SAN ANTONIO – The ultimate NBA challenge, a Finals Game 7. Immediately, indelible images flash on the mind’s projection screen:

Willis Reed limping onto the Garden court that soon became Walt Frazier’s playground. Bill Russell’s final game, transformed into victory by a fluke Don Nelson shot. James Worthy’s triple-double overcoming a heroic effort by a gimpy Isiah Thomas.

Tonight, there is a chance for more stuff of legend as the Pistons and Spurs collide in the last game of the 2004-05 NBA season. The Pistons have the experience in series finales. The Spurs have the homecourt and history.

And the only Spur with a taste of a Finals Game 7, Robert Horry, hopes to conjure up part of the past for Detroit’s superlatively clutch Chauncey Billups.

“I’m hoping John Starks’ spirit will go into Chauncey or one of them,” Horry said, recalling the 1994 Knicks nightmare Game 7 in Houston where he earned the first of his five title rings.

Hey, not all Game 7 memories are glorious. But just getting there usually is.

“It’s that dream game every kid grows up thinking about,” said Detroit president Joe Dumars, who played alongside Thomas in the 1988 Game 7 loss to the Lakers.

“You hear football players talk about the Super Bowl. You hear baseball players talk about Game 7 of a World Series. . . . This is the game basketball kids grew up talking about.”

If history is the guideline, Detroit is toast. Since the NBA adopted the 2-3-2 format, no team has won Games 6 and 7 on the road. Detroit took the first step Tuesday, stopping the Spurs 95-86, with clutch shooting – including eight 3-pointers that matched their total of the first five games.

“I don’t look at record or percentages or who has won Game 7s or how many we’ve won at home or how many close-out games they’ve won,” said coach Gregg Popovich, whose Spurs’ primary task will be to get a tender-ankled Tim Duncan playing like a healthy Tim Duncan.

Those teams are the Spurs, the NBA’s best home gang, and the Pistons, the living, breathing, rebounding, tribute to staring adversity in the mug and kicking it in the shins. Some suggest the pressure shifted to the Spurs, who let Detroit off the hook in Game 6.

“They are at home and the pressure is really on them to win this Game 7 and win it all,” said Billups.

Said Horry: “It depends on your mentality and the individual. Some guys love pressure and heighten their game. Some guys fold up and shrivel away. This is going to be a true test of us.”

Time and again in recent history, Detroit has rallied from near-extinction.

“Ain’t no pressure for us. Pressure busts pipes, we don’t bust pipes,” said Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace, who scored all his second half points in the final 4:28 Tuesday.

“This is what we do. Been playing ball all our lives. Yes, it’s the biggest stage, but it’s what we do,” said Detroit’s other Wallace, Ben. “We don’t need to be nervous. The team that goes out relaxed and does what they need to do is the team that wins the game.”

And maybe creates some everlasting images along the way.

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Pistons at Spurs

Game 7 – Tonight 9 p.m.; ABC TV; ESPN radio (1050 AM)