Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace are all within two points of each other, averaging between 14.5 and 16.5 points a game. Not far behind are Ben Wallace and Antonio McDyess, both averaging a smidgen under 10.

Essentially, that’s six guys averaging between 10 and 19 points a game. This is what’s called balance. Check it out. You won’t see it anywhere else.

In Game 4 Tuesday night, Wade took 22 shots for the Heat, Eddie Jones took 10, and no one else had more than nine.

For the Pistons, Hamilton took 18 — he made 10 — and Billups, Prince and the two Wallaces each took between 11 and 13.

The Pistons shot .481; the Heat .444, and the better shooting percentage is the result not of better shooters, but better shot selection. That’s why the shots are spread around so evenly on the Detroit squad – guys don’t take bad shots; if they’re covered, they find the open man.

Detroit has a lot of excuses if it decided it didn’t want to go through all the sweat and pain that are the price of winning championships. The Heat have the all-world center and the spectacular guard. There’s the constant distraction of the Brown-to-Cleveland stories. There’s the natural tendency of teams to take it easy the year after finally winning.

Especially when they lost Game 3 with Shaq playing bravely on one and a half legs, the Pistons could have just figured they’d had their year and that was it.

But champions don’t operate that way, and the Pistons are champions. They announced their arrival last year. This year, they’re reminding us they’re not going to go away.

I’m on record as saying that I’d like to see the Suns make the finals and even win because of what it would mean for the way they play the game — fast and high-scoring. If the Suns win, a lot of teams might decide to play the same way, and we could get back to the kind of scoring the league had 20 years ago.

But the Suns have just about set, and the other flashy team, the Heat, are tied up 2-2 with Team Anonymous and hoping Shaq can find a miracle cure.

And the Pistons, through a brawl and suspensions, through a coach who missed part of the season getting his hip replaced, through the post-championship-season blahs, through everything a long and grinding season can throw at them, are right there.

It’s not because they have the highest payroll or the best player. It’s because they play the game right, because they have the best team.

Screw what the experts say. They’re worth watching.

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