Surprise, Surprise

Not you guys again.

It was a surprise when the Detroit Pistons knocked off the Lakers last spring, and it’s another surprise that they’re back to defend their title, starting in tonight’s opener of the NBA Finals in San Antonio.

The Spurs, of course, are favored. The Pistons, of course, say they aren’t concerned.

“If you read between the lines of how we won last year, it never seems like it’s enough for people,” said Detroit Coach Larry Brown after his team won Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals in Miami.

“You heard all about the distractions when we lost and nothing when we won. A lot of people took a lot of shots at this team.... To win that Game 7 on the road, I think it made a lot of people feel like, ‘Well, did we show you this time?’ ”

Of course, the biggest distraction the Pistons had to deal with was the season-long speculation that Brown was on his way out. At midseason, he responded to reports that the New York Knicks wanted him by calling their coaching position his “dream job.”

When Piston management hit the roof, Brown hurriedly explained he meant that it was once his dream job.

That one had just blown over when Brown was asked about coaching the Lakers and responded with an enthusiastic endorsement of Kobe Bryant, who, in turn, gave an enthusiastic endorsement of Brown. However, Laker owner Jerry Buss never showed any interest.

There was also the little matter of the Nov. 19 brawl in Auburn Hills, although the Pacers drew all the lengthy suspensions.

Then late in the season, Brown, who had undergone hip surgery, had to undergo bladder surgery. Assistant coach Gar Heard ran the team while Brown convalesced. When the Pistons called a news conference, word spread through the league that Brown was quitting. Instead, he announced he was returning but would reevaluate his situation at the end of the season.

In yet another surprise, Brown’s team, which was barely concealing its irritation, came together late in the season, winning 31 of its last 41 games to finish No. 2 in the East.

In a bigger surprise, with Brown reportedly negotiating behind the scenes to become president of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Eastern Conference finals beset by a media feeding frenzy, the Pistons stayed cool and beat the Heat in Game 7.

Of course, the Heat was a shadow of itself. Shaquille O’Neal was coming off a bruised thigh, leaving him low on endurance and a minor factor at the end of games. Dwyane Wade sat out Game 6 with a cartilage tear in his rib cage and struggled through Game 7.

The Spurs are healthy, if rusty. They were off eight days since beating the Phoenix Suns in five games, giving Tim Duncan a chance to rest his right ankle, which he has been spraining and re-spraining all spring.

If the Pistons will have to beat the Spurs to get their respect, Brown is, at least, among friends. Spur Coach Gregg Popovich was the best man at his wedding and entered the NBA as an assistant on his Spur staff in 1988. Spur General Manager R.C. Buford was an assistant on Brown’s staffs in Kansas and San Antonio and with the Clippers.

“Without him I wouldn’t be here, so it’s kind of cool,” Popovich said Wednesday. “We’re going to approach different aspects of the game the same way. So it’s like beating your head against the wall. You know he knows what we’re going to do, and I think we pretty much know what they’re going to do.”

Not that they’re that much alike.

“It’s a cheap shot,” said Spur assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo, “but it’s easier to remember Pop’s address than Larry’s.”

A year ago, the Pistons, coming off an exhausting seven-game Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers, upset the Lakers in Game 1, beginning what would become a Laker nightmare.

Doing that tonight would be one more surprise, but that’s what the Pistons are good at.