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Miami (45-22) at Detroit (53-13) 8:00 pm EST Wed Mar 22, 2006
TV: ESPN, WDWB
STANDINGS: Heat - 1st place, Southeast Division. Pistons - 1st place, Central Division.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Heat - F Udonis Haslem, F James Posey, C Mourning or O'Neal, G Wade, G Jason Williams. Pistons - F Tayshaun Prince, F Rasheed Wallace, C Ben Wallace, G Billups, G Hamilton.
TEAM LEADERS: Heat - Wade, 27.8 ppg and 6.7 apg; O'Neal, 9.1 rpg. Pistons - Hamilton, 20.9 ppg; B. Wallace, 11.8 rpg; Billups, 8.7 apg.
SEASON SERIES: Tied, 1-1.
12/29/05 - Det 106 Miami 101 |
Recap |
Box Score |
Shot Chart |
Game Thread
2/12/06 - Miami 100 Det 98 |
Recap |
Box Score |
Shot Chart |
Game Thread
LAST MEETING: Feb. 12; Heat 100-98. At Miami, O'Neal added 31 points for the Heat, who outscored the Pistons 29-14 in the fourth quarter.
ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Heat - 19-15 on the road; Pistons - 29-2 at home.
After clinching the Central Division title Monday, Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders' next goal is to clinch home-court advantage through the Eastern Conference in the playoffs.
The Eastern Conference-leading Pistons look get one game closer to that goal as they host their closest competition to that goal, the Miami Heat.
Detroit has an 8 1/2-game lead over the Heat and has won six of its last seven home games over Miami.
The Heat may be without Shaquille O'Neal, who is listed as questionable with a sore thumb and missed Tuesday's 100-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Pistons' starting five have avoided injuries this season as Detroit has used the same starting lineup in all 66 games this season, matching the 2002-03 Warriors for the longest streak to start a year since 1980.
With their same, healthy lineup, the Pistons clinched their fourth Central Division title in five years with a 91-84 win Monday over the Atlanta Hawks.
"First you have to make the playoffs, which we did a couple weeks ago, and then you have to win the division," Saunders said. "Now we have to get homecourt in the East, homecourt in the league, and then we have to win the championship."
Rasheed Wallace had 17 first-half points and finished with 26 as Detroit moved 40 games over .500 for the first time since the 1988-89 season.
"That's crazy," Chauncey Billups said. "This has been one of those special years for us. Hopefully, we can keep it up."
Richard Hamilton added 14 points and has scored 50 points on 19-of-32 shooting in two games against the Heat this season.
Billups has scored just 22 points in his last two home games, but has 59 in his last two games against Miami.
Detroit has a 15-game home winning streak entering this game and has won 29 of 31 home games this season. The Pistons, though, are still well short of the franchise record of 25 straight home wins, established from Jan. 29-Nov. 21, 1989 over two seasons.
Miami's 100-96 loss to Minnesota on Tuesday, snapped a five-game winning streak and a six-game road winning streak.
"We have to come back tomorrow," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "We're a team that never quits, we always fight."
O'Neal missed the game because of a sore right thumb he injured on a dunk attempt Sunday, and Alonzo Mourning finished with a season-high 21 points and 12 rebounds in his place.
Wade had 35 points and eight assists, and is averaging 31.5 points on 53.7 shooting in his last eight games.
Wade finished with 37 points and scored the Heat's last 17 points, including the game-winner on a 16-footer with 2.3 seconds left, in the Heat's 100-98 win Feb. 12 over the Pistons. The third-year guard has averaged 35.0 points on 29-for-47 shooting in two games against Detroit this season.
Miami has won 15 of its last 17 games and not lost consecutive games since Jan. 16-20.
Team Notes
Detroit: The Pistons have used the same starting lineup of Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace in all 66 games this season, matching Golden State (2002-03)for the longest streak to start a season since 1980. ... C Ben Wallace collected four steals in the first quarter and was one short of a franchise record. ... Detroit has posted its 15 straight home victory, tying for third-best in club history.
Miami: C Shaquille O'Neal did not play due to a right thumb injury suffered in Sunday's win over the New York Knicks. ... C Alonzo Mourning comfortably stepped into the starting lineup to contribute 21 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. ... F Antoine Walker had a strong showing off the bench with 18 points and two steals. ... G Gary Payton did nothing offensively, but did get involved in a late-game shoving and shouting match with G rookie Rashad McCants. ... Miami held a 41-37 edge in rebounds. ... The Heat have now lost six straight contests in Minnesota. They also had their six-game road winning streak snapped.
POST GAME
Recap |
Box Score |
Shot Chart
Pistons beat Heat behind Billups, defense
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- The Detroit Pistons refused to let Dwyane Wade beat them again.
In their first meeting since Wade scored Miami's final 17 points in a two-point win on Feb. 12, the Pistons held him to a season-low 13 and rallied for an 82-73 victory Wednesday night.
"You never want to have a player that has so much confidence against you that he thinks he can just take the game over at any time," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "At least he's not going to think he can walk on the floor and score 17 straight on us."
Wade was just 3-of-15 from the floor.
"I missed some shots that I normally make, and they really pressured me," he said. "It was tough, but when we play them again in April, we'll have some counters for what they were doing tonight."
Shaquille O'Neal (thumb) returned to the Miami lineup after sitting out Tuesday's loss in Minnesota, but the Heat lost his backup, Alonzo Mourning, in the second quarter. As a result, O'Neal played a season-high 43 minutes, scoring 27 points.
"We played pretty well, but we had a letdown in the last five or six minutes," O'Neal said. "It wasn't really anything they did -- we just made a lot of mistakes and they capitalized."
Mourning left the arena with a boot on his right leg after sustaining what the Heat believe is a torn calf muscle.
"I don't know the exact prognosis, but it's not very good," Miami coach Pat Riley said. "There's a reason we didn't trade Michael Doleac, and that's because of this exact possibility. He's going to have to step up."
O'Neal has averaged only 30 minutes a game this season, thanks to Mourning, but knows that number is about to go up.
"It's going to be very tough without him," he said. "But Dolie will step up and 'Zo can get some rest and come back strong."
Detroit has won 16 straight at home, five short of the team record. The Pistons also clinched the outright Central Division title, and reduced their magic number for the East title to six over Miami.
"This wasn't any kind of statement -- you make statements in the playoffs," Rasheed Wallace said. "This was just playing a game against a very good team."
Miami led 64-62 with 8 minutes to play, but Antonio McDyess and Tayshaun Prince combined for 10 points in less than 3 minutes to put Detroit ahead 72-66 with 4:49 to go.
Chauncey Billups led the Pistons with 24 points, while Richard Hamilton and Prince each scored 17 and Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace combined for 20 rebounds.
"Both teams wanted to win this game in the worst way," Billups said. "It was kind of an ugly game, but the intensity was there. This was a playoff game. It really was."
Antoine Walker added 15 points for the Heat.
The Heat held Detroit to a season-low 35 points in the first half, and took an eight-point lead into intermission. The Pistons shot just 31 percent in the half, including a 1-for-11 performance from the bench.
"We just couldn't make a shot," Rasheed Wallace said. "We had to buckle down and play some defense."
Detroit trailed by as many as 12 early in the second half, but 3-pointers by Hamilton and Billups keyed an 17-5 run that tied the game at 54.
Wade put Miami back in front with a jumper, but another 3-pointer by Hamilton gave Detroit its first lead since the first quarter. The Pistons led 60-59 at the end of the third.
Game notes
The Pistons became the only NBA team since 1980 to start the same lineup -- Prince, Billups, Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace -- in the first 67 games of a season. The 2002-03 Golden State Warriors started the same lineup in their first 66 games. ... The Pistons have not lost a regular-season home game in regulation since March 28, 2005, against Dallas. ... Miami's 73 points were a season low.
Code:
MIAMI HEAT
STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
James Posey, GF 23 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 6 6 0 0 0 0 2 3
Udonis Haslem, PF 33 3-7 0-0 0-0 2 10 12 4 0 0 3 3 6
Shaquille O'Neal, C 43 12-21 0-0 3-4 4 6 10 1 0 1 2 3 27
Dwyane Wade, G 40 3-15 1-3 6-8 1 2 3 9 3 1 5 4 13
Jason Williams, PG 32 2-6 1-2 0-0 0 4 4 5 1 0 0 3 5
BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Antoine Walker, F 28 5-14 4-9 1-2 1 4 5 1 0 0 3 3 15
Gary Payton, PG 29 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 3 5 1 0 0 2 4 2
Alonzo Mourning, C 3 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
Michael Doleac, C 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Shandon Anderson, GF 8 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Derek Anderson, GF DNP COACH'S DECISION
Wayne Simien, F DNP COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
28-74 7-17 10-14 10 37 47 21 4 3 15 23 73
37.8% 41.2% 71.4% Team TO (pts off): 16 (22)
DETROIT PISTONS
STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Tayshaun Prince, SF 42 7-14 0-2 3-3 2 3 5 2 2 2 1 0 17
Rasheed Wallace, PF 41 3-12 1-5 0-2 2 8 10 3 2 2 0 0 7
Ben Wallace, C 32 2-4 0-0 2-2 3 7 10 0 2 1 0 3 6
Richard Hamilton, SG 34 7-15 2-3 1-2 0 3 3 2 1 0 0 4 17
Chauncey Billups, PG 40 5-16 3-8 11-12 0 5 5 10 0 0 4 1 24
BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
Antonio McDyess, PF 22 4-9 0-0 1-2 2 4 6 0 1 3 0 3 9
Lindsey Hunter, PG 8 1-5 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 2
Maurice Evans, SG 9 0-6 0-2 0-0 2 2 4 0 0 0 0 1 0
Tony Delk, PG 11 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Dale Davis, C DNP COACH'S DECISION
Kelvin Cato, C DNP COACH'S DECISION
Carlos Delfino, SG DNP COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
29-83 6-22 18-23 12 33 45 19 8 8 5 13 82
34.9% 27.3% 78.3% Team TO (pts off): 5 (0)
Flagrant Fouls: None
Technicals: None
Officials: Gary Zielinski , Jess Kersey , Jim Clark
Attendance: 22,076
Time: 02:25
Miami at Detroit - 3/22/06
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