Pistons 72, Pacers 67

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With one stunning leap, Detroit's Tayshaun Prince put the Indiana Pacers in a very unfamiliar position.

Indiana had just come up with a steal, and Reggie Miller was cruising in for a game-tying breakaway layup.

But Prince sprinted in from midcourt and made a perfectly timed block to help the Pistons beat the Pacers 72-67 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Monday night.

Detroit tied the best-of-seven series 1-1, stealing the home-court advantage from the Pacers heading to Auburn Hills for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Friday nights.

The Pistons snapped the Pacers' 14-game home winning streak that included six playoff victories.

”We're in a tough spot, down one at our place,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. ”We haven't shot the ball well. Some of it is bad shooting, some of it is Detroit playing good defense.”

The Pistons blocked 19 shots, one shy of the NBA playoff record set by Philadelphia in 1981, which played a big part in Indiana's 27.5-percent shooting.

Prince and Ben Wallace each blocked four shots and Elden Campbell added three for Detroit.

It was the third straight game Indiana has shot less than 34 percent from the field, but the Pacers couldn't find a way to pull this one out after winning the previous two.

”As much defense as you play, you have to score to win,” said Al Harrington, who didn't score in the game.

Miller led Indiana with 21 points, and O'Neal had 16 points and eight rebounds.

The Pacers' poor shooting and timely offense by Detroit's Richard Hamilton in the fourth quarter gave the Pistons their first win in Eastern Conference finals play since a Game 7 victory over Chicago in 1990. That's a span of nine games after Detroit was swept in the 2003 and 1991 finals.

It also helped Rasheed Wallace make good on his guarantee that the Pistons would win the game after losing Game 1 on Saturday.

”We got Rasheed's back,” said Hamilton, who scored 13 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter.

Wallace shot just 4-for-19 and scored 10 points but came up huge on the defensive end. He blocked five shots, grabbed eight rebounds and helped hold O'Neal scoreless in the second half, as the Pistons rallied from a six-point halftime deficit.

Wallace wasn't nearly as bold this time around.

When asked if there he had any more guarantees in him, he said, ”I guarantee that for Games 3 and 4 we'll go back to Detroit and play.”

The Pacers find some solace in the fact that they had the best road record in the league during the regular season, but there's no denying a huge sense of urgency with the security of home-court advantage long gone.

”Our focus now is we've got to go to Detroit and get a win. We've got to,” Harrington said.

That's because Hamilton came through in the fourth.

He scored three straight baskets — the first coming on a super-rare fast break — to put the Pistons ahead 65-59 with 4:36 to play.

Indiana pulled within two, but turned the ball over twice and shot an airball on its next three possessions to let it slip away.

The Pacers had 17 turnovers and only eight assists.

”We just have to play better offense,” O'Neal said. ”We didn't share the ball. You can't win any game with eight assists. Hopefully we get it going.”

To do that, they'll have to find a way to get past Rasheed and Ben Wallace in the paint. The two owned the middle in Game 2, blocking shots and refusing penetration, two things they focused on in practice after losing Game 1.

”In Game 1, we let them walk in and get layup after layup,” Ben Wallace said. ”Tonight we wanted to get a body on them, get between them and the basket, make them shoot the jumper. We were able to get our hands on a few of them.”

Notes: Harrington, bothered by a bruised sternum and twisted ankle, missed all four of his shots. … Before the game, Harrington raised eyebrows among his teammates when he rolled into the arena in a brand new Rolls Royce. Austin Croshere joked that the Pacers must have the highest car value per player ratio in the league. O'Neal said he bought a similar model for $329,000, which prompted Miller to ask, ”What, does it talk to you?”