Chauncey Billups criticizes Larry Brown for negotiating with Knicks during 2005 NBA Finals

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/chauncey-billups-larry-brown-pistons-knicks-2005-nba-finals/1npf9tbm05ywe13x2doxw6db5g

Jordan Greer - The Sporting News

July 28, 2016•11:45 pm CEST

It's hard enough to beat the San Antonio basketball machine led by a prime Tim Duncan in a best-of-seven series. Now imagine your coach is mentally preparing to join another team while you're trying to slay the Spurs dragon.

That's what happened during the 2005 NBA Finals. While Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and the defensive-minded Pistons looked to stifle the Spurs, Detroit coach Larry Brown was already lining up his next job. Brown was in talks to become the next coach of the Knicks, even with the Pistons only a few wins away from back-to-back championships. He ultimately took the helm in New York shortly after the Pistons fell to the Spurs in seven games.

Billups told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical that Brown's negotiations with the Knicks had a negative impact on the team when the Pistons needed him most.

"We were really, really disappointed in coach Brown at that time," Billups said on The Vertical Pod. "One, we know (Spurs coach Gregg) Popovich and him were best friends, this and that. We're trying like hell to beat these guys, man. We get off to a bad start, we're down 0-2. We gotta beat these guys four out of five times. Talking about, we're pulling up at shootarounds and getting off of the bus, and we hear him negotiating his next deal. It had an effect on us, man. It was disheartening to know that, and everything that we knew and believed about LB. It took a hit for a little bit. It really did.

"And at that time, we're basketball players. We're all 25, 26, 27, 28. We don't know the business of basketball. Not at all. We just know we're the defending champs, and we're in a dog fight getting our butt kicked right now by the San Antonio Spurs, and we need all hands on deck. We need all hands on deck, and LB's going through his little personal stuff with the team and all that. It was just very, very poor. It was in poor judgment, it was in poor taste and it was at a horrible time. But our leadership on the floor was so strong that we were still able to stay focused and get through it, but we needed a little more from him."

Brown certainly showed poor judgment, but he wasn't solely to blame for the Pistons' shortcomings. Billups recognizes the Pistons still had a shot in Game 7 despite the off-the-court distractions.

"I might have had a turnover here or there," Billups said. "Rip (Hamilton) might have took a bad shot. We were more into that, things that we could really control that we didn't do good enough, that we blamed it on that really. As opposed to saying, 'Man, Larry's not all here. He's so worried about next year and this and that.' Those are things that don't creep into your mind during a game.

"We're in a dog fight trying to do the best that you can do. ... But it's something that we all remember and we still all talk about from time to time."

At the time of the hiring, Brown told the Knicks "I know this will be my last stop." The Knicks then tumbled to a 23-59 record, the second-worst mark in the league during the 2005-06 season. He was fired and replaced by Isiah Thomas after his lone season in New York.

Don't take it personal, Chauncey. That's just what Brown does.

Jordan Greer has been with The Sporting News since 2015. He previously worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is a graduate of Westminster College and Syracuse University.