Miami ? Larry Brown walked through the front door of the Detroit Pistons’ packed locker room, scanning the celebration with his eyes aglow and his smile wide.

Miami's Alonzo Mourning, right, and Rasual Buttler dispair in the final moments of their 88-82 loss to Detroit. The Heat lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals Monday in Miami.

“Where are my guys?” Brown asked before spotting Lindsey Hunter and telling him he loved him, then working his way to Tayshaun Prince and reaching in for a hand slap.

“That’s what we’re all about,” Brown said.

The pressure of Game 7 didn’t faze the defending champions – not in the slightest.

In a deciding game that stayed close the entire 48 minutes, the Detroit Pistons summoned their experience and played with calmness and poise down the stretch to defeat the Miami Heat, 88-82, Monday night in the final game of the Eastern Conference finals.

Now, it’s back to the NBA Finals for the team often dismissed as a fluke champion – a disparaging label if there ever was one, but one the Pistons can shake with four victories against the San Antonio Spurs.

Dwyane Wade played for Miami after missing Game 6 because of a rib-muscle injury, but he was only good for brief stretches. He finished with 20 points, but didn’t score over the final 15 minutes.

“I couldn’t be as athletic as I wanted to be, but I did what I could do,” Wade said.

Richard Hamilton scored 22 points, Rasheed Wallace added 20 – including two foul shots that put Detroit ahead for good with 1:26 remaining – and the Pistons closed with a 10-3 run to hand Miami another Game 7 loss on its home floor.

Shaquille O’Neal led Miami with 27 points, but the Heat faltered offensively in the final two minutes.