Pistons stop James, crush Cavaliers

DETROIT - The Detroit Pistons, a division title and playoff spot secured, set their sights on the Boston Celtics and a run at the Eastern Conference crown by crushing LeBron James and the Cle-veland Cavaliers 85-71 on Saturday.

With just nine games remaining in the regular season and Boston holding a 5.5-game lead at the top of the East standings, Detroit's chances of reeling in the Celtics are dwindling.

But with Richard Hamilton back in the lineup and harassing James the Pistons looked in razor-sharp form, holding the NBA's leading scorer to a meager 13 points on woeful 4-of-17 shooting.

James, averaging 30.7 points coming into the contest, was held to just seven points in the first half, his frustration resulting in a technical foul with Detroit taking a 20-point lead.

"I knew it was going to be a knuckle down game, I didn't want to miss, I could have sat out but it was one of those games you want to play," said Hamilton, seeing his first action after missing three games with a sore hip. "He (James) does so many great things for his team, they depend on him so much offensively.

"The one thing I try to do is keep him off rhythm, just try to be aggressive because he is there first, second and third option."

Hamilton's return also provided an offensive spark for the Pistons, hitting for a team-high 14 points while Chauncey Billups contributed 13.

Trailing by as much as 22 points in the second quarter, the Cavaliers trim-med the Detroit advantage to 49-33 at the half.

But the Pistons stormed out of the break with an 11-2 run to take command 60-35 and led by as many as 25 on way to collecting their third win in four games.

"That was just an old fashion behind kicking," said Cavaliers coach Mike Brown. "They came out, they got up into us, they were very physical from the opening tip-off.

"They had us on our heels most of the game. We tried to counter-punch but you can't do it in spurts against a team like that.

Adding to a tough night for the Cavaliers, Ben Wallace had to be helped off the court early in the second half suffering from back spasms that had forced him out of Cleveland's two previous games.