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Rising up
It's no longer just a slogan. LeBron James officially has risen. He, almost single-handedly, has carried the Cavaliers to three straight victories. His performance Thursday -- 48 points, 29 of the Cavaliers' last 30 -- was unprecedented in NBA history.
"We threw everything at him," Billups said. "We couldn't stop him."
How is that going to change -- especially with the Pistons second-guessing themselves and their defensive schemes?
That Wallace would shoo the coaches out before delivering his postgame rant was emblematic. The Pistons had been walking away -- literally and figuratively -- from the coaches' stratagems the entire night.
"To not be locked in, to have so much miscommunication with so much at stake, was disappointing," Billups said.
For whatever reasons, the Pistons never were on the same page. Defensive rotations were missed, allowing James to streak to the basket for two virtually uncontested dunks in the final two possessions of regulation.
On the first, Jason Maxiell was left alone to cover James at the top of the key. Maxiell wasn't supposed to switch onto James.
On the second, with Tayshaun Prince on James, all the help defenders inexplicably abandoned the lane.
The only success the Pistons have had against James was in their ability to wall him away from the basket.
Suddenly, with the game on the line, they either forgot that or failed to execute it.
Billups said messages delivered in the huddles weren't always being carried onto the court.
That is inexcusable, of course. And the blame falls as much on the players as it does coach Flip Saunders.
Major disagreements
Also inexcusable was the relentless internal bickering. It's not unusual to see the Pistons yelling at each other during games -- that is part of their familial bond.
It was a differentkind of bickering Thursday. It seemed players often were in disagreement with what was being called in the huddle. Wallace visibly was upset at several of Saunders' decisions. He voiced those vehemently to assistant Dave Cowens before the fourth quarter.
Webber, too, voiced his displeasure with some of the strategies. Prince, especially in the overtimes, seemed to be carrying on a running debate with Richard Hamilton and Billups over how situations were supposed to be played.
Wallace called out Billups on a couple of occasions for trying to do too much on his own.
"I ain't going to get on all of that because it's going to get too personal," Wallace said.
Blame to go around
The Pistons could not have picked a worse time to bail on the notion players play and coaches coach.
That's what Cowens appeared to be trying to stress to Wallace. Two victories away from the NBA Finals, a tie game with one quarter left at home, and now, 97 games into a season, you are going to start second-guessing the system?
It's inexcusable.
Some will blame Saunders for not being forceful enough. But he always has said his style always has been to give players just enough rope to hang themselves. He put a system in place that got the Pistons the No. 1 seed in the East, had them up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals, and had them in position to win in the fourth quarters of the last three games.
Suddenly, after a couple of late-game collapses, the players seemed to get antsy and bailed on the system.
Suddenly they had a better idea, they wanted to do it their way. And now they are one loss from getting hung by a young, hungry and united Cavaliers team.
Blame whomever you want. The reality remains the same.
The Pistons, who didn't practice Friday, had about 32 hours to vent, vanquish the demons from Game 5 and recommit to the task at hand -- solving the riddle of King James, lest he finally conquer the East.
