Auburn Hills, Mich. - During their rise up the NBA hierarchy, the Cavaliers have experienced quite a few seminal moments at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

It's too early to tell whether Sunday afternoon's result will join those ranks, but the Cavs seemed to cross a barrier or two in their 90-80 victory over the Detroit Pistons.

The one true weakness in the Cavs' (37-9) profile this season has been in tough environments on the road, especially in the Eastern Conference. And many of the losses - just look back to last week's loss in Orlando or the last time they visited Detroit in November - followed the same path. Often they seemed to tighten up, especially offensively, in the fourth quarter.

Had they done it again this time around they'd be trying to explain how another winnable road game stayed out of their grasp. Instead, their teamwork in the final quarter turned what could have been a setback into a significant momentum-builder.

They were playing weak offense and showing all of their worst characteristics - primarily the old stand around and watch LeBron James work routine - and were down eight points after three quarters.

It seemed like it might become a game in which James refuses to leave the floor or give the ball up down the stretch and the Cavs hope their defense holds until James starts throwing in miracle shots or muscling his way through flying bodies.

Instead, James took a seat and watched as his teammates showed their best qualities, a display they've put on numerous times at home or on the road when they're ahead. Led by guards Daniel Gibson and Mo Williams, the Cavs started the fourth quarter with a 15-2 burst while James cheered and the Pistons (25-21) never recovered.

"It's uplifting when those guys go out there and take control like they did," James said. "Those guys came through for us."

James finished with 33 points, four rebounds and eight assists. He had eight points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer with just over three minutes left that sent the sellout crowd to their respective Super Bowl parties a little early.

Those points padded the lead, not create it. Gibson, who scored the first seven points in the run, and Williams, who had 12 of his 22 points in the quarter, did the heavy lifting. Throw in a couple of Zydrunas Ilgauskas jumpers, which broke him out of a game-long drought, and the Cavs put together a wildly successful team performance.

They outscored the Pistons, 32-14, in the fourth quarter on 13-of-18 (72 percent) shooting and matched it with effective help defense that ended Detroit's four-game home win streak over the Cavs.

"In the third quarter, we deferred too much to LeBron, guys were passing up shots," Williams said. "We're easy to guard if we defer to him all night. We did a good job being aggressive at the start of the fourth."

It was still a game in the fourth because some woeful offense - the Cavs managed just 36 points in the first half - was buffeted with some continued strong defense. Carrying over from Friday's victory over the Clippers, the Cavs did a strong job of dealing with all the movement the Pistons have in their sets.

Even with Allen Iverson (22 points) and Richard Hamilton (16) doing some damage, the Cavs were able to make the Pis-

tons work in the half court on nearly every possession. The result was just 42 percent shooting for the home team and 13 points below their season average.

"Our guys stayed composed and stayed with it and kept grinding," coach Mike Brown said. "We knew if we stayed patient we'd be able to break the game open if our defense was there."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: bwindhorst@plaind.com, 216-999-5166