Pistons 78, Nets 56

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Tayshaun Prince said what the Detroit Pistons wouldn't before their series with New Jersey.

”Obviously, last year weighed on our minds,” Prince said.

Fueled by being swept in the conference finals last season, the Pistons held the Nets to the second-lowest point total in NBA playoff history in a 78-56 victory Monday night.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal also featured the lowest-scoring first half in a postseason game. The teams combined for just 62 points, with Pistons leading 37-25.

The Nets ending up losing by 22 points despite holding the Pistons to no more than 21 points in any quarter.

After winning Game 1 in the first round against Milwaukee, the Pistons dropped the next game before winning the series in five games. They don't want to follow the same pattern Friday night in Game 2 when the Nets come back to The Palace.

”The first thing I told my team is that we had had an unbelievable win against Milwaukee, and we lost the home court in the next one,” Pistons coach Larry Brown said. ”New Jersey is a great team, and they will play their best game on Friday.”

Price had 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Richard Hamilton also had 15 points. Ben Wallace had 13 points and led the defensive effort with 11 rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

New Jersey shot just 27.1 percent and tied the postseason record for fewest field goals — 19 — in what was easily its worst offensive performance of the season.

The Nets scored just 39 points through three quarters and needed reserve Tamar Slay's jumper with 42 seconds left to avoid tying the lowest playoff total in league history — 54 points by Utah against Chicago in the 1998 NBA Finals.

”It was almost like we thought we were playing a different game — where the lowest score wins,” Nets star Jason Kidd said.

The loss snapped New Jersey's streak of 14 consecutive postseason victories against Eastern Conference teams.

”That's no big deal,” Richard Jefferson said.

Kenyon Martin and Jefferson — New Jersey's top two scorers — combined for twice as many fouls (10) as field goals. Martin scored just 11 points, less than half his playoff average, and Jefferson had eight after missing 11 of 12 shots.

”I'm a 50-percent shooter for my career, so 1-of-12 is absurd,” Jefferson said. ”It's unbelievable almost. But give them credit, it was one of those nights.”

A lot of teams have said similar things after playing the Pistons.

Detroit gave up 84.3 points a game during the regular season, the third-lowest scoring average since the NBA began using a shot clock in 1954-55. The Pistons set a league record by holding 11 opponents — including five straight — under 70 points, and 36 in a row to less than 100.

The Pistons' under-70 streak stopped at New Jersey in their last regular-season meeting when the Nets committed an intentional foul to stop the clock with 13.1 seconds left. Aaron Williams then made a tip-in with 1.1 seconds remaining in an 89-71 loss, and the Pistons mocked New Jersey for celebrating the basket.

Now, they can mock the Nets again, if they so choose, after imposing their will in the opener of the best-of-seven series.

”I don't think it will do anything but wake up that team,” Brown said.

The Nets might have been rusty after a full week off after sweeping New York in the first round, but their coach refused to blame the layoff.

”I don't think that had anything to do with it,” Lawrence Frank said.

The Pistons took the lead for good with 4:28 in the first quarter. They led by as many as 12 points in the first half, and 21 in the third before coasting in the final quarter.

Notes: The previous record for fewest points in a half was 63, accomplished three times, most recently in Game 3 of the NBA Finals last year when San Antonio led the Nets 33-30. … The Nets' playoff streak trailed only the Los Angeles Lakers' run of 16 in a row in the Western Conference from 2000-02. … The Pistons are 25-7 since acquiring Rasheed Wallace in a three-team trade Feb. 19. … New Jersey has won an NBA-best 27 games in the playoffs since the start of the 2002 playoffs.