Do you ever sit back and wonder what would have happened if Harry never met Sally?

Neither do I.

But I do know for certain what would have happened to the Pistons this season had they not met Chauncey Billups. They would have finished in the middle of the Eastern Conference, lucky to get into the playoffs. They would not have won their second-straight Central Division title or captured their first conference championship since the Bad Boy era.

Billups and the Pistons might not enjoy the luster and fame as Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings, but they have brought similar results back to "Hockeytown" this season.

Let's just hope that - already being down one game - another Disney area team, doesn't knock out our Motown team.

Don't worry, I won't jinx the team - like another State News sports writer so recently did to the Wings - but let's just say I'm confident. I'm confident Tracy McGrady will run into a wall, a baseball bat or a car that has a striking resemblance to mine.

I'm confident in the boys in blue because of their blue-collar ethic. The Pistons, led by Billups, fought their way into the playoffs, while the Red Wings, led by an overflowing wallet attached to a string being hung just in front of the Gucci glasses, bought their way in.

Instead of waving the cash, sly old Joe Dumars went out and lured Billups to Motown with class, perhaps making the best free-agent move on the market. And the Pistons clinched the No. 1 spot in the conference in the final days of the regular season, while the Wings blew it, finishing second and drawing Anaheim and their hot goalie, Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Dumars and second-year head coach Rick Carlisle have effectively brought some of the Bad Boy mentality back to the Pistons, inserting the league's top defense and a deep bench that supports a wide range of offensive weapons.

Billups, the No. 1 weapon on the team, provided clutch scoring and smart decisions that led the Pistons through another tough season.

Originally, Billups was brought in as the result of a search for a taller point guard with effective defensive skills to replace the shorter, more erratic Chucky Atkins. Through Carlisle's instruction and Dumars' subtle teaching, Billups has developed his game greatly and is enjoying his best season to date in the NBA.

While Billups' game doesn't exactly mirror that of Joe D., there are some similarities to one of his past teammates, Isiah Thomas.

Billups is a very aggressive and versatile guard who can beat you with anything up and down the floor, but his best ability is the pure confidence that makes him as tough as a rock down the stretch. The same kind of unwavering courage Thomas conveyed in his playing days.

The results of Billups' recent maturity in Motown has had a positive effect on his teammates, too, who now can look to him as a leader through the playoffs, a responsibility former Piston stars Grant Hill and Jerry Stackhouse couldn't shoulder.

Last year, it was at the point position that Detroit lost its second-round playoff series to the Celtics. Former Boston point guard Kenny Anderson (6'1") drove down the throat of the Pistons' storied 'D,' right through then-starting point guard Atkins, much smaller at 5'11". With Billups (6'3") taking over for Atkins and Stackhouse's streaky scoring, the Pistons are in much more reliable hands.

Sure, many will argue, and with good reason, that 2002's Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace is the reason the Pistons are the beasts of the East, but I believe otherwise.

While Dennis Rodman pointed out to Jean-Claude Van Damme in the movie "Double Team" that "defense wins championships," I have to disagree with the Worm.

Offense wins championships in the NBA, and it's in Billups that the Pistons have found their final piece of the puzzle that is returning to the NBA Finals.

Winning is a whole other game though. Like Parchessi.

Jonathan Malavolti is a State News intern. Reach him at malavol2@msu.edu.