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Cavaliers seek to get even with Pistons in East finals

May 24, 2007 - 1:23 PM Cleveland at Detroit 8:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference finals Pistons lead, 1-0

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers missed a golden opportunity in Game One.

James and the Cavaliers look to even the Eastern Conference finals when they face the Detroit Pistons in Game Two on Thursday.

Detroit posted a 79-76 win in the series opener on Monday. James had a chance to lift his team at the end but was passive, taking just three shots in the fourth quarter.

Trailing by two with 36 seconds left, the superstar forward drove on Pistons defensive specialist Tayshaun Prince before kicking to a wide-open Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who missed a jumper.

After an offensive rebound by Larry Hughes, James quickly drove past Prince - looking like he had a clear path to the basket - and whipped a pass to Donyell Marshall, who bricked a 3-pointer from the right corner in the waning seconds.

James, for his part, insisted that he would not do anything differently if the same situation arose again.

"I go for the winning play," James said. "If two guys come at you and your teammate is open, then give it up, simple as that. You've just got to take what's there. It's not about taking a high volume of shots, it's about trying to win the basketball game.

"You've got to take what's there. We had an opportunity to me with me taking three shots in the fourth quarter. My game is not solely on taking a lot of shots. I'm going to continue to say that. That's the only answer I can give you. We had an opportunity to win."

Detroit point guard Chauncey Billups, who committed an uncharacteristic seven turnovers in Game One, admitted that his squad also had to pick up its level of play.

"You play the game and you haven't seen it, and you're like, 'Man, that was an ugly game,'" Billups said. "Then you look at the tape and you're like, 'Maybe it wasn't that bad.' But that game, it really was that bad for us.

"We executed, and my performance taking care of the ball and trying to set the table, it was pretty bad. But we came out with the win, and that's all really that matters."

Game Three will shift to Cleveland on Sunday.