The Associated Press

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Detroit's rout ended New Jersey's reign in the Eastern Conference.

Chauncey Billups scored 22 points, Richard Hamilton had 21 and Ben Wallace added 18 to lead the Pistons past the Nets 90-69 Thursday night in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference semifinal.

Detroit took the lead for good in the middle of the first quarter and turned the game into a blowout early in the third by using its dominant defense to hold the Nets to just two points in the first six-plus minutes while opening a 24-point lead.

The Pistons advanced to the conference finals for the second straight year by knocking off the team that swept them last season.

"Tonight everybody came together and we fought," Hamilton said. "There's a lot of things we want to accomplish, and we're still one step away."

Detroit's victory sets up an intriguing matchup with the Indiana Pacers, who are coached by Rick Carlisle - fired by the Pistons last summer after winning 100 regular season games and two division titles in two seasons.

Larry Brown was hired to replace Carlisle, and the coach improved to 5-3 in Game 7s.

Two of New Jersey's stars - Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin - had solid games, while Jason Kidd had another poor performance.

Kidd was held scoreless, missing all eight of his shots, and had five assists. His previous low in the playoffs in his three seasons with the Nets was a five-point performance in Game 3 against Detroit. The star point guard has struggled with knee and back injuries, but he refused to use injuries as an excuse before the game.

With their raucous crowd on its feet for much of the game, the Pistons became the 73rd team out of 88 to win a Game 7 at home.

"We're back to where we were last year. We need to take it one step further," Detroit's Ben Wallace said.

Rasheed Wallace, who made Detroit a championship contender when he was acquired in February, had 12 points and seven rebounds.

NEW JERSEY (69)-Martin 6-12 5-5 17, Jefferson 5-12 6-12 17, Collins 1-2 0-0 2, Kittles 7-15 4-4 18, Kidd 0-8 0-0 0, Rogers 4-13 3-4 13, Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 1-1 0-0 2, Scalabrine 0-2 0-0 0, Armstrong 0-0 0-0 0, Slay 0-2 0-0 0, Planinic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-67 18-25 69.

DETROIT (90)-Prince 1-9 0-2 3, R.Wallace 6-16 0-1 12, B.Wallace 8-10 2-3 18, R.Hamilton 8-22 2-2 21, Billups 6-16 6-6 22, Williamson 2-5 4-4 8, James 1-2 0-0 2, Hunter 0-2 0-0 0, Okur 2-2 0-0 4, Ham 0-0 0-0 0, Milicic 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-85 14-18 90.

New Jersey	14	17	19	19-69
Detroit	21	22	30	17-90

3-Point Goals-New Jersey 3-16 (Rogers 2-4, Jefferson 1-4, Scalabrine 0-1, Kidd 0-3, Kittles 0-4), Detroit 8-21 (Billups 4-10, R.Hamilton 3-5, Prince 1-1, R.Wallace 0-5). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-New Jersey 52 (Martin 12), Detroit 53 (B.Wallace 8). Assists-New Jersey 17 (Kidd 7), Detroit 23 (Billups 7). Total fouls-New Jersey 20, Detroit 20. A-22,076 (22,076).

WARRIORS: Coach Eric Musselman was fired Wednesday after two seasons. He will be replaced by Stanford's Mike Montgomery, a Pac-10 source speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.