Rip Hamilton helped hand Indiana their first defeat at Consececo Fieldhouse, scoring a career playoff high on 12-of-22 shooting, including one three-pointer.

"Tonight we just wanted to come out and hit first," Hamilton said. "We wanted to come out and not get down and get on top early. I think it was all mental from the last game. We had an opportunity to make some ground up last game and we came out relaxed and we ended up playing a way that we're not used to play. Tonight we said we'd play together at both ends of the floor. Move the ball side-to-side and make plays. Both teams are great defensive teams and do a great job of zoning up. When I was in Washington coach Doug Collins said, 'If you keep moving nobody can guard that.' "

If the Pistons win Game 6 on Tuesday in Detroit, they will advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since the 1989-90 season when they won their second championship.

The head coaches of each of the Eastern Conference finals teams are taking some verbal shots and the exchange is getting a bit sharper.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle told his team before Game 4 that all the pressure was on the Pistons in the series because they had made it to the Eastern Conference finals last season and that their season could only be a success by advancing to the NBA Finals.

Pistons coach Larry Brown didn?t like the comments and responded this way:  ?I would hope that both teams are looking to go to the Finals.  That team is pretty good. They had the best record in the league. So you mean with the best record in the league, you're supposed to lose??

?Now we're playing the team with the best record in the league and we're supposed to win?? Brown continued.  ?Maybe that's the way he feels. Maybe he doesn't expect them to win.?

In response to these statements, Carlisle said: ?Right now, I don't feel like the pressure is on us at all. I think most of the national media has written us off in this series.?

If the Orlando Magic do not improve - and quickly - look for McGrady to be requesting a transfer out West by mid-July.

While this doesn't leave the Magic with much time, the pressure on the team has intesified with their star forward voicing concerns that their recently acquired first overall pick cannot land a player good enough to improve the team dramatically and that he'd prefer the team trade the pick.

"I don't want to be here rebuilding," McGrady said.

Contrary to reports of McGrady jumping ship to either San Antonio or the Lakers he lists the Houston Rockets as the front runners to acquire his services should he leave, with Indiana and Detroit both possibilities in the East.

"I don't want to go there," McGrady said of the Spurs and Lakers. "I don't want to go somewhere where everything's already in place. That would be too easy. I want a challenge."

Larry Brown was outcoached and Austin Croshere made the Pistons pay. In his first start in two years, the forgotton forward scored 14 points to help defeat Detroit 83-68.

"We weren't ready to play and that's on me," said Brown, hired last summer after Carlisle was fired following two successful seasons in Detroit. "They were better prepared and better coached. I have to do a better job."

The series resumes on Sunday in Indiana where the Pacers now have regained their homecourt advantage.

Although they won away from home, Jermaine O'Neal has said the win will not give the Pacers anymore credibility.

"We have not been given credit all season," he said. "We won 61 games in the regular season and people kind of blew it off and said we were playing in like a JV league."

It would be difficult to imagine the Pacers getting back up from the mat to win three straight games, so the Pistons must knocking their opponent down with a Game 4 win tonight at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Only seven teams in NBA history, out of 150 attempts, have prevailed in a series after trailing 3 games to 1.

?I don?t know if we can put them away by winning this game,? Chauncey Billups said. ?But I do think we can take control.?

The Pacers had the NBA?s best road record this season.  With a victory tonight, the Pacers would reclaim homecourt advantage as well momentum.

There is much reason to believe that whichever team wins tonight will win the series.

Despite trailing 2-1 and having history against them, the Pacers expressed calm and resolve on Thursday after practice.  

The Pacers have never rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win and they have not shot better than 34.7 percent all series.  And yet they are not panicking.  

?You don?t win 61 games and have the best road record in the league for nothing,? Reggie Miller said. ?We came here to get one, and we still have that opportunity. We just need to do that.?

?This series is far from over,? Jermaine O?Neal said. ?People are kind of saying or writing things .... We?ve got to win [Game 4] or we?re in a tough situation.?

Game 4 is tonight at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Rasheed Wallace will be one of the top free agents after the season ends and Thursday he indicated that he may be leaning toward remaining a Piston.

?That?s definitely a strong possibility,? Wallace said. ?I definitely like it. They?re a good bunch of guys.?

Wallace appears at home in Detroit, enjoys his teammates, and is happy to be contending.

Despite a sore left foot, Wallace turned in a solid 20-point performance in Game 3 and was instrumental in the win.

The Pacers guards will have to do something to neutralize Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton, whose play has been the motor that makes the Pistons go in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Entering tonight?s Game 4 at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Billups and Hamilton have had the decisive advantage over Jamaal Tinsley and Reggie Miller.  

Billups and Hamilton are averaging 34.7 points, 9.7 assists and 8.3 rebounds while the Pacers? backcourt is at 19.7 points, 5.3 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 33.3-percent for the series.

This is the key factor in the Pistons 2-1 lead in the series.

The Los Angeles Lakers moved to the brink of returning to the NBA Finals with a 92-85 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the teams? best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series.  

The Lakers held serve on their home Staples Center floor with two consecutive wins and are now up 3-1 in the series.  The series will now shift back to Minnesota with the Wolves trying to stay alive and the Lakers on the verge of returning to the NBA Finals.

After flying to Eagle, Colorado for a court hearing in the rape trial against him, Kobe Bryant flew back to Los Angeles in time for the start of Game 4.  Bryant sparked his team with 18 points in the third quarter and the Lakers were in control of the game.

"My energy level was good," Bryant said after his 31 point, 8 rebound night. "You never know what can happen in a playoff situation. That's why whenever you have an opportunity to close a team out, you have to take advantage of it and take care of business."

Shaquille O?Neal helped the Lakers control the boards and dominate the point, pulling down 19 rebounds and scoring 19 points.

Kevin Garnett turned in a near triple-double with 28 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists.  Karl Malone did as well with 12, 11 and 8.  

Garnett felt the officiating favored the Lakers, particularly when the Wolves took the ball hard to the basket.   Even though O?Neal was making contact with drivers, the Wolves did not hear too many whistles.  "I was saying to myself, it seems like we're playing against eight people tonight," said Garnett in reference to the five Lakers and three officials. "I feel like you've got to put the officials in position to make calls and I feel like we did that. They didn't make the calls, and when that happens you feel like you're playing against eight people."

Game 5 is Saturday in the Target Center.

Milwaukee Bucks' star guard Michael Redd may be considered for a spot with Team USA basketball.

The thinking is that the team would benefit immensely by the addition of a top-flight outside shooter.  So head coach Larry Brown and his assistant coach Greg Popovich have been discussing the need to add Reggie Miller, Richard Hamilton, or Redd.

"With so much zone being played in the Olympics, we've got to have some kind of zone busters," Brown said. " 'Pop' and I were talking about what better zone buster (than Miller). I think Rip will have to be considered and Michael Redd and people like that."