Talk about the wheels falling off.  Even a return to the Palace of Auburn Hills couldn't help the dumbfounded Detroit Pistons as they lost their third consecutive game to His Royal Airness Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

            Indeed, anyone who watched games 3-5 of the series was a witness, not only to the valiant play of the Chosen One, but also to the sheer incompetence of the veteran guided and defensive oriented basketball team that everyone thought had a free pass to the NBA finals, or at least the conference finals.

            True, Rasheed Wallace did injure his ankle during game four, making him ineffective the rest of the night, but he is far from being the centerpiece of the Pistons roster.  Argue about the calls and that obnoxious Anderson Varejao guy all you want, but the fact is Detroit didn't deserve to win any of the past three games.

            The Pistons lack focus.  I know it sounds ridiculous, especially for a team that has been so composed throughout the season and the past two or three seasons.  But they clearly underestimated the Cavaliers after game two.  The cause is not so simple.  Detroit had every chance to win each game they have lost in this series, yet couldn't get over the proverbial hump when the game was close down the stretch.

            Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, who appeared to be completely out of his element in the first two games, made some brilliant adjustments to his strategy and rotation, which I think partially entailed just giving Lebron the damn ball more often.  But Lebron has a great, yet underrated team around him, and it's these key role players (i.e. Donyell Marshall, Zydrunas Ilglauskas, Anderson Varejao etc.) that have enabled Cleveland to bury the dagger in each victory.

            Conversely, Pistons coach Flip Saunders has clearly not made the necessary adjustments to respond to the Cavaliers.  Although Saunders was the most sought after coaching commodity in the off-season, and although he probably has more experience than Mike Brown, Saunders was largely unsuccessful in Minnesota, and one must wonder how good of a coach he really is.

It did not exactly take brilliant coaching to guide the Pistons to their regular-season success this past year.  Coaches show what they're worth in the playoffs, and Saunders' playoff performances in Minnesota were truly horrendous.  More than once it seemed that the Timberwolves might break through for a finals run.  And each time they failed, everyone blamed the team's chemistry, injuries, or lack of strong defense.

            Nobody ever blamed Flip.  Although he could not have been expected to be wildly successful with the Timberwolves, Saunders failed to even exceed expectations.  Exceeding expectations is what great coaching is all about.  It's what the Pistons did two years ago against the Lakers in the finals, and even against San Antonio last year.  It's what the New York Knicks did in 1999 when they made the finals as an eight seed.  It's how the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan initially burst deep into the playoffs.  But it's not something Flip Saunders has ever done. 

            So what did the Pistons have last year that they don't have this year?  The roster is actually improved, with the starting five intact and several potent swingmen and role players coming off the bench.  Yet somehow the team seems less motivated; less focused on winning the championship.

            Wait a minute!  Didn't the Pistons have a different coach last year?  That's right, it was Hall of Famer Larry Brown, the same man who helped the Pistons defeat the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 NBA finals and very nearly helped them beat the favored San Antonio Spurs in game seven of the finals last season.

            For all the grief Larry Brown caused with his health issues and seemingly endless flirtations with other teams, under him the Pistons did something they could not do with a coach like Rick Carlisle (who is kind of like a younger version of Flip Saunders): beat the Pacers and go to the NBA finals.  But Larry didn't stop there.  In the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, the Pistons proceeded to absolutely manhandle a Los Angeles Lakers team that was supposed to easily win the series in four or five games.  Unarguably, there are only a few coaches in history that could have pulled off that feat.

            This is not to say the Pistons don't have talent.  But for a team that lacks a superstar to carry it on its back, Larry Brown's strict offensive rotation and stifling defensive schemes, as well as his guard oriented play, are really the only things conducive to success deep in the postseason, let alone the second round.

            It seems that Flip is too laid-back; he may be employing strategies that work better on teams where there is a clear offensive MVP.  Even San Antonio, which is the only team in basketball that rivals the Pistons in terms of scoring and defensive balance, clearly has one player (Tim Duncan) capable of carrying the team on his shoulders when things aren't going well.

            People underestimate the importance of a consistent rotation, and Larry Brown drew criticism for not being flexible during games or taking chances by playing young players.  But these things are what wins in the playoffs; there are no points for improvisation or flashiness.  Just ask the Dallas Mavericks or the Phoenix Suns about that.  And clearly the Pistons were a far better playoff team with Larry Brown at the helm.  Say all you want about his personality, but his performance in just a couple of years with the Pistons speaks for itself.

            So as I watch Lebron James and the Cavaliers blaze a new path similar to the one Michael Jordan and the Bulls traveled in the late 80s when they first became a perennial playoff team, I think of how I heard many people say that Larry Brown would wish he had stayed with the Pistons this season and how sorry he would be for taking the Knicks job.

            But it should be the Pistons and their fans who are sorry.  There is simply no way that a team like the Pistons coached by Larry Brown would lose three games in a row to the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Larry made the 76ers look good when he coached there, and that was a veritable black hole for coaching.  He made the Lakers (coached by Phil Jackson no less) look like foolish amateurs against the Pistons in the 2004 finals.  So as the Pistons flounder against the upstart Cavaliers, and as the tide of popular opinion continues to turn against them in favor of Lebron James and his team, the prospect of a second NBA championship in three years for detroit may only exist in a parallel universe somewhere where Larry Brown is still their coach.