He Xi Meng stepped forward to ask for the ball, first isolating and single-handedly taking on Billups. He made an improbable, contested three-pointer from beyond the arc, displaying exceptional grit.
Then, the Pistons responded. Webber, who had contributed little until then, grit his teeth and drove hard at Yao Ming, scoring two points and drawing a foul on Yao Ming.
Webber made the free throw, completing a crucial 2+1 for the Pistons.
But before the Pistons could celebrate, He Xi Meng launched another shot from three-point range.
This time, He Xi Meng pulled his shot back to near the Logo line.
In such a pivotal Game 5, at such a do-or-die moment in the second overtime, perhaps only a superstar of He Xi Meng's caliber would dare to take such a "risky" shot.
The key was, He Xi Meng wasn't just chucking it up blindly.
To the astonishment of all the Detroit fans, He Xi Meng drained his second three-pointer of the second overtime.
Billups was dumbfounded, Hamilton was dumbfounded, the entire Pistons team was dumbfounded.
"Bro, these guys are running themselves ragged, are you just getting started?"
Facing the complex expressions of his old rivals, He Xi Meng could only offer an apologetic explanation: "I was just coasting, so I still have some energy left..."
"At this moment, to maintain a Logo-range three-point percentage can't be explained by just 'energy left,' can it? Your 'coasting' level is practically defying the heavens!"
Billups, who was closest to He Xi Meng, couldn't take it anymore.
After coach Sanders called a timeout, Billups didn't immediately return to the Pistons' bench. Instead, he confronted He Xi Meng on the spot, venting his frustration and unfairness.
"I'm trying this hard, and I still can't beat you?"
He Xi Meng could only awkwardly comfort his friend: "The game isn't over yet. You still have a chance for one last possession to tie it and force a third overtime..."
Billups was speechless and resentfully returned to the Pistons' bench.
As He Xi Meng said, with only 2.2 seconds left, the Pistons did indeed have a chance for a final possession to send the game into a third overtime. But Billups was so tired.
More crucially, among the Pistons' current lineup, Billups was the only one with a decent three-point percentage.
So far in this game, Hamilton was 0-for-2 from three, Rasheed Wallace was 0-for-2, Prince was 1-for-2, and Billups was 3-for-7.
With that kind of three-point shooting, combined with Billups' reputation for clutch play, who else but Billups would take this shot?
The problem was, while the Pistons had no other choice, the Celtics also knew exactly who the Pistons would go to for this final play.
So, Coach Kerr immediately pulled He Xi Meng and replaced him with Barnes, forming a three-guard lineup of Tony Allen, Carter, and Barnes for unlimited rotations. The goal was to prevent Billups from even getting the ball.
The Pistons nearly committed a violation on the inbound. At the last moment, Webber was forced to pass the ball to Rasheed Wallace, who ran out to receive it.
Rasheed Wallace had three-point range, and in his prime with the Trail Blazers, he had made crucial threes.
However, in this game, having expended so much energy in regulation and two overtimes, Rasheed Wallace, facing the closing-in Gortat, tried to stabilize his shooting form. But due to the rushed release and his exhaustion, the shot fell short and wide, ultimately missing.
After a hard-fought battle through two overtimes, the Pistons ultimately lost to the Celtics by three points, dropping the crucial Game 5 and losing their home-court advantage.
He Xi Meng only scored 24 points in two overtimes, but 6 of those points came in the final minute of the second overtime.
He Xi Meng was the straw that broke the camel's back for the Pistons, the killer blow that delivered the fatal strike.
What was most unbearable for the Pistons was that for the first 50 minutes, He Xi Meng had acted like a harmless, out-of-form shooter who couldn't break out of his slump.
In Game 6, with no room to retreat, the Pistons had to go toe-to-toe with the Celtics offensively.
Webber, feeling like a young man again, played his best game of the playoffs so far, and along with Hamilton, put considerable pressure on the Celtics.
But the Pistons' linchpin in these playoffs, Billups, had lost all his confidence in the previous decisive Game 5.
In the last game, Billups scored a team-high 29 points and 11 assists, hitting several difficult clutch shots in the final moments of regulation and in both overtimes. Yet, at the crucial juncture, he was still defeated by He Xi Meng's casually made two three-pointers, which Billups found unbearable.
Even the clutch-playing Billups fell into a slump in this game, shooting 3-for-7 from the field, 1-for-3 from three-point range, and scoring only 9 points, his lowest of the playoffs.
A person's confidence, sometimes, is like a breath of air.
As long as that breath is there, the spirit is there, and so is the form.
If that breath is gone, then everything is gone, and defeat cascades like a mountain.
Without Billups' offense and coordination, even with Hamilton and old Webber's desperate efforts, the score was gradually widened by the Celtics.
But this was, after all, the Pistons' final game, and Coach Sanders refused to give up.
On the Celtics' side, Kerr took He Xi Meng and Yao Ming off the court, leaving Carter, who had the least injury concerns, on the court to maintain stability, in case the Pistons made a final surge.
However, it was precisely Carter, the player with the fewest injury concerns and the best performance of the game, who, during a not-so-intense drive, was hit in the thigh by a defensively eager Prince.
Carter cried out and fell to the ground in pain.
Kerr was stunned: "Xi Meng, the team's treasure, hasn't gotten injured yet, and Vince, how could you get injured?"
Tens of thousands of Boston fans, at the moment Carter fell, all stood up and clasped their hands in prayer.
"Vince can't get injured..."
But Vince did not fulfill the fans' wishes. After being helped up from the floor by He Xi Meng and Yao Ming, Vince tried to stand, but the pain in his thigh made it impossible for him to continue fighting.
"It's most likely a muscle strain..." Carter said helplessly.
He Xi Meng comforted Carter: "Don't worry about it too much for now! Go to the locker room and see the team doctor. We'll handle the rest of the game!"
Carter refused He Xi Meng and Yao Ming's offer to carry him and limped off with the team doctor to the locker room.
After watching Carter leave, the game continued.