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ilikepistonslol wrote:Ben Wallace is an afterthought. He's one of Bron's pawns, putting up the same numbers he was puttin gup in Chicago.

Rasheeed!!! wrote:need to win this one just to

1. keep Orlando away from us
2. keep Cleveland away from Orlando

Courtesy of a blockbuster trade seconds before the NBA trading deadline last month, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a new look about them.However, that new look features a familiar face to Detroit players in ex-Piston Ben Wallace. Wallace, who signed a four-year, $60 million deal with Chicago two summers ago, was part of a three-team trade which sent him to Cleveland. One of the reasons the Bulls were so willing to trade Wallace was because of Chicago's struggles this season, which coincided with his play showing some signs of slippage. While Wallace may not dominate games the way he did when he helped Detroit win an NBA title in 2004, he is still a player that his former teammates worry about heading into Wednesday's game. "Ben is a warrior," Detroit's Chauncey Billups said. "He's going to bring some experience to that team, some toughness to that team. You can never underestimate what he can do."

Odds and ends : Detroit Lions great Barry Sanders was at Tuesday's game. ... Wednesday will be the first of three more regular season games between Detroit and Cleveland. It will also be Detroit's first regular season game in Cleveland since Detroit lost to the Cavs in the Conference finals last June. ... LeBron James did not play in the second half of Detroit's 109-74 win in November after suffering a sprained left index finger injury. ... the Pistons have won their last three games in Cleveland, each by at least 12 points.

P2 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
I guess that means we'll play Cleveland in the East Semis, which wouldn't be a problem at all for us, because it's LeBron and... you know what I mean.

WDFN Pistons pre- and postgame host Matt Dery will be handling more duties than usual tonight in Cleveland. He'll be calling the game, as customary radio play-by-play man Mark Champion is temporarily away broadcasting NCAA Tournament games from the Washington D.C., regional

The Pistons aren't expecting anything new. When they meet the Cavaliers in Cleveland tonight for the first time since their three-team blockbuster trade, the Pistons will handle the new-look Cavs the same way they did the old version. They will try to contain LeBron James (good luck) and don't let any of the other minions get off. If nothing else, the Pistons have to feel good going into the game after the job they did on Denver's two-headed monster, Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. In the Pistons' 136-120 victory at The Palace Tuesday night, they held the dynamic duo -- averaging 52 points combined -- to eight first-half points. To their credit, the Pistons (49-18 ) weren't looking ahead. They are as focused as they have been in some time. Still, they were well aware of the next task at hand after taking care of business against the Nuggets, who apparently refuse to play a lick of defense. Nonetheless, it still stings the Pistons that LeBron and the rag-tag Cavs stole their trip to the NBA Finals last season, winning four straight games after the Pistons won the first two games of the best-of-seven series. "It'll be a good test," said forward Jarvis Hayes, who continued his hot shooting with 11 first-half points in eight minutes en route to 17 points for the game. "It'll be good to see how we match up with their new pieces. It'll be exciting." Some thought the trade that brought the Cavs Ben Wallace from Chicago and Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak, both from Seattle, would propel the Cavs over the Celtics and Pistons and give them another chance to get back to the Finals. Thus far, it hasn't happened.

Low-impact deal: In fact, the trade, at the league deadline, has basically been a wash. For sure, it didn't make the Cavs (38-30) better. It also didn't change the way the Cavs win. That's what you want when you move six players from your roster -- Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall -- in the middle of the season and add three new ones. Cleveland's formula to win is still the same -- stay close and hope for a big finish in the fourth quarter by James. "Their team is still the same -- LeBron James," said Pistons coach Flip Saunders, whose team beat the Cavs in the first meeting of the season here. "He's their main focus. They just have different people and the ability to play off him. We'll see what it presents with these different guys." When the Lakers got Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies, they changed how they won. Kobe Bryant didn't have to score 40 to give the Lakers a chance at winning. Gasol was a force all by himself and took a lot of pressure off Kobe. Gasol could still win games for L.A., even if Kobe had an off night.

It's LeBron's show, still: The same can't be said about the Cavs, who are 7-7 since the trade Feb. 21. None of the new players they picked up is going to be a factor whether they win or lose at the end. It's still comes down to James with the ball and the clock winding down. Some thought Szczerbiak was the big piece in the trade, that he would be able to bury shots from the perimeter when James passes out of the double team. It hasn't worked out thus far. In the loss in Orlando on Monday, Szczerbiak played five minutes. Coach Mike Brown said he has some defensive problems. Really? Worse, he's shooting 31.5 percent from the field since coming aboard. "They're a different team now, different personnel," said Chauncey Billups, who had 14 points. "But their main piece is the same, LeBron. He's a handful. He causes us, everybody else a lot of problems. We have to be locked in." Again, nothing new when the Pistons play the Cavs, er, LeBron.

The skinny: Cleveland