it's L.A., though. Yeah, it's all nothing but—it's L.A., it's all Lakers. Forget what school you went to, all that, it's all Lakers. Yeah, the whole gym just started laughing, you know what I mean? And I'm just sitting there like, like, what can I say, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm a Laker fan too. I play with the Pistons, but I grew up a Laker fan," Tayshaun stressed.
Related: Michael Jordan on why guys shouldn't be able to jump from high school to NBA: "Something is affected by leaving college early"
Prince had nothing to lose
The Pistons had their backs against the wall, especially Tayshaun, who had the daunting task of guarding Kobe for most of the game. But instead of feeling overwhelmed, Prince embraced the challenge.
"I got nothing to lose. All this, nobody expecting nothing, right? And the one thing I did know, right, 3 or 4-inch height advantage, the length, all that. Kobe likes to get to his spots, you know? I knew that as long as I could just force him to mid-range jump shots and contest, I got a good chance just because of my size," the four-time All-Defensive Team selection stated of his approach to defending the all-time great.
"Limit getting him to the free throw line, limit the easy transition, getting to the rim, and all that. If I just make him take the tough, contested twos, then I can live with that. And that's what I was able to do throughout that series," he added.
With Tayshaun hounding him every step of the way, the "Black Mamba" averaged a pedestrian (by his standards) 22.6 points on 38 % shooting as Detroit shocked L.A., 4-1, to win their first title since 1990.
Related: Tayshaun Prince recalls how every player at the 2008 Olympics wanted to guard Kobe Bryant
Local News
