Pistons Deal Heat First Playoff Loss With Game 1 Win
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
MIAMI – The defending champions kept finding mismatches and exploiting them. The challengers kept finding themselves playing from behind, and they simply couldn’t cope.
Whether it was Tayshaun Prince outsizing Dwyane Wade, Rasheed Wallace taking his man outside, or Chauncey Billups getting the better of Damon Jones, the Detroit Pistons played calmly and intelligently for 48 minutes and defeated the Miami Heat 90-81 last night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Miami had Shaquille O’Neal back in its lineup after waiting almost until tipoff to find out whether he could play on his bruised right thigh. O’Neal, defended in single coverage by Ben Wallace, made his first four shots before going to the bench with 6:36 left in the first quarter with the Heat ahead 15-13.
Detroit’s defense kept the Heat from running their offense through O’Neal for the rest of the game, and the big man wasn’t all that much of a factor while scoring 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting with five rebounds.
Wade also wasn’t much of a factor for the Heat, scoring just 16 points on 7-for-25 shooting while being frustrated for much of the night by Prince’s defense.
Rasheed Wallace scored 20 points, Billups added 18, Richard Hamilton had 16, and Ben Wallace and Prince each scored 13 as all five Detroit starters reached double figures.
The loss was the first for the Heat in nine postseason games, and their first of any kind since April 15. Coming off nine days of rest since they finished off Washington in the second round, the Heat were far from sharp.
Ben Wallace was the catalyst as the Pistons started to break the game open early in the third quarter.
After hitting a 12-footer and then drawing O’Neal’s first foul, Wallace was left wide open for an 18-foot jumper that he also knocked down. He then stole the ball from O’Neal in the low post, leading to a possession on which Prince was isolated against Wade on the left wing and worked his way inside for a short bank shot. Wade turned to his bench after the shot and gave a dejected, helpless look.
The jitters really started to get to the Heat after that, their possessions looking more panicked and never getting better. Miami finally caught the Pistons with a 9-0 run that tied it at 80 with 5:10 left, but Detroit calmly went back ahead.
