SAN ANTONIO – It’s the series that won’t end. Every time the San Antonio Spurs take control and seem prepared to end things, the Detroit Pistons come roaring back. Tonight, finally, we get a resolution.

What makes Game 7 so intriguing is that, on paper, the 2005 NBA Finals shaped up as a mismatch. The Spurs led the league in victory margin before storming through the more difficult Western Conference playoffs while the Pistons struggled in the East, and in Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan, San Antonio appeared to have the two best players on the court. When the Spurs easily won the first two games, most observers thought the series would be over in four or five games.

It hasn’t transpired that way, of course. The Pistons blew San Antonio off the floor in Games 3 and 4 to even the series, setting up the exciting finishes of the past two contests. Looked at over the six games, Detroit has been the superior team, outscoring San Antonio by a combined 20 points. And the Pistons would already be parading through the streets of Detroit if not for Robert Horry’s dagger at the end of Game 5.

Many explanations have been offered for the Pistons’ ability to stay with the Spurs: their resilient attitude, underdog mentality, and ability to stay cool under pressure, for instance. Those are all true, but there’s a more crucial factor in this series: The Spurs’ supposed advantage – having the two best players in the series – hasn’t materialized, and the Pistons are getting a superstar performance of their own.

Chauncey Billups has taken control of the series in several ways. For starters, he’s been Detroit’s go-to guy on offense, especially in the fourth quarter. Billups blew up down the stretch in Game 5, hitting numerous tough shots to offset Horry’s heroics and keep Detroit in the game. Though the Pistons ultimately fell short, Billups’s 34-point effort was the best individual performance of the Finals. He was also the only Piston to show up for Game 1, when he scored 25 of his team’s 69 points in one of his four 20-point games.

Believe it or not, scoring doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. Billups’s biggest contribution to the Pistons’ success lies in his ability to protect the basketball. In the six games, he has committed a grand total of eight turnovers. For a player to run the point, act as the primary scorer, and make so few miscues is remarkable, and it’s been the key to Detroit’s unexpected offensive proficiency.

Billups’s ball control has yielded a two-pronged effect. First, it’s getting Detroit a ton of shots: The Pistons have made more field-goal attempts than the Spurs in each of the past five games, mostly because Detroit’s team turnover total is so ridiculously low. The Pistons set a playoff record with just four turnovers in Game 4 and then nearly matched it in Game 6, when they had five. If they commit less than 20 turnovers tonight, they’ll break the record for the fewest in a seven-game playoff series.

That ball control in turn neutralizes the Spurs’ potent transition offense: It’s tough for Ginobili and Tony Parker to start flying down the court on the break when the Pistons’ defense usually gets enough time to get set up. That factor has helped keep San Antonio to 10 or fewer fast-break points in each game.

All of this has left the Spurs scratching their heads for answers. San Antonio played the league’s best defense this season (according to my Defensive Efficiency method, which rates points allowed per 100 possessions), while Detroit was in the middle of the pack offensively. But thanks to Billups’s incredible performance, the Spurs have struggled to shut down their opponents.

“We’ve been trying things, and they haven’t worked great,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. “He’s created a lot of problems for us in a lot of different ways. When you can shoot the three or go to the hole or post people up, and at the same time, deliver to everybody, and not turn the ball over, that’s pretty special.”

It’s even more special when one considers the tortuous path Billups took to reach this point. The Celtics’ third overall pick in the 1997 draft, Billups was traded after a half season under the famously impatient Rick Pitino. He then bounced around to four other teams without cracking the starting lineup until Detroit General Manager Joe Dumars took a shine to him and signed him in the 2001 offseason. In retrospect, that was the key move in Dumars’s impressive rebuilding job. Detroit won consecutive Central Division titles in Billups’s first two seasons, and followed that with last year’s championship and this year’s Finals run.

Even with last season’s championship, however, recognition has been slow to come. Amazingly, Billups could win a second Finals MVP award before making an All-Star team. He’s certainly surpassed Derek Harper and Byron Scott, among others, as the best player to never make the All-Star team, although that oversight may be corrected next season.

“He’s become a consummate point guard who still doesn’t get his due,” said Popovich.

Nor should Billups’s defensive ability be overlooked. He was voted to the All-Defense second team by the coaches this season, and has kept Parker contained for most of the series.

“He does it at both ends,” said Popovich. “He is a tough defender. This is a strong young man who limits people’s movement, who can guard people in the post, who can guard you out on the floor. He’s quick enough and has a desire to do it there.”

All of which sets up an interesting scenario for Game 7: If the Spurs win, should Billups be awarded the Finals MVP anyway? The only player to win the award while on the losing team was the Lakers’ Jerry West in 1968-69, but as long as Billups doesn’t pull a John Starks tonight, he’ll have a convincing case. He leads both teams in points and assists, has scored nearly all of Detroit’s 3-pointers, and, of course, has hit several clutch shots.

Regardless, this has been the second straight eye-opening playoff run for Detroit’s point guard. When this series began, few thought the Pistons had an answer for Duncan and Ginobili. Little did we know that the Finals’ best player would be wearing no. 1 for the Pistons.