Auburn Hills, Mich. – If Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown’s potential move to Cleveland was a distraction, it was just what his team needed.
The big story entering Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals Tuesday night wasn’t how the defending NBA champion Pistons would respond to trailing 2-1 in the series. Rather, it was whether reports Brown will become president of the Cavaliers would be a distraction.
The Pistons responded by beating the Miami Heat 106-96 at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The best-of-seven series is tied 2-2 with Game 5 in Miami on Thursday.
“We’ve got bigger things at hand,” said Pistons guard Chauncey Billups, a Denver native who had 17 points, seven assists and no turnovers. “We are worried about the Miami Heat, not what Coach is doing or whatever. We don’t really care about all that right now.
“We’re worried about trying to win the series, trying to defend our championship, not what’s going to go on after the season. We’ve still got a season to play.”
Four Detroit starters scored 15 points or more: Billups, Richard Hamilton (28), Rasheed Wallace (20) and Tayshaun Prince (15). The Pistons committed just six turnovers, none in the first half.
“We all feel a lot better than we felt the other night (after losing Game 3),” Brown said.
At the morning shootaround, Brown seemed offended by the notion of the players being distracted by his reported departure. He didn’t speak to his players about the reports.
“All you (media) guys do is bring it up, and you’re going to make an excuse if we lose the game in the fourth quarter,” Brown said. “Yeah, they missed free throws because they were worried about what I was going to do. All right, we got upset because some of this stuff that happened on the court because of what we wanted to do.”
The Pistons needed no excuses on this night.
The Pistons held a 60-46 lead at halftime after shooting 52.4 percent. Heat center Shaquille O’Neal, who finished with 12 points and five rebounds, was limited to eight first-half minutes after picking up three fouls.
The Heat used a 17-8 run to close to 68-63 in the third quarter. With Miami down 71-65, O’Neal picked up his fourth foul with 3:05 left in the third and finished the rest of the quarter on the bench.
“You want your best players on the floor, and we didn’t get that,” Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said. “(O’Neal) was in foul trouble, and you know that’s not good for us.”
Keyon Dooling’s 3-pointer brought Miami within seven with 11:24 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Heat would get no closer.
With 5:27 left, Billups passed to Antonio McDyess, whose two-handed jam gave Detroit a comfortable 17-point lead.
“It’s a three-game series with them (owning) home-court advantage,” Brown said. “I think we all felt this would be a great series, and hopefully that’s the case.”
Said Miami guard Dwyane Wade, who scored 28 points: “We’re confident at home. Go back to South Beach and see another great game.”
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
