2003–04 Los Angeles Lakers season

The 2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers reached the 2004 NBA Finals, losing in 5 games to the Detroit Pistons.

Offseason

NBA Draft

Depth chart

Regular season

Standings

Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; MPG= Minutes per Game; STL = Steals; REB = Rebounds; ASST = Assists; BLK = Blocks; PPG = Points per Game

2004 NBA Finals

Series Summary

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• (OT) denotes a game that required overtime.

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The Finals were played using a 2-3-2 site format, where the first two and last two games are held at the team with home court advantage. This is only used in the Finals, all other playoff games are held in a 2-2-1-1-1 format (the team with home court advantage starts).

Aspects

The Lakers had a lineup of stars such as Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O'Neal - their offensive capability was expected to overpower Detroit's defensive-based gameplan.

Payton and Malone also added to the publicity of the Finals. Perennial All-Stars who had both previously reached the Finals, Payton had led the Seattle SuperSonics there in 1996, while Malone had led the Utah Jazz there in 1997 and 1998. However, Michael Jordan and the Bulls denied them championship rings a total of three times. By the time of Jordan's retirement in 2003, the two veterans were aged and failed to lead their teams deep into the playoffs.<ref...
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