The great players step up when needed most. In crunch time. Even on an off night in which he was kept silent by the Cavs’ D, Pistons’ guard Chauncey Billups never let that get to him in helping lead his team to a Game 1 three-point victory, 79-76 over Cleveland at the Palace.

Billups scored 10 of his 13 points in the final quarter to help his team pull out the hard fought win and take a 1-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Final.

When his team needed him most, he stepped up and made some big shots by draining two three’s and completing a three-point play in a tightly played final 12 minutes.

The former 2004 Finals MVP made the biggest shot of the night with under two minutes left by knocking down an uncontested trey from the top of the key to put Detroit back ahead 78-76.

Cleveland had three chances to tie or win the game but LeBron James and Co. failed to get it done and steal home court when it was there for the taking. They would get the final two possessions but couldn’t capitalize.

First, James drove the lane, drew a double and fed big man Zydrunas Ilgauskas for a wide open 17-footer. But unlike most of the game where the center had the magic touch from that distance for a team high 22 on 9-of-17 shooting, he was short off the rim. The ball rebounded back out to James and coach Mike Brown called timeout to diagram a final play.

Truthfully, it wasn’t a bad play at all. Brown substituted long distance shooter and Game 6 hero Donyell Marshall for Ilgauskas. The recent 34th birthday celebrant entered the game having scored only two points on 1-of-3 from the field in nine minutes. Yet there he was on the floor. If you know the game, you knew he what the play was. So I wasn’t surprised when LeBron drove the lane and then found the ex-Uconn star in the right corner for an open three. But his shot fell off the rim and caromed out before Billups recovered it near mid-court and was fouled with 2.8 left.

After making the first for a three-point lead, he missed the second but it didn’t matter much as the Cavs had burned all their timeouts leaving just a desperation 75-foot heave from Anderson “Carlito AKA Sideshow Bob” Varejao which never had a chance.

And so the Pistons overcame a poor first half to pull out the big ‘W.’

To be perfectly honest, much like what TNT’s Kenny Smith said, “Cleveland should’ve won tonight.”

That they didn’t probably doesn’t bode well for the rest of the series. As Smith, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley concluded alongside Ernie Johnson, “That was probably the worst Detroit’s going to play.”

Which means Cleveland should feel like they missed a golden opportunity here. Sure. They can conclude as Ilgauskas did during a postgame interview with Craig Sager that “they were in a close game and had a chance to win and would take it.”

But those are the ones a road team has to win if they want to take home court at this stage.

Now to the TNT analysts’ criticism of LeBron’s decision on that final play. It’s hard to disagree because he’s supposed to be the best player on the floor. And if you watched enough replays, then you know that he had a step on solid defender Tayshaun Prince at the free throw line. The double also came late and as Rasheed Wallace (15 pts, 12 boards, game high 7 blocks) informed Magic and Co., he wasn’t coming over to help out but rather to get the rebound. When James gets a head of steam in full flight, he’s tough to stop because he’s so strong. He should’ve just gone for the lay-up and tried to draw the foul. Not once did the superstar get to the line all night. Instead, he passed out to Marshall, who missed on his chance to be the hero.

I’m only going to ask this once. But who would Cavs’ fans rather have with the ball in that big spot. LeBron or an ice cold Marshall who just got up off the bench??? Case closed!

Detroit was lucky to be only down six at the half. They were lackluster at the offensive end and were outworked by Cleveland on the offensive glass. Particularly Varejao who pulled down five of his eight rebounds in Detroit’s end and either got putbacks or setup teammates. The sparkplug finished with 13 on 6-of-9 shooting along with two steals in 26 minutes.

The Pistons were able to hang around thanks to Rip Hamilton and Chris Webber who combined for almost half their points.

After scoring nine in the first half, Hamilton was even better getting 15 of his game high 24 (11-of-21 FG) in the second half. The great mid-ranger shooter even dialed long distance twice. The ex-Uconn star made some difficult shots and also added seven assists and two steals in 43 minutes.

They got an inspired game from Wallace at both ends. He did a solid job doubling LeBron and also was terrific at protecting the basket rejecting a couple of James’ drives on his way to seven blocks. Aside from the D, he didn’t rely just on his perimeter game instead making six of his seven shots on the interior. He did make one big trey also in the final quarter but what else would you expect? He turned it up.

The Pistons didn’t get the usual scoring from top defender Prince who finished with just nine but the team oriented small forward still contributed mightily by playing solid D on LeBron while pulling down six boards and handing out nine assists including the big dish for Billups’ winner.

Flip Saunders lengthened his rotation by playing veteran big man Dale Davis. He contributed five points and three rebounds in five solid minutes. Aside from Davis, usual rotation bigs Antonio McDyess (2 pts, 4 rebs) and Jason Maxiell (1 offensive rebound and assist to setup Billups trey with 5+ left) gave the Detroit coach usual time.

For Cleveland, Larry Hughes shot 4-of-13 finishing with 13 and seven boards but continued to struggle from the perimeter misfiring on all three long range attempts. The Cavaliers need the versatile guard to make a couple of outside shots to keep Detroit’s defense honest.

They’ll also need more than the career playoff low 10 LeBron gave them. While it’s true that the unselfish superstar also grabbed 10 rebounds and dropped nine dimes just missing out on a triple double while also adding four steals, he needs to sometimes take over in these close games. Fifteen shots just isn’t enough. He needs to be more aggressive.
LeBron doesn’t have a great supporting cast. In crunch time, he has to make the big plays. That sometimes means getting the big buckets. We’ll see if he makes an adjustment in Game 2 Thursday night.

Later tonight, the Jazz will take on the Spurs in Game 2 looking to even the best-of-seven Western Conference Final series. They shouldn’t be as nervous as they looked in Game 1 when they fell 108-100. Look for Carlos Boozer to be better and expect another great game from super soph Deron Williams.

Utah was defended well by the championship calibre Spurs and the Big Three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili came through by combining for 71 points, 14 rebounds and 21 assists.

Williams (34, 7 and 9) and Boozer (20 and 12) will need more from bigs Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur who combined for just 17 points, 11 boards and one block.

After being taken to task by coach Jerry Sloan, expect the Jazz to come out more focused tonight.