LeBron James was grounded at The Palace after lifting his game to rarified air in his previous visit.

James sprained his left index finger in the second quarter Wednesday night, and did not return, and the Pistons went on to beat the Cavaliers 109-74 Wednesday night.

According to a weekend report by ESPN.com's Marc Stein, "Detroit has not ruled out" bringing back ex-Pistons' big man Chris Webber later this season. Webber reportedly turned down a lucrative offseason offer from a team in Greece and remains unsigned.

Pistons center Rasheed Wallace will miss the game Sunday against Utah because of a knee injury.

Wallace, who injured the knee in the win over New York on Wednesday, also missed the victory against Philadelphia on Friday.

Chauncey Billups had season highs with 25 points and 15 assists, directing the Pistons to a 98-86 victory over the slumping Knicks on Wednesday night.

Knicks' Coach Isiah Thomas heard cheers for a change when he was introduced before the game.

The results after that, though, were very similar.

New York has lost eight straight, the NBA's longest losing streak this season, and speculation is growing that Thomas' job may be in jeopardy.

Pistons' center Rasheed Wallace did not play in the second half against the Knicks on Wednesday night because of a sore left knee.

According to radio station 1270 AM in Detroit, the Lakers and Pistons came to an agreement to trade Bryant to the Pistons.

However, Bryant used his no-trade clause to veto the trade.

The report claims the deal was completed late Tuesday night.

Detroit would have sent Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, Amir Johnson and a first round pick to the Lakers.

Despite Joe Dumars' insistence that the Pistons have no interest in acquiring Kobe Bryant, Ric Bucher, in a short interview on ESPN's SportsCenter, suggests that Detroit actually attempted to acquire the disgruntled Lakers superstar.

Q: The Kobe trade talk are down to a whisper, but not completely silent is it?

A: No, it's not. Pistons GM Joe Dumars took offense that there was speculation that the Pistons might get into the Kobe sweepstakes. Well, multiple sources say the Pistons actually took a stab trying to get Kobe and were rebuffed because that's not one of the places Kobe would like to go.

Rasheed Wallace scored 13 of his 22 points during a furious fourth-quarter rally, and the injury-plagued Pistons improbably came back from a 22-point deficit to beat the winless Warriors 111-104 Wednesday night.

Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton also scored 22 points apiece for the Pistons who roared from behind for a road victory in their fifth game in seven days. Detroit even did it without injured starters Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess who both got hurt in a loss to Portland on Tuesday night.

Baron Davis had 29 points and 10 assists for Golden State which remained the NBA's only winless team at 0-6 after an embarrassing collapse. Even worse, the Warriors had the previous five days off before facing the exhausted Pistons.

Richard Hamilton scored 10 of his season-high 32 points during a torrid first quarter, then the Pistons showed their veteran moxie in the final minutes to hold off Seattle 107-103, dropping the SuperSonics to 0-7, their worst start ever.

"We had spurts of great basketball," Hamilton said. "Early in the season, it's really tough to put 48 minutes together. But I thought we did a great job."

The Pistons' experience was clearly evident in the first quarter and then in their execution in the final few minutes, after squandering a big first-half advantage.

Seattle trailed by as many as 23 in the first half, only to pull even at 99-all on Kurt Thomas' 15-footer with 2:32 left.

Detroit then produced in the final 2 minutes, while the young Sonics fumbled away an opportunity to get their first win.

The push and the extra motivation the struggling Bulls needed came from the team that eliminated them from the playoffs last spring.

After a surprising 0-4 start, Chicago beat the Pistons 97-93 on Thursday night, riding 19 points and 14 rebounds from Tyrus Thomas for that elusive first victory.

"It just feels a lot better. We got a quality win over one of the best teams in the league" said Chicago's Kirk Hinrich, who had 14 assists. "Now we've got to play better basketball and be more consistent."