Pistons hold off Cavaliers again

LeBron James rolled his eyes, slumped his shoulders and looked toward his coaches and teammates.

It was another frustrating night for the Cleveland Cavaliers and their star. James and the Cavaliers tried to attack the Detroit Pistons differently, but came away with the same result.

Rasheed Wallace scored 10 of his 16 points in the final quarter Thursday and made a go-ahead, fadeaway jumper over James on the baseline with 24 seconds left, lifting Detroit to a 79-76 victory and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

“Down the stretch, he wanted the ball in a lot of situations,” Pistons Coach Flip Saunders said of Wallace. “He made some big plays in the fourth quarter.”

James, who passed up a potential tying shot in the final seconds of the series opener, took and missed a spinning shot in the lane with Richard Hamilton draped on him on the ensuing possession.

“I believe there was some contact, but there’s been a lot of contact throughout this series,” James said. “We’re a no-excuse team and we can’t look at the last play as why we lost.”

Larry Hughes grabbed the offensive rebound of James’ miss, couldn’t make a 10-footer and Anderson Varejao was just off on a tip that would’ve given Cleveland the lead. After Wallace grabbed the rebound, Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown was called for a technical foul after arguing that James was fouled on his shot.

James finished with 19 points on seven-for-19 shooting after scoring 10 points in Game 1.