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Richard
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They said the mid-range jumper was dead in the NBA. Then call Richard
Hamilton a basketball archaeologist. The Detroit Piston two-guard dusted
off one of the game’s most effective weapons and proved that you
can still fill it from inside the arc. Hard-working, consistent, and the
consummate team player, “Rip” blends old-school virtues with
a hip-hop look. The result is a championship-caliber player who leaves
superstars gasping for air and dynasties dead in the ground. This is his
story…
GROWING
UP
Richard Clay Hamilton
Jr. was born on February 14, 1978 in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. His parents,
Pam Long and Richard Hamilton, lived apart from each other. Richard stayed
with his mom, but saw a lot of his father. The elder Hamilton made a point
of being a part of his son’s life. Dad was nicknamed “Rip”—because
he used to rip his diapers as a baby—and young Richard acquired
the same nickname somewhere along the line.
Located about 25
miles west of Philadelphia, Coatesville is a former mining town whose
11,000 residents watched its fortunes stagnate with the steel industry.
Coatesville never fully recovered.
Richard spent much
his time playing sports. Thanks to great genes, he was a natural as a
distance runner. Many of his relatives had excelled in track in their
younger days, including an uncle who competed in the Penn Relays. Richard
followed in their footsteps, developing great speed and tremendous endurance.
In fact, he would go on to star at Coatesville High School as a miler,
never once losing a regular-season meet.
Richard’s favorite
sport was basketball. A slasher who liked to the put the ball on the floor
and go to the hoop, he patterned his game after Penny Hardaway’s.
Richard played all the time, either at a park near his father’s
house or at other playgrounds. His primary weapon was the mid-range jumper.
He practiced it off the dribble and as if a teammate were feeding him
a pass. The shot became second nature to him.
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In
Coatesville, Richard developed into a local legend. Beginning in the seventh
grade, his father videotaped every one of his games, eventually amassing
a library of more than 300 tapes. His grandfather, Edward Hamilton, never
missed a contest, either. Richard loved playing in front of him.
By the time Richard
entered Coatesville High in the fall of 1992, he thought he was the best
freshman hoopster on the planet. His father continually repeated this
mantra to him to pump his son up. Richard wasn’t good enough to
make the Coatesville varsity—the Red Raiders had built one of the
better prep programs in the area—but he caught the eye of frosh
coach Ricky Hicks. He saw something special in the 14-year-old, and took
him under his wing.
Richard began meeting
with Hicks most mornings at six, running sprints and working on his game.
Hicks also taught him a breathing technique using the nose and mouth in
concert, and Richard’s wind increased further.
It was around this
time that Richard first learned of another phenom from eastern Pennsylvania,
a kid named Kobe Bryant. The two bumped into each other for the first
time at a 3-on-3 tournament in Philadelphia. Bryant’s father, Joe,
was watching the action, and couldn’t help but notice Richard. He
was the only other teen who could keep up with his son. Afterwards, Bryant
approached Richard’s father, complimenting him on his son’s
fine play.
In his sophomore season
at Coatesville, Richard was elevated to varsity, where he continued to
improve. With the 15-year-old getting more serious about basketball, his
father responded by funding his way around the local hoops camp circuit.
As a junior, Richard
emerged as one of the state’s top talents. He was considered to
be on the same level as Bryant, who attended powerhouse Lower Merion High
School. The two faced off in March of 1995 in the district semi-finals,
and Kobe got the best of the action. After scoring 10 points in the first
half, he added 16 after intermission, and Lower Merion surged to a 72-65
victory. Richard finished the contest with 22 points.
The duo suited up
for the same team in the off-season on the Sam Rines All-Stars, an AAU
club out of Philly. Richard and Kobe became good friends, often rooming
together on road trips. Rines was Richard’s biggest booster. He
was a better all-around player than Bryant, and didn’t mind playing
second banana if it helped the team. Richard was all about winning. If
his more famous teammate garnered more attention, he didn’t seem
to care.
Richard finally began
to receive his due the summer before his senior year at Coatesville. For
the first time in his life, he attended one of the major summer camps,
the Addidas ABCD in Teaneck, New Jersey. There Richard opened plenty of
eyes, including his own, when he was named to the camp’s all-star
squad.
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Penny Hardaway,
1996 Beckett
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Bolstered
by his summer showing, Richard opened his senior season a more confident
and dangerous player. In January of 1996, Coatesville faced Lower Merion
in a rematch. Bryant won again, scoring 35 to pace his team to a 78-77
win in overtime. He nailed the game-winner, a long bomb from beyond the
arc, with three ticks left on the clock.
Coatesville went into
the playoffs with that loss as its only blemish. Richard and his teammates
looked forward to a chance for revenge in the district championship game.
Scheduled for the storied Palestra in Philadelphia, it was the most anticipated
matchups of the season. Richard led the Red Raiders to a six-point bulge
with three minutes remaining, but Bryant took control down the stretch,
rallying his club to a 70-65 victory.
After the season,
Richard was chosen—along with Bryant—to play in the McDonald’s
All-Star Game. He also arrived at a major decision: He would head north
to wear the blue and white of the Connecticut Huskies. Initially, Richard
had been lukewarm on UConn, but after attending a raucous home game at
Gampel Pavilion, he changed his tune.
ON
THE RISE
Coach Jim Calhoun
was thrilled to have Richard. The Huskies were coming off an impressive
32-3 campaign, which ended with a loss to Mississippi State in the Sweet
16. Gone from that squad were Ray Allen and Doron Sheffer, which meant
Richard would be sharing the starting backcourt with Ricky Moore. In the
frontcourt, Calhoun was counting Kirk King and frosh Kevin Freeman to
give him big minutes.
UConn’s inexperience
became evident as the 1996-97 season progressed. The campaign started
well enough—the Huskies were 11-3 after their first 14 games. But
when King and Moore were suspended for accepting airline tickets from
an agent, the club lost its two leaders. UConn faded down the stretch,
finishing 14-14.
The Huskies redeemed
themselves with a great showing in the NIT. They won four of five contests,
and served notice that the 1997-98 campaign could be a big one. Richard
had a lot to do with the team’s inspired post-season performance.
He averaged 25 points in the tourney, including a pair of 31-point outbursts.
All year long, Richard
saw time at the point, as Calhoun was forced to patch together starting
lineups without King and Moore. One his best games came on the road versus
top-ranked Kansas. Running the show for the Huskies, Richard almost engineered
a stunning upset. His final stat line—21 points and eight assists—demonstrated
how quickly he was maturing. By season’s end, the freshman had amassed
509 points, the most by a first-year player since UConn had joined the
Big East.
The Huskies headed
into the following season riding the momentum of their NIT run. King graduated,
but sophomore Jake Voskuhl offered plenty of muscle inside. Freeman, Moore
and Richard were all back, providing lots of match-up problems for opponents.
Also in the fold was freshman Khalid El-Amin, a stocky point guard from
Minnesota.
UConn blitzed through
the regular season. At 15-3, the Huskies were tops in Big East play. They
stormed through the conference tournament before dropping the championship
game to St. John’s. A two seed in the NCAA Tournament, the team
had its sights set on a national championship. Behind Richard and El-Amin,
UConn advanced through the early rounds without much problem. The young
backcourt duo was doing it all. El-Amin was running the offense to near
perfection, and Richard had his shot working. After struggling in the
Big East tourney, hitting on just 11 of 42 attempts from the field, he
poured in 53 points in UConn’s first two March Madness wins.
Eyeing a likely showdown
with North Carolina in the East Regional final, the Huskies nearly overlooked
their third-round opponent, the University of Washington. But Richard
saved the day with a fall-away 12-foot jumper at the buzzer for a dramatic
75-74 victory. Unfortunately, UConn’s campaign ended against the
Tar Heels, who tamed the Huskies, 75-64.
Richard faced a tough
decision. A consenses second-team All-American and the Big East Player
of the Year at 21.5 ppg, he considered leaving UConn for the NBA. But
a conversation with Calhoun convinced him to stay in college and try to
complete the job of winning the national title.
Richard was then given
an opportunity he didn’t expect. With NBA players on hiatus because
of a lockout, USA Basketball turned to college stars to stock its roster
for the upcoming World Championships in Greece. During tryouts, however,
he broke his right foot, and was sidelined for several months.
The time off was hard
on Richard. He had never suffered a serious injury before, and thoughts
of a career cut short flashed through his mind. Complicating matters further
was the fact that grandpa Edward was gravely ill with lung cancer. Richard
visited with him as much as possible. When Edward passed away in September
of 1998, Richard felt fortunate to have been able to say goodbye.
Moved by his grandfather’s
death, he rededicated himself to basketball. Richard watched hour after
hour of video from his father’s library, and developed a deeper
understanding of his skills and how to utilize them.
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Kobe Bryant, 1996 Score Board
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The
Huskies had great aspirations for the 1998-99 season. Calhoun, the reigning
Big East Coach of the Year (for the fourth time in nine years), had a
good feel for his team. Voskuhl and Moore supplied tenacious defense,
Freeman was a viable scoring option at forward, and El-Amin was a heady
player whose skills belied his roly-poly frame.
Then there was Richard.
His game was on the verge of elite status. He had the best mid-range jumper
in college basketball, and was dynamite on the break. Calhoun’s
swarming system called for everyone to dig in on D, an area where Richard
was underrated.
Still feeling the
effects of his summer injury, Richard limped from the starting gate. UConn’s
deep lineup covered for him, however, as the Huskies were unbeaten in
nine games heading into the holidays. Richard finally began to find his
rhythm, and over the next six contests he averaged more than 25 a night,
including a career-high 39 against Boston College.
UConn rolled through
the regular campaign with only two losses. In the Big East tourney, the
Huskies weathered a second-round scare from Seton Hall, then cruised to
the championship with blowouts over Syracuse and St. John’s. Richard
was named to the All-Tournament First Team, while Freeman grabbed MVP
honors.
A Duke-UConn final
was he consensus pick among the pundits handicapping the NCAA Tournament.
The top seed in the West, the Huskies opened March Madness with an easy
win over the University of Texas-San Antonio. Richard netted 28 in the
91-66 victory. Calhoun, felled by an intestinal virus, watched the action
from his hotel room.
Next up was New Mexico,
and again UConn won easily. In this one, Calhoun crossed up the Lobos
by assigning 6-7 Richard to check Kevin Henry. The 6-3 guard was invisible
in his team’s 22-point loss. The Huskies remained hot in their next
two games, wins over Iowa and Gonzaga. The Bulldogs put up a good fight
in the Elite Eight, but Richard and his teammates would not be denied.
In the Final Four
in St. Petersburg, Florida, UConn faced Ohio State and its dangerous backcourt
duo of Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd. The Huskies salivated at the opportunity.
In fact, the trio of Richard, El-Amin and Moore was sensational. They
shut down Penn and Redd, and controlled the game on offense. With Richard
going for 24, UConn cruised to a 64-58 victory.
The experts were right
for a change, as college fans were treated to a UConn vs. Duke NCAA Final.
The Blue Devils boasted a roster full of NBA-caliber talent, led by forwards
Elton Brand and Shane Battier. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski was Calhoun’s
friend, rival and boasted an impressive resume as a big-game coach.
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Richard Hamilton & Khalid
El-Amin,
1999 Baasketball Digest
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Duke
got the better of the play in the first 20 minutes, seizing a 39-37 advantage.
Richard came out of the locker room smoking in the second half, however,
finishing with 27 points. His three-pointer midway through the second
half vaulted the Huskies ahead by five. Duke battled back to tie the contest
with just under five minutes left. But Richard and El-Amin were clutch
down the stretch, and UConn held on for a 77-74 victory. Richard led the
Huskies with 145 points, which helped earn him honors as the Final Four's
Most Outstanding Player.
Richard’s sterling
performance against the Blue Devils stamped his ticket to the pros. Some
compared him to Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers, mostly because their
wiry body types and perpetual-motion styles were so similar. Reggie, however,
had far more range on his jumper, while Richard was more adept at handling
the ball and running the break.
As draft day approached,
it appeared more and more likely that Richard would be taken by the Washington
Wizards in the seventh slot. The team also had its eye on Wally Szczerbiak
out of Miami of Ohio, but the Minnesota Timberwolves, who picked before
the Wizards, liked the small forward, too. The draft was conducted at
Washington’s MCI Center, and when David Stern announced Richard
as the #7 pick, the crowd greeted him with a standing ovation. Before
Richard joined the Wizards, he suited up for the U.S. Olympic qualifying
team. One of only three college players chosen, he joined the pros along
with Szczerbiak and Brand.
That fall, Richard
returned to a Washington team in disarray. The Wizards had qualified for
the playoffs just once in the last 11 years, and just hired another hew
head coach, Gar Heard. The club had talent—including Mitch Richmond,
Rod Strickland and Juwan Howard—but little direction. To no one's
great surprise, Washington finished the 1999-00 campaign at 29-53.
There were two highlights
in this otherwise dismal season. The first occurred in January when Michael
Jordan was brought aboard as part of the team’s management group.
If anyone could reverse the club’s spiraling fortunes, it seemed,
Jordan was the man.
R ichard also gave
fans reason to be optimistic. Playing two-guard behind Richmond most the
year, he was slowly adjusting to the faster, more physical style of the
NBA. Heard inserted him in the starting lineup for the first time in November,
against the Seattle Supersonics at the MCI Center. He scored 15 and added
four rebounds. Richard earned more minutes in the campaign’s second
half, and showed the ability to elevate his game. In 12 starts, he averaged
13.2 ppg, including a 26-point performance in front of friends and family
in Philly in April.
MAKING
HIS MARK
Jordan’s much-anticipated
impact on the franchise failed to materialize during the 200-01 season.
The future Hall of Famer predicted a run at the playoffs, but the Wizards
stumbled to a mark of 19-63, the worst since the franchise’s debut
in 1961. Rookie coach Leonard Hamilton couldn’t get the odd “couple”
of Strickland, Howard and Richmond to gel and in February, Jordan engineered
an eight-player deal that brought in Hubert Davis, Courtney Alexander,
Christian Laettner, Loy Vaught and Etan Thomas from Dallas.
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Jim Calhoun, 1999 Eastern Basketball
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Again,
Richard was one of few bright spots in the campaign. Appearing in 78 games—42
as a starter—he doubled his scoring average to 18.1 ppg, and ranked
12th in the NBA in free throw percentage (.868). Washington’s most
consistent player, he set or tied career-highs in every major statistical
category, except blocks. Richard led the team in scoring 30 times, including
a 41-point outburst at home against Golden State. In that contest, he
also posted nine rebounds and eight assists.
Frustrated by what
he witnessed on the court, Jordan took matters into his own hands, and
resumed his storied playing career in 2001-02. Washington also hired one
of Jordan’s old friends, Doug Collins, to coach the team. Richard
was thrilled to have both of them both around.
Jordan preached daily
about the need for Richard to work at both ends of the court. Collins
schooled him in the ways to free himself from defenders. Their effect
on Richard was obvious. In December he was voted NBA Player of the Week
after averaging nearly 30 a night in four Washington victories. Though
he was sidelined soon after with a pulled right groin, he picked up where
he left off when the injury healed. Richard torched the Sacramento Kings
for 33 points in February, and lit up the Portland Trailblazers for 31.
Richard, Jordan and
Collins led a resurgence in Washington. The Wizards established a franchise
record with nine wins in a row in December. When Richard and Jordan each
hit for 20 in the same game, the team was 10-0. Coming down the stretch,
Washington was in position to end its playoff drought. But a poor finish
doomed the club to another year watching the post-season from home. Still,
at 37-45, the promised turnaround by the Wizards seemed imminent.
Little did Richard
expect that he was not in Washington’s plans. In September of 2002,
the Wizards sent him to Detroit for Jerry Stackhouse. After pushing his
scoring to 20 points and making important strides as a defender, Richard
thought he had become indispensible in Washington. The deal with the Pistons
jolted him. He felt betrayed by the Wizards and unsure in his new surroundings.
The Pistons, sensing
Richard’s hesitancy, put out the welcome mat. Michael Curry called,
and others followed suit. Richard began to grow accustomed to his new
home, and realized he had landed in an excellent situation. Detroit GM
Joe Dumars had built a contending team that had finished atop the Central
Division in '01-02 with 50 wins. Rick Carlisle was the reigning Coach
of the Year, Ben Wallace had been named Defensive Player of the Year,
and Corliss Williamson was the Sixth Man of the Year. Newcomers to the
roster included free-agent signee Chauncey Billups and draft choices Tayshaun
Prince and Mehmet Okur. In the wide open East, the Pistons were tailor-made
to fight for the conference crown.
In training camp,
Richard discovered the secret to Detroit’s success. Whenever he
knifed to the hoop, he paid the price, crashing to the floor or absorbing
a deftly placed knee or elbow. There were no free baskets on the Pistons.
Richard began popping 20-footers and noticed that an unusually high percentage
were clanking off the rim. Another lesson learned. Richard liked Carlisle’s
defense-first system, but knew he would have to get a little bigger and
a lot meaner to be a major contributor.
Richard bulked up,
thanks to a team of advisers that included a chef, personal trainer and
physical therapist. In a system that reminded him of his college days,
he found that the harder he worked on defense, the more easy buckets he
scored on offense.
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Richard Hamilton, 2001 Heritage
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Detroit
opened the 2002-03 season by winning 12 of its first 17 games, with Richard
a major factor. In December, he averaged more than 20 a game. Against
the Chicago Bulls, he dished out a career-high nine assists. Carlisle
was most impressed with his effort on defense. In his estimation, Richard
had become a complete player.
At the turn of the
year, Richard gained a measure of redemption against the Wizards, scoring
22 in an 87-82 victory in Washington. By February, he was playing better
than ever. For the month, he sizzled from the field and beyond the arc,
shooting a combined 48 percent from the floor.
Richard and the Pistons
finished the year on a high, posting their second 50-win season in a row.
He topped the team in scoring at 19.7 ppg, and appeared in all 82 games
for the first time in his career. His 3.9 rebounds also marked a new high.
Detroit got all it
could handle from the Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs.
After falling behind three games to one, the Pistons stormed back to win
the series. Next, they defeated the 76ers in six games, which earned them
a berth against New Jersey in the Eastern Conference Finals. Detroit was
no match for the red-hot Nets. With Jason Kidd leading the way, New Jersey
registered a convincing four-game sweep.
The news wasn’t
all bad for Richard. He had developed into a team leader in Detroit, a
point underscored in the playoffs as he upped his scoring average to 22.5.
The Pistons thought so much of him that they inked him to a seven-year,
$62 million contract extension.
Richard’s signing
wasn’t the only off-season move in Detroit. In a stunner, the Pistons
let Carlisle go, and replaced him with Larry Brown. The change made national
headlines, many of them negative. Brown had a reputation as a miracle
worker, but also tended to abandon teams when they seemed to need him
most.
Dumars wasn’t
done. He also traded Curry and Clifford Robinson, and opted for seven-foot
Darko Milicic in the draft instead of the more obvious choice, Carmelo
Anthony. Tayshaun Prince’s solid playoff outings that spring had
convinced Dumars that he already had a quality swingman on the roster,
and so he felt comfortable gambling on a big man on draft day.
Brown immediately
installed a team-first attitude that everyone bought into. That included
Richard. He was still Detroit’s most lethal scorer, but the other
facets of his game were evolving. On the boards, he was shouldering more
of the burden, and on defense Brown didn’t hesitate to assign him
tough match-ups.
Come February, with
the East picture still cloudy, Dumars pulled off one more daring deal,
trading for Rasheed Wallace. Milicic was not ready to handle big minutes
in the middle, so the GM outmaneuvered a handful of contenders and landed
the fiery big man. Wallace fit in nicely with his new teammates. In March,
the Pistons won eight straight games by at least 15 points, and held five
opponents in a row under 70 points. Both established new league records.
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Richard Hamilton, 2003 SI for
Kids
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Detroit
ended the regular season at 54-28, good for the third seed in the East.
Though his scoring dropped to 17.6 ppg, Richard finished the season a
more accomplished player. His assists rose to four a game, and he also
increased his shooting percentage and his steals total. Perhaps most important,
he had become the go-to guy for Detroit.
The Pistons cruised
through their opening-round series against Milwaukee, eliminating the
Bucks in five games. Richard’s best performance (27 points, six
assists) came in a blowout in Game Four.
Detroit next faced
what would prove to be their staunchest playoff test. Matched against
the Nets, the Pistons opened a 2-0 series lead. Richard was the key in
Game Two, scoring 28 points with five assists and four steals. New Jersey
turned the tables in the Meadowlands, winning twice to knot the series,
then gutted out an amazing triple OT victory in Game Five. Richard was
conspicuously quiet in the barn-burner, though he did hand out 11 assists.
Rip reappeared two
nights later when the Pistons needed him most. With Game Six tight late
in the fourth quarter, he nailed an off-balance jumper to seal an 81-75
win. He followed that with 21 points in the clincher in Detroit, and the
Pistons moved on to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana
Pacers.
Richard emerged as
the difference-maker in this series. Indiana—now coached by Carlisle—simply
couldn’t stop him. Over six games, he averaged 24 points. The Pacers
tried everyone against him, including Ron Artest, the NBA’s Defensive
Player of the Year, but to no avail. Not even a cumbersome facemask could
slow down Richard. He was forced to wear the protective device because
of a broken nose suffered during the regular season.
In Game Five, the
Pistons went scoreless for more than five minutes in the
second quarter. Richard scored 24 of their next 29 points to put Detroit
up
by a dozen on its way to an easy 83-65 win.
The Pistons closed
out the series in Game Six with a 69-65 victory. Richard netted 21 points,
and received some words of admiration from Miller, whom he hounded all
over the court and completely outplayed.
With the Pacers eliminated,
the NBA Finals were advertised as a coronation for the Los Angeles Lakers,
who featured a Hall-of-Fame lineup with Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant,
Karl Malone and Gary Payton. For Richard, he liked the idea of revisiting
his personal rivalry with his old friend. Kobe had beaten him twice in
the playoffs in high school. Now Richard was looking for some payback
on the big stage.
Detroit clamped down
defensively in Game One in L.A., surprising the Lakers with an 87-75 victory.
Richard shot poorly, but Billups was hot and the rest of the Pistons pitched
in with clutch hoops. In Game Two, the Lakers restored order to the universe
with an overtime win. The most memorable moment came when Kobe knocked
down a 35-foot bomb, with Richard draped all over him. The shot tied the
score with less than 10 second left, setting the stage for L.A.’s
victory.
The series moved to
Detroit, where the Pistons seized command. They blew out the Lakers in
Game Three, behind Richard’s 31 points. Three nights later, it was
gut-check time, as L.A. looked to reassert itself. But Detroit held on,
inching within one win of the franchise’s first title since 1990.
Game Five was a laugher. The Lakers, slowed by age and injury, tried to
stay close, but the Pistons turned on the jets in the second half. Their
100-87 win didn’t indicate how much of a rout the contest really
was. The Finals MVP went to Billups, who played the series of his life
at the point, enabling Brown to out-general Phil Jackson and keeping the
Laker defenders on their heels all series long.
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Richard Hamilton, Ben Wallace
&
Chanucey Billups,
2004 ESPN The Magazine
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For
Richard and the Pistons, the 2004-05 season was about handling distractions.
Now the NBA champs, they were the team everyone else was gunning for when
the campaign began. They got a taste for just how tough defending a title
can be in November, when a game at home against the Pacers degenerated
into a wild melee between fans and Indiana players. While Richard and
his teammates bore little responsibility for the ugly scene, it set an
ominous tone for the rest of the year.
When the Pistons refocused
on basketball, they reasserted themselves in the East. January was a particularly
good month, as the team won 11 games against just four losses. Richard,
meanwhile, was enjoying a great season. He had increased the range on
his jumper, making him more dangerous from beyond the arc, and he was
also averaging nearly five assists a night, a new personal high.
Ironically, however,
Detroit again found itself looking for respect when the campaign ended.
Though the Pistons finished first in Central at 54-28, Miami was the fashionable
pick in the playoffs. The Heat, who had pulled off a blockbuster deal
for Shaq in the off-season, were the top seed in Eastern Conference.
If that wasn't irritating
enough, the Pistons had to deal with rumors throughout the playoffs that
Brown was set to leave for Cleveland and become the team's president for
the 2005-06 campaign. For an experienced team like Detroit, however, the
story was barely a blip on the radar screen. Fielding virtually the same
club from the year before (except for the addition of veterans Antonio
McDyess and Elden Campbell), the Pistons could almost coach themselves.
Detroit's first-round
foe, the 76ers, provided little resistance. The Pistons disposed of them
in five games, with Richard leading the way. For the series, he averaged
21 points and six assists.
Next up were the Pacers,
in a matchup that the media ran with, predicting a slugfest after the
confrontation earlier in the year. Surprisingly, Detroit fell behind two
games to one, as Indiana clamped down on defense. But the Pistons turned
the tables in the next three, closing out the series with an impressive
demonstration of team basketball. Richard was on fire in the clincher,
pouring in 28 on 10-of-16 shooting from the field.
Detroit faced the
Heat in the Conference Finals, and again dropped two of the first three.
The Pistons drew even behind a big night from Richard (28 points, eight
assists), but then were pushed to the brink of elimination after losing
in Miami. Brown rallied his troops, as Detroit blew out the Heat in Game
6, 91-66. On the road for the decider, the Pistons showed their playoff
mettle, earning an 88-82 victory. Among the key factors were Detroit's
stiffing defensive effort against Dwyane Wade and Richard's clutch scoring
in pressure situations.
On to the NBA Finals,
the Pistons squared off against the Spurs in what basketball traditionalists
were calling a classic duel. Both teams stressed defense and rebounding,
while also boasting a cast of stars who could fill it up in transition.
San Antonio appeared to take control with two dominant wins at home, but
the Pistons responded with laughers of their own in Games 3 and 4. All
was not right with Detroit, however. Neither Richard nor Billups seemed
comfortable against the Spurs' relentless pressure. That was never good
news for the Pistons, because when their backcourt struggled, they usually
had trouble scoring.
When San Antonio gutted
out Game 5 in overtime, the experts said the series was over. But the
Pistons won two nights later on the road to force Game 7. That was as
far as they went. The Spurs broke open a tight contest in the third quarter,
and never looked back on their way to a 81-74 victory and their third
NBA title in seven years.
The odd twist to Detroit's
Finals loss is that the team earned kudos for its tenacity and will to
win. Perhaps fans and the pundits were reminded of the Pistons' championship
a year before, which was a true team effort. It has become NBA doctrine
over the past couple of generations that clubs lacking superstars have
no shot at a title. Rip and the Pistons continue to prove them wrong.
RICHARD
THE PLAYER
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If
Richard is ever considered an NBA superstar one day, it will be his work
ethic—not his God-given ability—that gets him there. He may
be the fittest player in the league, leading enemy defenders on game-long
chases that leave them gulping for air. Though he has the one-on-one skills
to beat opponents to the hole from the opening bell, he takes a devilish
pleasure in wearing them down and then abusing them at crunch time.
In an era when the three reigns supreme, Richard is a refreshing change
of pace. He looks for the mid-range jumper, and rarely misses an open
one. Richard has worked long and hard to refine his play off picks and
screens, and can now create space for himself before the ball ever comes
his way. That’s a guy teammates like passing to, because it means
an easy assist on the score sheet.
Richard has also spent
a lot of time improving on defense. The need to play on both ends has
been emphasized to him over and over again, by everyone from Michael Jordan
to Larry Brown. His desire to get better defensively underscores his leadership
skills. Teammates look up to Richard because he puts the team first all
the time. That attitude might obscure his skills to All-Star voters, but
it has earned him the ultimate respect of his fellow players.
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Richard Hamilton,
2003-04 SP Authentic
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