How the Mighty Pistons Were Tested to Their Best Against Lebron and the Cavs

The Eastern Conference playoffs presented the first real test to emerging NBA superstar Lebron James. Most people predicted that the Cavs would only win one game in the series or that they would be swept. Instead the Cavs almost knocked off the Pistons and lost in a final game 7 to them. However Lebron showed that he would only get better and that next year he would be ready to beat the Pistons.

The Cleveland Cavs were up 3 games to 2 in this series and it looked like they might win this series with game 6 on their home court. However when the Pistons won game 6 in Cleveland on the road, everyone knew that the Cavs had no chance to win Game 7 on the road in Detroit. Game 6 featured a close loss for the Cavs but in Game 7 the Cavs simply got blown out of the building by the Pistons. Lebron James seemed to run out of gas in the last game as he took some bad shots that were forced and missed some easy open jump shots. However Lebron gave it his best effort and showed why he is one of the best players in the league,. He nearly single handedly beat the Pistons in the series because Lebron did not get much help from his supporting cast in the series.

Larry Hughes who was supposed to be Lebron's right hand man was injured most of the season and when he played in the playoffs he looked lost most of the time. Illgaskus who plays the center position for the Cavs was shut down by Defensive player of the year Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace who also plays great defense and can grab rebounds and block shots. The Cavs had no answer for Chauncy Billups or Richard Hamilton throughout the entire series.

Neither team got much production from their bench but Antonio McDyss came off the bench from for the Pistons and had some times in which he had some quick points and provided great energy for the Pistons.

Piston's coach Flip Saunders once again showed why he is one of the best coaches in the league as he made the adjustments in a pivitol game 7 to shut down Lebron James. Saunders threw every kind of defenseive strategy at Lebron. Some defenses included some zones, traps, switches on defense and guarding the pick and roll very well. Lebron seemed frustrated in Game 7 and a large part of that credit belongs to Flip Saunders.

In Game 7 the Pistons showed why they are the defending Eastern Conference champs once again.