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Cavs clinch playoff spot despite loss to Pistons

Sat 29th, March 2008

Auburn Hills, MI (Sports Network) - Richard Hamilton scored 14 points to lead the Detroit Pistons past the Cleveland Cavaliers, 85-71, at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Chauncey Billups and Jason Maxiell each ended with 13 points for the Central Division-champion Pistons, who have won two in a row, three of four and sit 5 1/2 games behind idle Boston for the top spot in the East. Antonio McDyess and Tayshaun Prince chipped in 12 points apiece, and McDyess also hauled in 10 rebounds.

LeBron James scored only 13 points on 4-of-17 shooting for the Cavs, who have dropped three straight contests but sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings. Despite the loss, Cleveland actually clinched a playoff berth as the Nets fell to the Suns on Saturday.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Devin Brown each ended with 11 points in defeat. Joe Smith tallied 10 points for the Cavs. Cleveland was without the services of guard Delonte West (ankle).

The Pistons jumped out to a 29-18 lead after 12 minutes of basketball and never looked back. Detroit kept pressing and increased its lead to 49-33 at the half.

Seven points from Billups and a jumper from McDyess gave the Pistons their biggest lead to that point, 58-35, with 9:38 still to play in the third.

Thirty-three seconds later, Cleveland's Ben Wallace went up for an alley-oop and came down awkwardly. He went down clutching his back, had to be helped off the court and did not return.

Detroit's lead hovered around 20, and the Pistons eventually took a 72-50 advantage into the final stanza.

"They won tonight, they came out and made a statement," Smith said. "They came out to show something because they had been struggling a little bit the last couple of games and now they have everyone back. They came out tonight and made a statement and we weren't able to answer."

Back-to-back baskets from Maxiell and Prince put the Pistons up 76-52 with just under 10 minutes to go.

Moments later, five points from Smith and a free throw from Gibson cut Cleveland's deficit to 18 points. It proved to be too little too late, as the Pistons never let their cushion fall below 14 points the rest of the way.

"We knew we had to come out today and speed up the game a little bit," Billups said. "They are kind of like us, if you can play half court against them, they have some really good defenders in there and they are a very good rebounding team."

Game Notes

The Cavs have dropped six straight as the guest and own a 16-22 mark away from home this season. The Pistons are 30-6 in Motown and have won six straight at home...The 2007-08 season series between the Cavs and Pistons has Detroit up 2-1, and Detroit has won eight of the last nine matchups...Cleveland has dropped its last three trips to Detroit.

Where the players come to play and STAY.