So, does this change everything, the Cavs—yes, the Cavs—in the NBA Finals? Look, this is what everyone was saying, that any team from among five or six in the Eastern Conference could go to the Finals. No one knew which. But the Cavs? It's tougher to digest when it happens, and which starter other than LeBron James would you want from that team? But they got there, and we all aren't the Pistons. "I believe [we're better], I really do," Chauncey Billups said after a conference finals series in which the Pistons probably didn't deserve to win one game. "There's nobody on that team who is better than ours. And maybe I'm crazy, maybe I've got too much confidence in these guys, but I believe in us. I believe we're the better team. "Did we back it up? No, we didn't. But I still think we're better." Billups is a free agent, and after his poor series the talk is he'll have no serious option but to return to the Pistons, and probably at substantially less money than he was considering a month ago. So no, teams aren't going to start stacking up, like they did with big guys to counter Shaq, or big guards to deal with Michael. Is there a LeBron stopper out there? Probably not, and it's not likely to be Bruce Bowen this week. It might look bad for the Bulls in light of the way they lost to the Pistons, though it hardly seems time for drastic action. But this is the issue the Bulls—and everyone in the East—has faced since James was drafted. Would he become the next Jordan, not necessarily in style but in domination? Are the Bulls on the road to becoming the Cavs of the late '80s, the better overall team with more all-around talent, but lacking the best player on the floor? That's also what James has to prove. As for the Pistons, figure it's over on some level. With his final meltdown and ejection, Rasheed Wallace has probably received his last technical in a Pistons uniform. With only two years left on his contract, though at an average of about $13.5 million, Wallace has some appeal. The consensus is Knicks GM Isiah Thomas will be thwarted by the Lakers in trying to get Jermaine O'Neal and by the Sonics in some form of sign and trade or straight free agency for Rashard Lewis. Wallace talked about going to the Knicks before he re-signed with the Pistons in 2004.

I found a poor man once
He was the age of fifty-three
He spoke about the government
And the thought of being free
What good does us reason if we fail to see?
What good does us freedom if we fail to be free