Summary

The NBA added a 30th team, the Charlotte Bobcats, and realigned into six five-team divisions. The Bobcats were placed in the Southeast Division of Eastern Conference and the New Orleans Hornets, which had begun as a Charlotte franchise, moved into Southwest Division of the Western Conference.

Each team played four games against divisional opponents, three or four games against other conference opponents, and two games against teams from the other conference.

Home-court advantage in the playoffs was based entirely on regular-season records. That meant that a second- or third-place team would have the home-court advantage over a division champion with an inferior regular-season record.

The NBA's top teams during the regular season were the Miami Heat in the East and the Phoenix Suns in the West. Miami was led by two superstars, second-year guard Dwyane Wade and center Shaquille O'Neal, acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers in an off-season trade. Phoenix had the MVP, point guard Steve Nash, and his league-leading average of 11.5 assists per game.

Lurking in the wings, though, were the defending champion Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs, the 2002-03 champions. Both were second seeds.

There were only two mild upsets in the early rounds, Indiana beating Boston and Washington knocking off Chicago. Despite a nagging injury to O'Neal, Miami won through to the conference finals without losing a game. The Spurs lost just two games, both in the second round.

In the conference finals, though, the playoff experience of the Pistons and Spurs prevailed.

San Antonio had a fairly easy time of it, winning the first three games over Phoenix before losing one and then closing out the series. The Pistons, meanwhile, had a battle on their hands. They won the first game, at Miami, but gave back the home-court advantage by losing a game at home and then fell behind, 3-2.

Detroit bounced back with a 25-point blowout to even the series and won the seventh game at Miami to advance to the championship round.

The first four games of the finals were all easy victories by the home team. Game 5, at Detroit, brought the first real excitement of the series, and plenty of it. With the Pistons leading, 95-93, and just 5.8 seconds left in overtime, veteran Robert Horry of San Antonio hit a 3-point shot to win the game, giving the Spurs a 3-2 edge.

Detroit came back to even the series with a win at San Antonio, but the Spurs pulled out a 7-point win in Game 7 for their second championship in three years and third in seven seasons.

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