AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) - The Detroit Pistons say Flip Saunders will not be back as coach next season.

"Decisions like this are difficult to make," team president Joe Dumars said on the team's Web site. "However, at this time, I feel it is necessary to make a change."Saunders was 176-70 in three seasons in Detroit and guded the team to three straight Eastern Conference finals. But the Pistons fell short of the NBA finals each time.

David Stern, you got your wish.

The Spurs are gone, and now the Pistons have joined them.

What an exciting NBA Finals it will be! Surely, a feel-good story featuring a team that has risen from the ashes and a team that is just finding its niche- and with everyone's favorite MVP!

Just like old times, right? Celtics and Lakers at it once again, after all these years. Since the Pistons have already played the Lakers in the Finals and everyone is sick of seeing the Spurs, I guess it really was time for a change in scenery.

Undoubtedly, the ratings will soar. You'll be a very rich man, David! Maybe so many people will watch the Finals that that Tim Donaghy mumbo jumbo will just kind of slip from their memories.

This is what needed to happen to get the NBA back on its feet. I understand.

Besides, who wants to watch any more playoff games with those two boring teams that always seem to linger around? Who would want to watch that, other than the pure die-hards in Detroit in San Antonio?

No David, it's all about the story, right? I mean think of the reaction! Boston! In the Finals! They made it! After all the struggle in years past, they traded their whole team away and made it all the way solely on the efforts of three people. From worst to best! What sports fan in their right mind will be able to flip past that?

Who wouldn't want to watch a washed-up flopping "superstar" and two franchise players that collectively abandoned their teams and their fans for a fatter paycheck and a better shot at winning.

But we don't hear about that do we? Nope, we hear about how much effort these guys went through to start a "band of brothers" that gave up so much to be together, happily ever after.

I can't imagine how much emotional pain and anguish Kevin Garnett must have had to overcome to pick up that pen and John Hancock a contract to cash in $72,408 every quarter ($23,750,000 overall). How can you not give your utmost respect to such a team player? I mean, it must have killed him to leave Minnesota.

But hey, what happens happens. We can't turn back time now.

Anyways, why would we want to?

"All that bull[expletive]-ass calls they had out there. With Mike [Callahan] and Kenny [Mauer] -- you've all seen that [expletive]," Wallace said. "You saw them calls. The cats are flopping all over the floor and they're calling that [expletive]. That [expletive] ain't basketball out there. It's all [expletive] entertainment. You all should know that [expletive]. It's all [expletive] entertainment."

Call me crazy, but as much as Sheed runs his mouth, he's right.

In honor of Rodney Stuckey's valiant playoff performance, our very own #3 has earned himself a spot in the Piston Post wallpaper section.

Cash in on the goods at http://pistonpost.com/wallpapers/

Hitting open jumpers, grabbing gritty offensive boards, and diving for loose balls- there was a win to be had and Antonio McDyess wasn't soon going to let it slip away. (Continued...)

At the Pistons' shootaround Tuesday morning, Saunders was asked a standard question about what he planned to do while filling out the active roster for Game 1, and the coach gave his standard answer:

"Joe [Dumars] and I will talk about it," Flip Saunders said.

After the chat, the Pistons decided to activate little-used forward Amir Johnson, who gives the team more depth in the frontcourt, and deactivate guard Juan Dixon, forward Walter Herrmann and rookie Cheikh Samb.

Johnson did not play in Game 1, as Saunders went to a nine-man rotation.

But just the fact that the Pistons have to sit down and make decisions regarding whom to activate for a playoff game proves that one of the organization's main priorities last off-season -- developing a deeper bench -- has come to fruition at the most crucial time of year.

"When we signed some guys over the course of the summer and the draft, and as far as the trades we made," Saunders said, "we had the ability to play a lot of different guys depending on the style of play we're playing against, who we're playing against and what we feel we need to do."

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I guess Dixon's deactivation can be justified with Stuckey's performance, but I would have liked to see at least an attempt to stick Walter Herrmann on Kevin Garnett. Not only do I think his great defense on mobile big men could possibly shut KG down, but I'm not sure if KG would be able to guard such a versatile player such as Herrmann. Call me Walter-biased...

BOSTON (AP) - Paul Pierce returned home and made sure the Celtics would play there again.Boston's captain scored 41 points, hit two clinching free throws with 7.9 seconds left and led the team with the NBA's best regular season record to a 97-92 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in Game 7 for a spot in the Eastern Conference finals.

That round begins Tuesday night against the Detroit Pistons in the same arena where the Celtics have won 14 straight games and are 8-0 in the postseason. Home teams are 22-2 in the second round of this season's playoffs.

The Celtics are 0-6 on the road in the postseason.

Pistons coach Flip Saunders once had a picture of a dinosaur in his office. Underneath the antiquated figure read the caption "Adapt or Die."

"Either you accept and work within the environment surrounding you," he said, "or you're destined for extinction. It's true of players. It's true of coaches. I've certainly learned that it's true if you're coaching in this environment."

Saunders accepts that he'll never be at a safe distance from the coaching hot seat in Detroit. He understands the price paid for maintaining a level of excellence that raises expectations and skews perspective.

There's only one standard that matters -- winning championships. Don't like it? Don't think it's necessarily fair?

There's the door. Use it. Bye.

There is no silver lining of a franchise-record sixth straight Eastern Conference finals appearance if the Pistons fall shy of their fourth NBA championship.

The criticism that the players "flip the switch" gnaws at them.

Saunders has his "Flip Switch."

Is he a good coach? Is he a bad coach?

The opinion changes in an instant.

Jameer Nelson continued his vicious streak of lies after a Game 5 loss with this statement:

"I didn't guarantee a win," [Nelson] said. "I didn't say, 'we're going to …' I said 'we have to go win, we're going to come get this win.' And the media took it out of proportion or whatever they want to do. The media always wants a story. I mean, I really don't care what people write, you know?"

If you take his words literally, Nelson is fibbing: he did predict a win. It wasn't manufactured by the media. He didn't use the word "guarantee," but his exact words were, "We're going to go there and win this game." There's no ambiguity there.

Calling ALL fans of ALL NBA teams! David Stern threatens to take away our beloved pregame pyrotechnic displays and WE can help stop him!

Click the link below where it says "Original story."

If this has offended any of the Magic fans that DO have class, I apologize in advance. If you see these guys walking around, tell them they're making all of you look bad.

"I'm not trying to be arrogant or cocky or anything like that," said Nelson after the Magic fell to the Pistons 90-89 Saturday in Game 4. "But tonight, we let it slip out of our hands. Game 2 we let slip out of our hands."

"We're going to win this game in Detroit."

All courtesy a 15-0 run and a clutch shot from Mr. Prince.

Stan Van Gundy's [Hypothetical] Clipboard

"Rashard! We're not gonna get swept! Piggyback ride!"