The last time LeBron James visited the Palace of Auburn Hills, he turned in one of the greatest postseason performances in NBA history.

James and the surging Cleveland Cavaliers return to face the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night in the teams' first meeting since the 2007 Eastern Conference finals.

Cleveland (9-6) came back from a two-game deficit to eliminate Detroit in six games during last season's playoffs, blowing out the Pistons 98-82 in the deciding contest at home. The story of the series, however, was James' magnificent effort at the Palace in Game 5 in a 109-107 double overtime victory.

The Cavaliers superstar scored a career playoff-high 48 points, including his team's final 25, to give Cleveland its first lead of the series. He was the only Cavalier to make a field goal in the last 17:48 to stun Detroit, which blew a seven-point lead with 3:15 left in regulation.

Many of the Pistons (8-5) called it the best performance they have ever seen, and they remain just as impressed with the fifth-year phenom's play this season. James is averaging 37.3 points, 9.3 assists and 8.7 rebounds over his last six games, with two of his four triple-doubles this season coming in his last three outings.

"He's been unbelievable," Pistons guard Chauncey Billups told his team's official Web site. "If there's anybody who can average a triple-double, it should be him. He keeps the ball in his hands, they run every play for him, he's strong enough to rebound against anybody, he sees the floor as well as anybody, and, of course, he's going to be able to score any time at will. He's phenomenal."

Detroit forward Tayshaun Prince usually draws the assignment of defending James, who leads the NBA with 31.7 points per game. Prince believes the task is as difficult as ever.

"When a guy is playing like that, you've got to get the ball out of his hands," he said. "You can't let him sit there and dribble and dribble and dominate the basketball. You've got to try to keep it out of his hands as much as possible."

Pistons coach Flip Saunders is cautious about focusing too much on James. In the loss in Game 6, Detroit held James to 20 points, but Daniel Gibson racked up 31 points and made all five of his 3-point attempts.

James missed his third straight triple-double, but had 38 points and 13 assists to lead Cleveland to a 109-104 overtime win over league-leading Boston on Tuesday. In an effort reminiscent of his Game 5 showing against the Pistons, James scored 11 of Cleveland's 17 points in the extra session.

"He was fantastic," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "That's who he is. He hurt us as much with his passing as he did with his scoring. When he's scoring and getting everyone involved, he's a killer. That's what he was tonight."

Cleveland won its season-high fourth straight game, getting 24 points and 13 rebounds from Drew Gooden while Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 15 points and 14 boards.

"Z is playing career basketball right now, Drew is getting better, and I'm going to do what I have to do for us to win, of course," James said.

Detroit is completing a four-game homestand after suffering its first loss at the Palace, 103-93 to Utah on Sunday. The Pistons played without forward Rasheed Wallace, who was out with a left knee injury but expects to return Wednesday.

The loss of Wallace was clearly felt inside, as Utah's Carlos Boozer made 17 of 20 shots for 36 points and also had 11 rebounds.