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The Detroit Pistons face the San Antonio Spurs in the 2005 NBA Finals. The series begins on Thursday, June 9. InsideHoops.com scanned local Detroit newspapers and presents some quotes from writers who cover the Pistons all season long:

Bob Wojnowski / The Detroit News: You could see it in the way they hugged the Eastern Conference championship trophy, in the way they danced and sang in their locker room, in the way they played the final, sweltering minutes of the season's biggest game. You can see it today in the faces of the Pistons, and hear it in their voices. The champs are headed back to the NBA Finals, which start Thursday night in San Antonio, and when a team returns to defend its crown, a certain detached nonchalance can set in. Not with this team, not now. In fact, that Game 7 triumph in Miami, and this run, actually might mean more to the Pistons than last year's improbable championship.

Chris McCosky / The Detroit News: You wouldn't blame the Pistons if they didn't want to let go immediately of their noble victory over the Heat in Game 7 on Monday night. It was, with all its drama, plot twists and praiseworthy performances, what the networks call an instant classic. The sporting public will be hashing and rehashing not just Game 7, but also the entire seven-game series, for years to come. "That was what you play the game for," Richard Hamilton said. "As a basketball player, that's what you live for." Said Chauncey Billups: "That was the best series I've ever played in."

Chris McCosky / The Detroit News: Each team has a capable supporting cast -- Tayshaun Prince, Antonio McDyess and Lindsey Hunter for the Pistons, and Bruce Bowen, Brent Barry and Robert Horry for the Spurs. The two coaches -- Larry Brown and Gregg Popovich -- are the best of friends (Popovich was the best man at Brown's wedding), and the teams use similar basketball systems. There are plenty of story lines, but one will be all too familiar to the Pistons. They again will be cast in the role of underdogs.

Rob Parker / The Detroit News: Achampionship team would never say it has accomplished anything, short of winning a championship again. That's why the Pistons aren't ready to celebrate -- yet. Although extremely happy they knocked off the Miami Heat -- winning a seven-game series with an 88-82 victory at Miami on Monday night -- they won't be satisfied until they can do the same against the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. From day one this season, the goal was to repeat as champions, not just get back to the championship round. Still, the Pistons have accomplished plenty en route to this point, proving they are true champions, not flukes. Sure, some still will count out the Pistons against the Spurs. But there won't be as many. There can't be.

Rob Parker / The Detroit News: "I believe in these guys," Pistons president Joe Dumars said. "Others don't believe in us because we don't have sex appeal, we don't have star power that makes it easy for people to write and report on. So it's hard for them to figure out why we win. "You have to understand the game to know why we win. If you don't know the game, you miss it."

Drew Sharp / Detroit Free Press: The emotions flowed from Antonio McDyess as though the final seconds of Game 7 unleashed a faucet. Tumbling out were the haunting memories of a once-menacing talent who had become a broken shell few wanted. McDyess grabbed Pistons president Joe Dumars as he walked off the American Airlines Arena floor late Monday night, and the only words he could think of were: "Thank you." "I just kept saying it to him," said McDyess, sitting at his cubicle after the Pistons clinched the Eastern Conference finals at Miami.

Drew Sharp / Detroit Free Press: The satisfaction is always stronger for the first-timers. The rapture of making his first NBA Finals numbed the ache of a hyper-extended knee, which nearly knocked McDyess out of the fourth quarter Monday night in the Pistons' 88-82 victory over the Heat. The "been there, done that" expressions of guys like Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups reflected the tone of a mission several miles short of accomplished. But it finally hit home to the newest pieces of the ever-evolving championship puzzle that Dumars has constructed. This was precisely why they were brought to Detroit. This was why they fought through the apprehension, wondering if they might fit.

Mitch Albom / Detroit Free Press: But that's what you get for trying to pigeon hole this team. The Pistons do not do things the conventional way. Heck, they were forged in the fires of the unconventional. Joe Dumars decided early on not to build a team around one star player, not to give $30 million annually to a Shaquille O'Neal, or to build a roster of big egos and small egos and hope they got along. Instead, he found castoffs and tough guys and character guys and family guys, and he stirred them together until the stew became a puree, all parts melded into one.

Mitch Albom / Detroit Free Press: From that Malice at the Palace incident last November, to Larry Brown's first and second disappearance in the middle of the season, to the return of a vengeful Indiana team in the playoffs, to the rumors of Brown's courtship with Cleveland, to the mountain of Shaq and the flash flood of Dwyane Wade -- all these things that could have thrown the Pistons off their boat. They never did. They take that resolve now down to Texas, where the final worthy challenger of their era awaits. Many thought San Antonio was the best team last year but was edged out on a miracle shot by the Lakers' Derek Fisher. Fine. The Pistons will go, like a heavyweight champion who takes on all comers, to affirm their pedigree against the Spurs.

Michael Rosenberg / Detroit Free Press: We often talk about the Pistons' balance. We say they don't have one or two big stars, like San Antonio with Tim Duncan, or like every other champion for the last 25 years. But in the final minutes, Billups is one of the brightest stars in the NBA -- brighter than a lot of better-known, higher-scoring players. In his last two series-clinching games, Billups outscored counterparts Jamaal Tinsley and Damon Jones, 41-1. His teammates think that's normal.

Michael Rosenberg / Detroit Free Press: Late in Monday's game, with the Pistons trailing by two, Billups launched an ill-advised three-pointer. He missed. But if your philosophy is "knock it down and keep playing," you're one step away from "miss it and keep playing." Billups came back with those four free throws, sealing the victory and the return trip to the Finals. On the bench, some of his teammates were giddy before Billups made the foul shots. That's how much they believe in Mr. Big Shot.