The 2004 Detroit Pistons: champions without a superstar

The 2004 Detroit Pistons had no towering individual name to build marketing around. Instead they had a genuine team: Chauncey Billups steady at the point, Richard Hamilton in constant motion off screens, Ben Wallace anchoring the defence, Rasheed Wallace bringing edge and versatility, and Tayshaun Prince stretching across the wing. None was regarded as one of the league's very biggest stars, but together, under coach Larry Brown, they formed a whole far greater than the sum of its parts.

Detroit's identity was built at the defensive end. They were physical, disciplined and relentless, contesting every possession and turning games into grinding, low-scoring battles fought on their terms. Ben Wallace, undersized for a center but ferociously determined, was the heart of it, a defensive force who protected the rim and controlled the glass. In an era that often celebrated scoring, the Pistons made stopping opponents their art form, and it carried them all the way through the play-offs.

In the Finals they met a Los Angeles Lakers side featuring four players bound for the Hall of Fame, overwhelming favourites expected to roll to another title. Instead Detroit dismantled them. The Pistons' collective defence smothered the star-laden opponents, and their balanced attack found gaps all series long. They won the championship in five games, one of the great upsets in Finals history, with Billups named the series' Most Valuable Player as a reward for their shared brilliance.

The 2004 Pistons became a lasting argument for a certain philosophy of basketball: that chemistry, effort and defensive commitment can overcome a collection of individual stars. Their triumph is still invoked whenever a team of role players outperforms a more glamorous rival. In a sport increasingly defined by superstar power, Detroit offered a stubborn, inspiring reminder that the whole can beat the sum of the parts — and that a title can be won without a single household name.