Detroit Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace (left) shoots for a basket over Cleveland Cavaliers guard LeBron James in the final minute of the fourth quarter for what proved to be the winning basket in Game Twoof their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series in Auburn Hills, Michigan, on Thursday night. The Pistons won 79-76. - Reuters

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Reuters):

The Detroit Pistons beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 79-76 to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals after a defensive battle at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Thursday night.

Rasheed Wallace scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and hit an off-balance shot at the baseline to seal the win for the Pistons, who also beat Cleveland by the same score in the series opener on Monday night.

Cavaliers forward LeBron James finished with 19 points but struggled down the stretch, scoring just five points in the second half as Detroit chipped away at a Cavaliers lead that had been as wide as 12 at half-time.

In the final seconds, with Cleveland trailing 77-76, James drove hard to the basket against a clinging Rip Hamilton, missed his shot and then failed to draw the foul.

Missed jumper

The rebound bounced out to Cleveland guard Larry Hughes who missed an open seven-foot jumper.

"The officials get paid a lot of money and if they don't see anything, they don't see anything," said Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, who was called for a technical foul for an arm-waving outburst in the game's final second.

"We're a no-excuse team. We'll get ready for Game Three."

James credited the Pistons with coming out hard in the third quarter, when he was held scoreless for a 12-minute stretch and occasionally triple teamed.

"We haven't been a good third-quarter team all year," he told reporters. "I don't know why. That's something we'll have to figure out very soon, or we're going home."

Pistons coach Flip Saunders, said he expected the series to follow the same low-scoring script through to the end.

"Right now, I think the first team to 80 is going to win because no one really seems able to get there right now," he said.

In addition to his game-winning shot, Wallace also took off for a streak of seven consecutive points in the fourth quarter- including a three-pointer - that brought the crowd to its feet and put the Pistons ahead to stay.

"Sheed was mad," Hamilton said.

"I tell people all the time that when Sheed's mad he's the best player in the world at his position. I just love it when he gets all excited, jumping up and down. He demanded the ball tonight and he made plays."

The best-of-seven series heads to Cleveland tomorrow for Game Three.