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Cleveland Cavaliers (0) vs Detroit Pistons (2)
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Time: 5:00
TV: ESPN
Radio: WTAM 1100
Location: Quicken Loans Arena
Head Coaches
Mike Brown / Flip Saunders
Probable Staters
Eric Snow / Chauncey Billups
Flip Murray / Richard Hamilton
LeBron James / Tayshaun Prince
Drew Gooden / Rasheed Wallace
Zydrunas Ilgauskas / Ben Wallace
Cleveland Cavaliers Bench
Damon Jones/Ira Newble/Sasha Pavlovic/Donyell Marshall/Anderson Varejao
Detroit Pistons
Lindsey Hunter/Maurice Evans/Carlos Delfino/Antonio McDyess/Dale Davis
2005-06 SERIES: Pistons: 3-1
Keys to the Game:
WIN or FACE ELIMINATION
Game Notes:
The Cavs rallied from a huge first-half deficit in Game 2, thanks to the 14 points LeBron James scored in the fourth quarter.
James' spurt brought the Cavs within five with less than two minutes left. The Pistons held on to win, but a change in attack got the Cavs back in it.
"All we did was play pick-and-roll and attack," said Cavs coach Mike Brown. "It's obvious that Detroit is double-teaming LeBron's pick and roll. So, if we get a solid screen set, LeBron's able to turn the corner because he's got one-on-one coverage. But if the screen is not that solid, they're able to double-team the ball. When LeBron baited the double team, he'd make the simple pass and someone else drove it and kicked it and we got wide-open looks."
Fear factor:
Many wondered whether the Cavs are intimidated by playing the Pistons, who dominated the Cavs during the regular season by beating them in three out of four games. On Feb. 26, in a game at Detroit, Rasheed Wallace drew blood following his elbow to Zydrunas Ilgauskas' head.
Brown said his team did not go into this series intimidated.
"What I do know is that our guys are learning at what level it takes to play in order to get past the second round," Brown said. "We have to play like we did in the second half [in Game 2] for the entire 48 minutes. That's the level we have to play on."
Injury updates
Saunders said the Pistons would ``wait and see'' with the knee injury reserve forward Antonio McDyess sustained. James and McDyess banged knees in the first half Tuesday. McDyess played 10-plus minutes in the third quarter.
Time, network change
Game 3 has been changed from an 8 p.m. start on ABC to a 5 p.m. tipoff on ESPN. The San-Antonio-Dallas series, tied at 1-1, will get the prime-time slot. ``I guess our games have been too boring,'' Billups said.
Hack-a-Ben
Saunders and Billups both said they were mildly surprised the Cavs didn't intentionally foul Ben Wallace in the fourth quarter after they got back in the game. The Cavs had used the strategy twice in the first half, with Wallace converting 2-of-4 free throws.
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