AUBURN HILLS, MICH. ? Larry Brown made a hasty exit at practice Monday before anyone asked him about the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are eager to become Brown’s next employer.

But while Brown stayed silent on the issue, the rest of the league couldn’t stop talking about a major subplot to the Eastern Conference finals that was threatening to become a distraction for Detroit.

Trailing 2-1 to Miami in the series that resumes tonight, the Pistons were trying to keep their minds on the task at hand while at the same time dealing with questions about the uncertain future of their coach.

The latest report said the Cavaliers had asked Brown to decide by Monday whether he would become their president of basketball operations. Brown is known to have had discussions with Cavaliers’ representatives, but also he has been insistent that he wants to address a health problem after the season ends before deciding exactly what his next career move will be.

“All the stuff that I’ve been hearing is he-say, she-say, because obviously if it was true he’d let us know,” said Tayshaun Prince, who said the issue would only grow into a problem if Brown failed to keep his players informed.

Reached Monday by the Associated Press as he watched a Star Wars movie with his daughter, Brown refused comment other than to say: “If I’m healthy, my goal is to be the coach of the Detroit Pistons. That’s the only thing that’s really real.”

Of course, the other thing that’s real for the Pistons is trying to find a way to even the series and avoid going back to Miami in a 3-1 deficit.

Miami got 36 points from Dwyane Wade, 24 from Shaquille O’Neal and 19 from Eddie Jones in Game 3, and the Heat’s 113 points were the most scored against the Pistons since Philadelphia had 115 in the third game of their first-round series.

Detroit came back from deficits of 3-2 against New Jersey in the second round last year and 3-1 against Orlando the previous year.

“Regardless of how dangerous it is, we’re in that position and we’ve got to respond,” said Lindsey Hunter, whose defense against Wade stifled the Heat’s emerging superstar over parts of the third and fourth quarters before Miami pulled away.