It was deja vu for LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Their worst nightmare was realized when the Pistons once again cameback to defeat them in Game 2 by an identical 79-76 margin at The Palace of Auburn Hills- putting the Cavs in an 0-2 hole in the seven-game Eastern Conference Final.

In both tough defeats, LeBron could’ve played the role of hero. For the last 72 hours entering tonight, second guessing ensued regarding whether the superstar should’ve taken the shot instead of dishing off to Donyell Marshall in the right corner for a three which fell off the mark.

Tonight with his team down one after Rasheed Wallace made a difficult right baseline turnaround fadeaway over him with 24 seconds left, James tried to win the game this time by driving to the basket. Guarded extremely well by Richard Hamilton, the superstar went up for a tough shot in the lane which rebounded off the iron to an uncontested Larry Hughes from 12 feet. But the slumping Cavs’ guard predictably missed, leaving it up to Anderson Varejao. But the underrated energizer’s tip try came off the glass to Wallace who in turn gave the ball up to Chauncey Billups, who was fouled with only one tick left.

A furious Mike Brown was assessed a technical after contesting that James got fouled on the crucial play. It wasn’t to be as the Pistons made two of three free throws to put it away. Though Billups missed the last, it didn’t matter because the Cavs were out of timeouts. Plus Varejao had to fling a prayer which had no chance much like the first game ironically enough.

So, was LeBron fouled as TNT’s Kenny Smith claimed? I’ll say no. That was just smart D by Hamilton. He did a good job bodying up and then backed off when James attempted his shot which never had a chance because it was off balance. And as Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley both stated afterward, “You can’t expect to get the call on the road in that situation.”

Barkley later went on to mention how he was “still waiting for a call in Boston,” drawing laughter.

James was clearly frustrated as well at not getting the call. However, you have to ask why a man of his size, strength and speed doesn’t go directly to the rim in that spot? Instead, the 22 year-old star who finished with just five second half points after getting 14 in the first half settled for a difficult shot with three Pistons converging leaving two rebounds. But Hughes couldn’t convert and neither could Varejao which meant they were going back home to Cleveland in an 0-2 hole this weekend.

If James came up short, then Wallace didn’t. After having a big Game 1 in which he posted a double double and blocked seven shots, Rasheed followed it up with a huge final quarter scoring 10 of his team high 16 including the difficult go-ahead bucket to help his team go up 2-0.

In a final 12 minutes which wasn’t pretty, the power forward made all the big plays to score more than half his team’s 19 as they held Cleveland to just 13 for the second consecutive quarter- meaning the Cavs only got 26 points all second half after scoring 34 in a huge second in which they outscored Detroit by 16 to grab a 12-point halftime lead.

Wallace made his only three of the night in the fourth and also stole the ball from LeBron and scored in the open floor for two of his four baskets in the period on a night he finished an efficient 7-of-10 from the field. Along with his winner, the big man proved that he wanted the ball and came up large also adding 11 boards, three assists, two blocks and two steals.

While it was an inspired night for Rasheed, his teammates struggled. Billups finished with 13 points, six assists while turning it over five times. Valuable small forward Tayshaun Prince had an atrocious shooting night finishing 0-for-8 with only one point. He did however guard LeBron most of the game and still contributed four rebounds and four assists in 41 minutes.

After a solid first game, Hamilton was 5-of-14 including one trey and made just half his four free throws to finish with 13.

Chris Webber had just nine on 4-of-13 shooting in only 24 minutes as Flip Saunders opted to ride the hot hand in second-year forward Jason Maxiell, who was just terrific. The ex-Cincinnati product played large in this one scoring 15 (7-of-9 FG) off the bench along with six rebounds, a steal and two blocks in 21 minutes.

When Detroit needed a boost, Maxiell provided it. He was particularly effective in the opening quarter. With Wallace in early foul trouble and Antonio McDyess coming out with a cut in his mouth, he came in and played extremely well with lots of poise. He was a beast around the basket, finishing off a couple of slams. He had seven, four boards and two blocks in the quarter.

If not for Maxiell’s contributions, the Pistons would’ve been cooked and hitting the road tied at one. Instead, they’re in control. What they must remember is that last year, they led the Cavs 2-0 in the second round before Cleveland stunned them by winning the next three putting them on the brink. But the Pistons were able to rally back and pull it out to advance to the ECF before losing to eventual NBA champ Miami.

For the Cavs, it’s back to the drawing board knowing full well they easily could’ve gotten a split. Maybe they even should have won both. Instead, they’ll have to move on and try to bounceback starting Sunday night which might explain James’ response to that final play which didn’t go his way:

“I believe there was some contact, but there’s been a lot of contact throughout this series. We’re a no-excuse team and we can’t look at the last play as why we lost. We just have to get better.“

Absolutely correct. There’s nothing they can do now about these two games. Both will go down as losses.

They wasted a supreme effort from WWE Carlito look alike Varejao, who was awesome off the bench contributing a double double (14 pts and game high 14 rebs) in 30 minutes. He was superb around the paint finishing off dunks and lay-ups and also all over the glass.

The biggest question with this game was what happened to the aggressive LeBron we saw in the first half who scored 14 of his 19 on drives to the hoop which included at least three dunks including one facial in the second quarter? Why did the Cavs as Barkley concluded slow down the pace to a crawl and go away from what worked so well in the second quarter? It’s hard to say. But Detroit opened the third quarter on a 14-4 run to erase Cleveland’s big lead and it would be close the rest of the way, which ultimately favored the better halfcourt team.

The Cavs got almost zilch from bigs Zydrunas Ilgauskas (3 pts on 1-of-6) and Drew Gooden (two baskets in 16 mins). That can’t happen again when the series shifts to Cleveland.

Hughes also continued to struggle taking just nine shots and making only two in 37 minutes. He’s supposed to be a versatile guard who can get to the basket and also drop the occasional long range bomb. But since his dreadful finish against the Nets, he’s seemed gun shy. You can’t be that way. We’re not talking about just an average player here. Hughes has been a good scorer in this league who can explode and was brought in two years ago to help out LeBron. He needs to do more. Three rebounds, two assists and two turnovers won’t get it done.

The Cavs wasted a good night from Sasha Pavlovic, who finished an accurate 7-of-10 for 14 points along with three steals including one in the final 60 seconds which could’ve sealed the game. But his teammates didn’t take advantage.

Meanwhile, James added seven assists, six rebounds and three steals to go with his team high 19. In the first game, he took 15 shots converting only five. Last night, he took four more (19) and made two more (7). That’s not enough if his team is going to win and advance to their first ever NBA Finals.

Aside from that, James was more tenative in the second half and turned it over six times. He forced a couple of bad passes in the process.

The Cavs need their young star to dominate in crunch time. That hasn’t happened thus far which better change in Game 3.