By CHRIS MCCOSKY
The Detroit News

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Score one for the undrafted and the discarded. Score one for the journeymen and role players. Score one for the coach who couldn't stick around long enough to win the big one.

Score one for "team."

Raise a glass, Detroit. Your Pistons are again the champions of the NBA.

If ever a single game epitomized a series, it was the Pistons' historic 100-87 closeout rout of the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night.

"We" beat "I." Team depth beat individual brilliance. Unity beat disharmony.

The Lakers, a team with four future Hall of Famers, were reduced to a team of two stars, neither of which seemed too interested in playing with the other.

By the end of the game, the Pistons' unrelenting pressure and hustle - they came at them in waves - reduced a once-proud, three-championship dynasty to dust.

How convincing was it? The Pistons announced the parade rout with 2:56 left in the game.

Raise a glass, Detroit. "We" beat "I."

Ben Wallace, the foundation, the first block that Pistons President Joe Dumars put into place, had 18 points, 22 rebounds and three steals.

He did what no player was supposed to be able to do: He played Shaquille O'Neal straight up. And even though O'Neal got his points (20), Wallace won the battle, convincingly.

Richard Hamilton had 21 points. Chauncey Billups, the Finals MVP of the series, had 14 points and six assists. Tayshaun Prince had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Rasheed Wallace had 11 points.

The Pistons' bench (Mehmet Okur, Corliss Williamson, Elden Campbell, Mike James and Lindsey Hunter) made a major contribution.

Kobe Bryant had 24 points, but missed 14 of 21 shots.

The Pistons, the first team to win all three games on the road in the 2-3-2 format in 1990, are now the first to win all three home games. It is the Pistons' first title since 1990 and the first NBA title won by an Eastern Conference team since 1998.

For the Lakers, all signs point to an ending of the Shaq and Kobe era. And, it's true what they say, when dynasties die, they die a horrible death.

Raise your glass, Detroit. Champions again.