ATLANTA -- Kobe Bryant said he doesn’t think too much about the 2004 Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons anymore, not unless someone brings it up. He has let it go.

But that series is now a topic of conversation, with Sunday marking his final game against the Pistons in Auburn Hills. On Saturday, Bryant, in his 20th season with the Lakers, reflected on that series with his usual bluntness.

"They were a better team," Bryant said after practice here before the team boarded a flight to Michigan. "They executed extremely well. They played extremely well and executed well. They pressured us, and we weren't ready to go deeper into our offense and into our automatics. The stuff that wins us championships is being able to go into our automatics. We just weren't prepared to do it.

"They kicked our ass."

With Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and veteran stars Gary Payton and Karl Malone, the talent-heavy Lakers were heavy favorites, but the Pistons won the series, 4-1.

Talent only goes so far, Bryant said.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "You've seen teams with so much firepower: me, Shaq, Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones. We've had talent. Talent doesn't get it done. You have to be able to execute. When you have talent and you execute, that's when you win."

A knee injury sidelined Malone for the final game of the series, but Bryant said Malone's presence wouldn't have changed the outcome.

"I don't think it would've made much of a difference," Bryant said. "We didn't know how to run the offense. ... We didn't understand when to backdoor step, when to run a blind pick, when to run a reverse action, when to lag the ball. ... We didn't understand that."

Bryant will finish his career with a 5-2 series record in the Finals, the only defeats coming to the Pistons in 2004 and the Boston Celtics in 2008.

"Both different," Bryant said. "We lost them both different. That 2008 [Lakers] team, we ran an offense extremely well and knew how to execute extremely well. Boston just took it from us. They were just tougher, nastier, meaner.

"Detroit -- throughout the year, we just didn’t ... we weren't religious about how we executed our offense. We tried to rely on talent a lot more than the offense itself. We managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat in San Antonio when we were down 0-2. But it caught up to us."

Bryant also didn't blame then-Lakers coach Phil Jackson for the team's over-reliance on talent or its lack of execution.

"Well, it was a tough year for him, too," Bryant said. "He was going through a lot of stuff as well. It was tough for him to muster up the energy. He used to talk to us about that. He's been pretty open about it. It's hard for him to bring up the energy then when you’re dealing with all these other issues, on top of my issues and Shaq's issues ... there was a lot of s--- going on."

After the series, Jackson and the Lakers parted ways, O'Neal was traded to Miami and Derek Fisher departed as well. It marked the end of an era that saw the Lakers win three championships from 2000 to 2002.

Winning a sixth championship to tie his idol, Michael Jordan, as well as possibly a seventh title to surpass Jordan, had long been a goal for Bryant. But Bryant said he's at peace with having five rings.

"Listen, I worked as hard as I possibly f---ing could," Bryant said. "I did everything I could. I'm fine with that. ... When I started playing basketball, I knew I didn't want to have any regrets. I wanted to push as hard as I can, as much as I can. I've done that. So I'm completely fine with that."

Lakers coach Byron Scott said he isn't surprised that Bryant, a notoriously ferocious competitor, seems to be at peace.

"He seems to be more relaxed now than I've ever seen him," Scott said. "He knows in his heart that he's given everything that he has to this sport. He hasn't held back one bit on the court. I think when you feel that way, then you know you've given it everything you've got. You can say, 'I know I'm done, and I can say that with a lot of pride, but also with a lot of peace.'"

Like Bryant, Scott suffered a Finals loss to the Pistons during his NBA career, in the 1989 Finals, when Detroit beat the Lakers in four games, though Scott was injured for that series.

"Almost every time I step in that building, I look up and I see some jerseys that I played against and some banners that were there, one at our expense," Scott said. "It conjures up memories."

But if Bryant ever felt wistful, wishing he could go back and change history to add another ring, Scott said that's normal for any player who is about to retire.

"We all [feel that way]," Scott said. "I think I should have five [championships] instead of three. Seriously. But we all go through that. You can't get them back, so at the end of the day, you've got to accept what you've got. I've got three. A lot of guys just got one. He's got five, which there's very few in the NBA history that have that many aside from [Bill] Russell and those Celtics teams and Robert Horry and a couple other guys. Other than that, he's in pretty damn good company."