| Pistons Even-Keeled As They Travel to Cleveland To Face Reeling Cavs Authored by Tommie De Riemaecker/Off The High Glass - March 21, 2005 - 4:06 pm
For all the knocks against Larry Brown and his teams, there’s one thing that can’t be questioned – their consistency. As such, it’s no surprise that the defending world champion Detroit Pistons will take a five-game winning streak into their matchup tomorrow night with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Pistons will enter the contest without Brown, who remains at home following bladder surgery. Brown expects to be back by Friday, when the Pistons play host to the Indiana Pacers for the first time since the Nov. 19 brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
In the meantime, the Pistons have been lead by assistant coach Garfield Heard, who filled in as the interim head coach earlier this year while Brown had hip surgery. After a 2-3 stint the first time, the veteran coach has earned a 4-0 record the second time around.
Heard has become more comfortable with the team, much as the players have become more comfortable with each other. After winning the title last year, the Pistons blew up the bench, subtracting Corliss Williamson via trade and Mike James and Mehmet Okur through free agency. The players and coaches feel like they’ve finally got their roles established at this point in the season since the team re-signed center Elden Campbell March 4.
While Detroit has the luxury of settling into their roles, the Cavs will enter the contest in a different boat. The team fired second-year head coach Paul Silas today after a post-All-Star break slide that has seen the team lose their last three and fall to 34-30, fifth place in the conference after peaking in second place. Cavs President of Basketball Operations Jim Paxson and new owner Dan Gilbert cited the possibility of missing the playoffs for firing Silas.
Silas has also been somewhat of a distraction this season to his young team. He was fined $10,000 last week after making a derogatory comment about former Cavs forward Carlos Boozer, as well as alienating veteran point guards Eric Snow and Jeff McInnis with in-game or practice arguments earlier in the season.
The team also dismissed Silas’ son, assistant coach Stephen Silas. The Cavs will finish the season under assistant coach Brendan Malone, who has promoted to interim head coach. Malone, a longtime Pistons assistant under Chuck Daly, Ron Rothstein and Don Chaney, will be challenged to solidify rotations and roles in the 18 games remaining in Cleveland’s season.
The Pistons will be heavily favored to defeat the reeling Cavs before traveling to Philadelphia Wednesday and facing off against Indiana at home Friday. The Pistons (42-23) are running out of time to catch the conference-leading Miami Heat (52-16) before the playoffs begin.
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