The beatdown

No one exactly knows the fallout for Pistons center Rasheed Wallace or his elbow just yet.
He flagrantly elbowed Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the head during the first quarter of Detroit's 90-78 win in Auburn Hills, Mich. Sunday. The elbow opened a gash that required stitches and took Z out of commission for the remainder of the first quarter.
Z had been getting a little physical with Wallace, and Wallace decided to send a message. Wallace threw his elbow and was tagged with the flagrant foul. Z shot free throws with blood trickling down his forehead, then retreated to the locker room where the medical staffs of both the Cavs and Pistons tended to him.
Wallace could be fined or suspended for a game or two. But it's a small price to pay for a team 14 1/2 games up on Cleveland in the Central Division. The message has been sent, loud and clear. The Pistons are the alpha dog in the division, the Eastern Conference, and possibly the entire NBA, lest the Cavs or anyone else forget. Cleveland was notified in no uncertain terms that their New Year's Eve win over Detroit has been wadded up and thrown in the garbage can.
Detroit won by 12 points Sunday, comfortable but hardly a blowout. Don't let the score fool you, though. This was a first-class butt-whupping in the purest sense of the term. The Pistons harassed the Cavs into 20 turnovers, and physically pounded them for 48 minutes.
And even that wasn't good enough for Detroit head coach Flip Saunders, who lamented his team's inability to keep their collective foot on Cleveland's throat in the second half. The margin of victory didn't adequately display Detroit's dominance. Due to some defensive lapses and poor shooting, Detroit let Cleveland stay on the fringe of the game. They should have won by 25 or 30, and Saunders knew it.
Saunders knows when a win is enough, and when his team should be crushing someone. That's demanding excellence.
As Bud Shaw of The Plain Dealer pointed out today, Sunday's loss was a glimpse ahead to the playoffs. Especially the later rounds, where the Pistons have taken up residence every spring. When both teams are tired and suffering through nagging injuries, toughness, both physical and mental, determines winners in May and June. The Pistons have toughness in spades. Toughness is what Cleveland lacks.
It's a throwback to the Cavs teams of the early 90s, the ones Michael Jordan derided as "cream puffs." But there is one big difference between the finesse Cavs teams of bygone days and the current finesse Cavs team: what the Mark Price-Brad Daugherty Cavs lacked in girth and sharp elbows they made up for with near-flawless offensive execution. They made crisp passes and took care of the ball, allowing their excellent jump shooting and high free-throw percentages to win games.
The current Cavs are overrun with streak shooters and 70-something free-throw percentages. Not to mention errant passing and a dribble-first, secure-the-ball-second mentality, which contributed to Sunday's 20 turnovers.
When facing a team like the Pistons, you need one of two things: physicality to match Detroit when the game devolves into a mosh pit, or a good offensive perimeter game, which allows you to shoot over Detroit's bangers and still score.
The Cavs have neither. Combine that with a collective self-confidence that tends to waver like a shaking seismograph, and you have the recipe for a back-alley beatdown by basketball's next-generation bad boys.
The Cavs have a rematch with the Pistons tonight at The Q. How they respond on their home turf after being embarrassed will give us a good glimpse ahead to late April and May.