LeBron James almost made the Detroit Pistons regret getting bored.
James scored 23 of his 30 points in the second half, but Rasheed Wallace had 29 points and Tayshaun Prince added 20 to lead Detroit to a 97-91 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night -- and a 2-0 lead in their second-round series.
"We had the game going through three quarters, and we got a little lax," Detroit's Chauncey Billups said. "We came away from our defensive scheme, and LeBron started to hurt us."
PHOTO: AFP
James didn't reach double figures until midway through the third quarter, then he led a fourth-quarter rally with jumpers and driving layups through a sea of Pistons.
Cleveland pulled to 87-78 after a 10-2 run before Ben Wallace made a fadeaway shot off his own miss and Rasheed Wallace followed with a 3-pointer, forcing the Cavs to call a timeout down by 14 points with 4:31 left.
James wouldn't let the Cavs go away.
His three-point play made it 92-87 with 1:13 left, but Richard Hamilton scored a three-point play on the ensuing possession and both players traded free throws in the final seconds.
"We kept our composure and gave them a run for their money," James said.
For three-plus quarters, it didn't look like there was much James or the Cavs, who advanced in the playoffs for the first time since 1993, could do against the two-time defending Eastern Conference champions at either end of the court.
After leading by just two points, Detroit took control of Game 2 -- and perhaps the best-of-seven series -- with a 13-0 run late in the first quarter and early in the second. The burst grew to 19-3 and the Pistons led by 18 before the Cavs ended a field-goal drought that lasted more than seven minutes.
"Our guys have the ability to lock down," Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. "As a coach, you hate the term 'Flip the switch,' but there's no question they have the ability to do that."
The Pistons were coasting until the Cavs suddenly showed signs of life midway through the fourth quarter.
The Cavs -- who lost Sunday by 27 points in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated -- will have plenty of time to search for a solution to turn the series around because Game 3 isn't until Saturday in Cleveland.
Cavs coach Mike Brown was so desperate late in the first half Tuesday that he resorted to a hack-a-Ben strategy, having his players intentionally foul Ben Wallace late in the first half. The tactic backfired, perhaps because Brown might've sent his players a message that they couldn't slow the Pistons down any other way.
When Brown instructed his players to foul Wallace, Detroit was ahead by 16. After Wallace went 2-of-4 from the line and Rasheed Wallace made a 3-pointer off the glass, the Cavs were trailing by 21.
"I've seen it before, but not in the first half," Billups said. "I was shocked. We were pretty much like, `Wow, they showed their trump card.' But when you're a coach, especially a young coach, and you're playing a veteran group like ours, after a tough Game 1, you can get a little desperate.
"He was just trying to help his team out, and it didn't work."
Brown acknowledged that he didn't like telling his player to put Wallace on the line.
"But I didn't want to use all of my timeouts, and I wanted to stop the bleeding," he said.
Hamilton finished with 17 points, Billups had 15 points and seven assists, and Ben Wallace added 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Cleveland's Drew Gooden had 17 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 10 and reserve Anderson Varejao also added 10.
Dallas 113, San Antonio 91
The last time Avery Johnson shook up the Dallas Mavericks lineup, he sparked a 13-game winning streak.
The latest move by the NBA's coach of the year pulled the Mavericks even with the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the playoffs.
Johnson turned to Devin Harris to crank up the tempo and the speedy point guard responded, sending the Mavericks zooming to a 21-point lead before halftime on their way to a 113-91 victory over the defending champions on Tuesday night.
"He really got in the paint and attacked us very well," Spurs star Tim Duncan said. "A lot of credit to [Avery] for making that move."
The Spurs won the opener 87-85, with the Mavs making all sorts of mistakes. Their lackadaisical offense bothered Johnson the most, so he let Harris start, moving Jason Terry to shooting guard and putting defensive-minded Adrian Griffin on the bench.
The result: Dallas went to the rim for seven of its first nine baskets and was up by eight points before going on a 15-3 run. San Antonio never got within 14 again and the Mavs finished with their highest point total of the playoffs and eighth-best this entire season.
"We played a game that was pretty much our style," Johnson said. "A lot of that had to do with Devin being out there."
The Spurs fell apart on both ends of the court in the second quarter. Besides giving up 32 points -- one less than Dallas scored the entire second half of Game 1 -- San Antonio went the final 6:59 of the period without a basket, missing nine straight shots.
"We knew they were going to play aggressive," Spurs guard Tony Parker said. "For whatever reason, we couldn't match it."
About the only good news for the Spurs is finally getting some rest. With Game 3 not until Saturday night, San Antonio will be able to recover from three games in five days. Coach Gregg Popovich gave his players the day off Wednesday.
Josh Howard epitomized Dallas' take-it-to-the-rim approach and led the team with 27 points. The Mavericks are now 20-0 when he scores 20 points.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 21, but took a lesser role in the offense. Harris scored 20, while Jason Terry, who started at shooting guard, had 11. Stackhouse scored 19.
Rick Adelman was fired by the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday despite leading the club to eight consecutive appearances in the NBA playoffs as the most successful coach in franchise history.
Geoff Petrie, the Kings' president of basketball operations, gave only murky reasons for the decision, which probably was caused by clashing egos and the empty trophy case of owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, who are widely thought to be behind Adelman's departure.
Sacramento was eliminated from the playoffs on Friday by the San Antonio Spurs.
"I came to the conclusion that continuing this way just wasn't feasible," said Petrie, who also hired Adelman -- his former roommate from their playing days -- when both worked in Portland. "The dynamic that needed to be there to help it move forward just wasn't there."
The Kings also declined to renew the contracts of Adelman's four assistants: Elston Turner, T.R. Dunn, Bubba Burrage and Pete Carril, the Hall of Fame former Princeton University coach who spent nine of the last 10 years as a Sacramento assistant. Adelman, whose 752 career victories are the fourth-most among active NBA coaches, guided the Kings into the playoffs with a 44-38 record and a tremendous late-season surge after the arrival of Ron Artest.
His departure ends the most successful tenure of any coach in the franchise's 21 seasons in Sacramento, although the Maloof brothers have been dissatisfied with Adelman's leadership for at least two seasons.
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