But remember, Joe Dumars is still a genius

Here's how much the Cavaliers were worried about the Pistons coming back from a 3-0 deficit to make a series of it today in Detroit... as Mo Williams was leaving the court at the end of the first half with his Cavs up 51-42 and the arena evenly split between traveling Cavs Fans and the Pistons faithful, he actually talked about catching the Hawks-Heat game, since the winner of that tilt is who the Cavs get next.

Let's just say he's not too worried about closing the deal here. Or me, for that matter, seeing how I finished up this post a long time before Game 4 was put to bed.

And, well, why should he be? This Pistons team is as bad as you are going to find in a playoff. It's best frontcourt scorer, Antonio McDyess, left his knees behind in the Clinton Administration. It has guards that can dominate, but rarely integrate. The holdovers from the championship team (Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince) have a hard time going through airports, with the big fork action. And if you want to wonder what this team might look like with a Carmelo Anthony, a Chris Bosh, or any number of other actual basketball players from the Darko Mistake. I realize the Pistons have their ring, but they could still be contending for them had they not boned their pick in a way that makes Portland taking Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan (or, shh, Greg Oden over Kevin Durant) look excusable by comparison.

I'm not sure it would have mattered, given the Cavs' ability to turn it up on defense and get points whenever Bron Bron wills it. They'll have to try harder to get past the Hawks-Heat survivor, and they will. But at least they kept us from watching any more Pistons basketball, and for that, all NBA fans -- even, one suspects, Pistons Fan -- thank you.