Cleveland – Rasheed Wallace stepped out of the shower area Sunday and reset the track on the portable stereo in Detroit’s locker room. Seconds later, he swayed to the booming beat and began to rap.
“Afraid of none of you cowards,” he shouted, spitting out lyrics along with hip-hop star Nas.
Wallace might as well have been singing about the Pistons.
On the road, they fear nothing.
Chauncey Billups scored 18 points, Chris Webber and Wallace had 15 apiece and the Pistons reminded Cleveland who’s the boss in the NBA Central with a 90-78 win over the Cavaliers.
Billups added 10 assists, Wallace 13 rebounds and the division- leading Pistons won their fifth straight regular-season game over the Cavaliers, who pushed them to seven games in last year’s playoffs.
With their third win in a row, the Pistons improved to 15-9 on the road and are the only team in the Eastern Conference with a winning road record.
“We expect to win,” Billups said.
The Pistons controlled the tempo from the outset and kept a crowd of more than 20,000 quiet by limiting LeBron James’ dunks, and any time Cleveland had a defensive breakdown, the Pistons hit an open jumper.
“You make a mistake, they know how to exploit it,” James said.
This Detroit team is very similar to the one that beat Cleveland last May with one big addition: Webber, who signed with the club as a free agent Jan. 16 and was facing the Cavs for the first time with his hometown team.
Webber’s presence is bad news for the Cavaliers, who don’t appear ready to dethrone their northern neighbors. Webber scored 13 points in the first half on 6-of-7 shooting when the Pistons grabbed control and never let go.
“When Ben Wallace was there, you could kind of relax on the offensive end when he was on the floor,” James said. “But now they have five guys that can easily score 20 points.”
Detroit is 7-3 since Webber arrived.
