updated 9:15 p.m. ET May 21, 2006

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - With a colorful NBA-logoed towel draped across his shoulders, LeBron James waited for the final horn and bolted for Cleveland’s locker room without shaking hands.

His first postseason as a pro had ended inside Detroit’s defensive dungeon, and James wanted out. He wasn’t going to hang around and watch confetti sprinkle down on the Pistons and their noisy fans.

The star witness had been dismissed.

James, who had carried Cleveland in the regular season and past Washington in the opening round, couldn’t get his team by the powerful Pistons, who shut down the Cavs’ 21-year-old phenom in the second half of their 79-61 win Sunday in Game 7.

“We can’t hang our heads,” James said. “We were right there.”

James’ initial run through the playoffs concluded with 58.2 seconds left when Cavaliers coach Mike Brown sent in reserve forward Sasha Pavlovic to replace James, who spent the second half fighting his way out of double- and triple-teams.

As he got to bench, James was first hugged by guard Larry Hughes, who had been embraced by all of Cleveland following the death of his younger brother, Justin. Then, James shared a moment with center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who pulled the third-year player close and whispered in his ear.

“I told him to keep his head high,” Ilgauskas said. “We’re going to be here for many years to come, so there’s nothing for him to be ashamed of.”

James bit his lower lip and seemed to be choking back tears as he dropped into a chair.

He had dominated the first half, scoring 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting as the Cavaliers — down by 13 early — withstood a finishing flurry from the Pistons, who were only up 40-37 at halftime.

But in the second half, James didn’t have room to breathe and finished 1-of-9 from the floor. He got his only two assists on Cleveland’s first two buckets of the game.

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The Pistons rushed two defenders at him. They ran three defenders at him. They stopped him from taking a shot for more than nine minutes of the third quarter and held him to one point in the period.

At times, James was buried under a tidal wave of white Detroit jerseys.

“’Bron was kind of having his way in the first half, he had it going,” Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. “We made a couple of adjustments at half time. We shut everything down. It was our defense.”

It suffocated the Cavaliers, who scored just 10 points in the third, only 13 in the fourth and either set, matched or approached several NBA playoff records for offensive futility.

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“The Pistons are so good at moving to the ball on defense,” Ilgauskas said. “We had some open looks, too. It’s not like we were shooting fadeaway 3-pointers. That’s why they are the Pistons.”

Cleveland’s locker room was somber following a game that many never thought they’d ever play.

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