By Anthony Olivieri
PA SportsTicker Pro Basketball Editor

Maybe, this will get the attention of the Detroit Pistons.

The second-seeded Pistons, who won 59 games in the regular
season, find themselves faced with a 2-1 deficit against the
seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in their Eastern Conference
first-round series.

The upstart 76ers, who posted a convincing 95-75 victory in Game
Three on Friday night, have taken advantage of the Pistons' one
true weakness - their laissez-faire attitude.

"It's definitely disappointing. Right from the start, they had
a lot more energy for whatever reason," Detroit guard Chauncey
Billups said. "For myself, I got to play better to beat them.
I think that Rasheed (Wallace) and I have to have some better
nights to beat anybody at this point of the season."

After Detroit's stunning loss at home in Game One, Billups would
not admit that the second game was a must-win contest. The
Pistons won Game Two but seemingly relaxed again on Friday
night.

Billups still remains unphased by his team's poor play.

"I've been with these guys in this locker room, and we've been
in different situations," said Billups, who scored just 11
points on 2-of-11 shooting, including 0-of-5 from the arc in
Game Three. "We're down 2-1 right now, and our main focus is
one game at a time, try to tie this thing on Sunday and then go
back home."

Billups makes it sound so easy and, of course, it has been in
recent seasons for the Pistons, who are looking for their sixth
straight trip to the Eastern Conference finals.

Over that stretch, Detroit has won just one championship but is
acting like a perennial title winner which is getting bored with
its success. And that attitude has translated into sluggish
play - even when the games mean so much.

"When you are playing on the road, you need to have energy,"
Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince said. "I said that we can't let
(the Sixers) dictate the tempo of the game and get their crowd
into it. Those are the categories where they hurt us."

But Detroit was hurt most by uncharacteristically sloppy play,
including 25 turnovers which were turned into 29 points by
Philadelphia - a fact not lost on coach Flip Saunders, who
entrusts his offense to Billups and a host of normally steady
veterans.

"They put a lot of pressure on us, and we turned the ball over,"
Saunders said. "Our strength as a team is the way we are able
to take care of the basketball. We led the league with the
fewest turnovers and we had the fewest points scored off of
turnovers.

"When you turn the ball over 25 times and they score (29) points
off of those turnovers and they take your strength and turn it
into a weakness, you are going to struggle."

While the turnovers are a product of Detroit's careless play,
Philadelphia deserves credit for forcing the Pistons to
scramble. As such, the Pistons have ignited the Sixers'
transition game.

"They beat us every category," Billups said. "We turned the
ball over more than I've seen turn the ball turned over in a
long time. When you do that against that team, it's trouble
because they can turn them into points fast.

"When they score points like that, it makes their half-court
offense easier because they get so many in transition."

A young group of high-energy players, the Sixers can throw one
of the most athletic lineups in the league at their opponents.

Those young players have used their boundless energy to dictate
the game against Detroit, which is an older, half-court-oriented
team. The open-court style seemingly has negated the Pistons'
otherwise valuable experience.

And that push has been led by fourth-year Sixers swingman Andre
Iguodala, who was considered a very good second banana instead
of someone who could lead a team to a championship.

But Iguodala, who turned down a contract extension in the
offseason, certainly is earning his money this season. On
Friday, however, he struggled to just 10 points on 2-of-9
shooting and added six turnovers.

His response to that poor game - most notably, his willingness
to defer to his teammates - may be the most-telling factor in
the Sixers' early success this postseason.

"You are going to make mental mistakes just because you haven't
had the experience yet in the playoffs," Iguodala said. "As
long as you play hard, it will make up for a lot of mistakes."

Conversely, the Pistons have taken the opposite approach - as
long as it is not an elimination game, we can keep making
mistakes.

Detroit cannot always rely on the ability to turn it and off at
a moment's notice and may want to take a cue from Sixers, who
rarely take a possession off.

"People are seeing that we are playing hard," Iguodala said.
"That is something that you have to do when you are young."

And even when you have been there before.