Rout by Portland Shook Up Detroit : NBA finals: A 102-82 loss to the Trail Blazers Nov. 26 brought a lineup change.

The defending champion Detroit Pistons begin the NBA’s final round of the playoffs tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers, the team that blew them out as few others have done this season, triggering a lineup change.

The Pistons were 7-4 heading into their game at Portland Nov. 26 and had already lost to Miami and Atlanta, two non-playoff teams to be. The Trail Blazers throttled Detroit, 102-82.

“That was a pretty good idea to do something after you get clobbered like that,” Coach Chuck Daly said. “We had long conversations after that game, well into the night--players, coaches--and the decision was then made.”

John Salley, who had replaced the departed Rick Mahorn at forward, was benched in favor of James Edwards.

The new lineup needed some time to get its act together and the Pistons’ record was 13-10 in mid-December, but they took off soon enough. A 13-3 January was followed by 10-0 February and 11-4 March, and Detroit had the foundation that carried it back to the finals for the third consecutive season.

The Pistons had to win Game 7 of the Eastern Conference championship series Sunday against Chicago to do it, but the last step to becoming the third franchise to win consecutive titles--the others were Boston and Minneapolis-Los Angeles--begins tonight at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Trail Blazers have been waiting since last Thursday, having dispatched the Phoenix Suns in six games.

These teams are both guard-oriented on offense: Portland with Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter, Detroit with Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas and Vinnie Johnson. They are both balanced teams, each with four players who averaged at least 16 points during the regular season.

And in Portland, the Pistons might have met their match inside. Almost to a man, that’s what worries Detroit most about the Trail Blazers.

“Rebounding is their strength,” said Thomas, the Piston captain. “Sometimes I think they intentionally miss so they can get closer to the basket for shots.”

Or as Brendan Malone, a Detroit assistant coach, put it: “They’re the best offensive rebounding team in the league.”

Buck Williams gets much of the credit. While in NBA purgatory--he played for the New Jersey Nets for eight seasons--Williams was often rumored to be Detroit-bound. Sent to Portland instead in a trade that turned the Trail Blazers into contenders, he is suddenly the Piston expert among teammates, most of whom saw the Bad Boys only twice a season while playing in the Western Conference.

He knows the similarities of the teams and the subtle tricks Detroit may use against a franchise making its first appearance in the finals since 1977--such as trying to get the Trail Blazers overconfident because of their statistical edge in rebounding and scoring.

“They’re just trying to get me up for the games,” Williams said Monday at the Palace, where Portland practiced. “(Bill) Laimbeer and Isiah, they should be psychologists.”

The Pistons needed rest more than a workout. Dennis Rodman is bothered by a sprained left ankle, and Joe Dumars suffered a groin injury Sunday against the Bulls. Monday, Dumars said the inside of his thigh was sore and prevented him from making hard cuts.

Although Rodman is the NBA’s defensive player of the year, Dumars’ condition is of particular concern because he will guard Drexler, the Blazers’ leading scorer.

Unlike Michael Jordan, Dumars’ assignment in the last series, Drexler relies almost solely on charges to the basket.

The Pistons will always have experience to fall back on against Portland.

“We’re not hiding the fact that we’ve never been here,” Drexler said. “But it’s still a game of basketball. If we stick to our plan, we’ll be OK.”