And it was only halftime. But you wouldn't know it from the lengthy standing ovation and chorus of M-V-P chants.

"It brings the house down ... the crowd is going crazy," LeBron said of the momentum the Cavs got from it afterward.

Yes, there was technically still 24 minutes of basketball left, but it was obvious there was no stopping James or the Cavs at home on Saturday as they rolled to a 102-84 victory.

Then again, maybe it should have been obvious from the start. After all, with LeBron in the lineup, the Cavs only lost one home game all season and that was against the Lakers. (They also lost the home finale, but James and other starters sat that game out.)

The only times the Cavs looked at all vulnerable were the few minutes James was on the bench to start the second and fourth quarters.

Both times the Pistons closed the gap, pulling to within eight early in the fourth. But both times, James came in, immediately set the tone and put the Cavs back in front. Four minutes after he returned in the fourth quarter, the Cavs were back in front by 17 and there was no looking back.

"The luxury of not playing LeBron a ton of minutes during the regular season pays off now. We have the luxury of going back to him if we have to," said Cavaliers coach Mike Brown.

LeBron filled up the stat sheet as usual, finishing with 38 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but he never had to force the action. If a defender played off of him, he hit the jumper. Attacked him? Just take the easy drive. Double him? Pass to the open man.

"Wherever I see cracks in the defense, I try to attack it," said James.

And while a few of those passes were to his much-celebrated new sidekick, point guard Mo Williams, it was clear James is still more comfortable — and efficient — working with longtime partner Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Just as the Pistons had no answer for James, they had little success against Ilgauskas, who finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. He also had four assists, including a nifty give-and-go with James in the closing moments of the second quarter that would have sent the Cavs into the locker room with some momentum.

Except James then went and outdid himself with that half-court heave to put that momentum in overdrive.

Back to the new sidekick for a moment. Williams struggled after picking up two quick fouls in the first half and was ineffective both playing along side James and leading the second unit. He salvaged the performance with a couple of second-half 3-pointers but still wound up with just 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting.

At least he took care of the ball, finishing with zero turnovers as the Cavs finished with just four overall. And Williams isn't expecting any carry-over effect into Game 2.

"Once I got that first half out of the way, I was ready to go," said Williams.

And he also knows having a teammate like LeBron can make up for a bad half when necessary.

"It's what we expect, you know it really doesn't amaze us anymore," said Williams. "... Especially when teams want to take the challenge and try to guard him one-on-one."

Things got a little chippy toward the end, with the Pistons' Richard Hamilton throwing down Mo Williams with a blatant elbow.

"It's going to be tougher next time around," Brown said.

We'll see. LeBron might just put Game 2 out of reach during pre-game warmups.