Written off at the start of the playoffs (along with the rest of the Eastern Conference), the Detroit Pistons are showing signs that they're even better than the 2004 team, which won it all

	Hamilton's steady play is a big reason Detroit finished with the East's best record and seized a 3-1 lead against Chicago in their conference semifinal. John Biever/SI
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	Lucky Seven? Was there a silver lining in the Pistons' loss at Chicago on Sunday, their first of the postseason? Of the six other teams that started 7-0, five won the title; of the four that went 8-0 or better, only two did. YEAR TEAM START FINISH 1949 MINNEAPOLIS LAKERS 7-0 Won title 1950 MINNEAPOLIS LAKERS 7-0 Won title 1982 LOS ANGELES LAKERS 9-0 Won title 1983 PHILADELPHIA 76ERS 7-0 Won title 1989 LOS ANGELES LAKERS 11-0 Lost in Finals 1989 DETROIT PISTONS 7-0 Won title 1993 CHICAGO BULLS 7-0 Won title 1999 INDIANA PACERS 7-0 Lost in Eastern final 2001 LOS ANGELES LAKERS 11-0 Won title 2005 MIAMI HEAT 8-0 Lost in Eastern final 2007 DETROIT PISTONS 7-0 ???

Rasheed Wallace, the self-appointed deejay of the Detroit Pistons' locker room, had a tough time settling on his musical mood on Sunday at Chicago's United Center. To prepare for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals -- and an expected sweep of the Bulls -- he first selected a high-energy Nas tune, but after nodding to the beat for several measures, he abruptly switched to a mellower cut. Then, following the Pistons' 102-87 loss, Sheed cranked up Chaka Khan singing Tell Me Something Good to ear-splitting decibel levels, only to emerge from the shower and switch to the Lipps Inc. classic Funkytown, shaking his booty to the bass line.

Like the mercurial Wallace, the Pistons had a hard time striking the right note on Sunday. After sweeping the Orlando Magic, the Pistons had handled Chicago with such insouciance (they won the first two games by a combined 47 points and methodically stormed back from a 19-point deficit to win the third) that it was impossible not to recall the playoff battles of two decades ago, when Chuck Daly's Detroit Bad Boys routinely beat up Michael Jordan and stole Scottie Pippen's lunch money. But then Detroit botched a close-out game against a Bulls team ripe for the picking, getting outrebounded 51-33 and outscored 27-13 in a tide-turning third quarter. "We were lackadaisical and just played too relaxed both offensively and defensively," said backup forward Antonio McDyess. The words lackadaisical and relaxed were seldom applied to the Bad Boys.

Perhaps, then, the most salient question isn't how these Pistons stack up against the 1989 and '90 title teams -- the estimable link between the two, president of basketball operations Joe Dumars, notwithstanding -- but whether Detroit '07 can conjure up the championship magic of Detroit '04, considering that the rosters are largely the same (minus one neurotic genius on the bench named Larry Brown). This presupposes, of course, that the Pistons first eliminate the Bulls, then get by the winner of the Cleveland Cavaliers-New Jersey Nets series, which the Cavs led 3-1 after an 87-85 win on Monday night. It's hard to imagine they won't. Having started the postseason 7-0, Detroit is clearly superior to anyone in the East. Funkier, too.

There are ways in which the current model out of Detroit is inferior to the one of three years ago. While the Pistons of '04 took their preternatural cool from point guard Chauncey Billups, who is still preternaturally cool, they got their defensive ferocity from center Ben Wallace. It was Wallace's ability to blanket the court -- he would venture out to scuttle high pick-and-rolls and still be able to recover to defend underneath -- that eventually turned the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers into a runaway. (Detroit won in five, taking the last three games by a total of 41 points.) Wallace is a Bull now, and in his place is 34-year-old Chris Webber, who didn't play much defense even before the 2003 microfracture surgery on his left knee that severely limited his mobility. Judging from his poor performance in the Chicago series (he missed all eight of his shots in Games 3 and 4 and sat both fourth quarters), C-Webb may well be a nullity throughout the rest of the postseason, with most of his minutes absorbed by McDyess.

Lack of depth is another concern, especially if McDyess becomes a de facto starter. The '04 Pistons brought Corliss Williamson, Mehmet Okur, Mike James, Elden Campbell and Lindsey Hunter off the bench, trumping the current trio of Flip Murray and Carlos Delfino, both offensive-minded wings, and Jason Maxiell, a second-year power forward. In the first four games of the Chicago series, the five Detroit starters plus McDyess played 796 out of a possible 960 minutes (83%). And while Hunter is still around, at 36 he is more Lindsey than hunter.