Detroit Pistons Basketball Team

Their leading scorer goes to work in the ideal accessory of all unfortunates who wear the name "Pistons" on their shirt. A mask. Their leading rebounder's unkempt hair has not been cut since the last time his team made a scoreboard sweat. About five years, he says. The only bit of greatness in their locker room is the engraving upon the one and only championship ring there. Lakers, it reads.

Shaquille O'Neal said in October this was his basketball team, stood in a parking lot and invited anyone who didn't think so to leave, and so it is still, if perhaps only for a few more weeks. There were times when no one else would have claimed ownership and for that, at least, he has been accountable. His Lakers were built from five taut personalities, four players who will be in the Hall of Fame and a coach who is headed there as well.

The toughest job at Staples Center today belongs to the Detroit Piston covering Shaquille O'Neal. The second-toughest job is officiating that matchup. How are referees to handle one of the most dominating post players in NBA history, the 7-foot-1, 340-pound inspiration behind the Hack-a-Shaq defense? O'Neal seemingly gets fouled or commits a foul -- whether it's called or not -- just about every time he touches the ball.

Henry Bibby has coached the USC men's basketball team for the last eight seasons, the highlight being the Trojans' advance to the Elite Eight in 2001. He was the point guard and an eventual All-American on three consecutive national championship teams at UCLA (1970-'72) and directed the Bruins to an 87-3 record as a starter. He played for nine seasons in the NBA, one of them with the title-winning '73 Knicks. He will serve as The Times' guest columnist for the NBA Finals.

Detroit Piston General Manager Joe Dumars can certainly tell his young team about winning a championship. He won two as a guard with the Pistons -- in 1989, in a sweep of the Lakers, and in 1990 when Detroit beat Portland in five games. But Dumars, always the least demonstrative of the fabled "Bad Boys," has not offered any such knowledge to the players; nor does he expect to. "It really is an overplayed kind of theory -- guys sitting around saying, 'Let me tell you about when I played.'

From the aches of a year's effort, from a life-changing circumstance for Kobe Bryant and career-changing decisions by Karl Malone and Gary Payton, and in the moments before the organization might be forced to rebuild again around Shaquille O'Neal, the Lakers open the best-of-seven NBA Finals tonight at Staples Center. They are here, after all.

ABC had another winning night at the NBA Finals with a 10.5 national rating and a 19 share for Game 3, making it the highest-rated show on network television Thursday night. The rating was 50% higher than the 7.0 for Game 3 between New Jersey and San Antonio last year, but only 3% higher than the 10.2 for Game 2 in 2002, when it was the Lakers and Nets. The three games this year have averaged a 10.4 national rating, a 68% increase over the 6.2 in 2003 but only 4% higher than the 10.0 in 2002.

The supporting cast? Call it unsupportive. Shaquille O'Neal scored 34 points for the Lakers on Sunday night. Kobe Bryant scored 25. Everybody else scored 16. Derek Fisher, whose miraculous buzzer-beating shot doomed the San Antonio Spurs, scored two points in 20 minutes. He missed eight of nine shots. Kareem Rush, who made six three-point shots and scored 18 points in the Lakers' series-clinching Game 6 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, didn't score.