ECF Thread: Heat vs Pistons [Heat win series, 4-2]

[air gordon]

Maes- don't forget about 'Zo! he looked liked his old old self

[dinocarlo]

Nice comeback by the Heat. If only the supporting cast didn't have a bad shooting night. The Heat also took too many 3's even if there's a lot of time left with the lead down to 6 from 18. Pistons deserved that win anyway with their great D and unselfish offense.

Onwards to Miami for Games 3 and 4. Will the Pistons do a repeat of the Cavs Games 3-5 or will the Heat do a Nets slump? We'll find out.

[BIG GREEN]

I still say heat in 7...it's definitly gonna be an interesting series.

[Axel]

Miami missed quite a few layups... I wonder why Riley didn't foul Ben Wallace more. He was forcing a Shaq to commit a lot of turnovers, I would have wanted to make Flip take him out of the game.

Considering Antoine Walker had a bad shooting game, the Heat did pretty well to finish within 4.

[Matt]

the referees must be blind if they did not see Billups getting RAPED by Posey & Payton on the inbounds.

Overall Detroits offense stank ass in the 2nd.....it should have been more Prince & Billups. It was nice to see Rasheed stick one to Zo after getting tripped.

Defenseively it's been pretty good....Hunter has been great on Wade, and Hamilton is making him work too. Great to see Flip extend the bench and add Delfino & Davis in there who had 2 stints each in the game.

Ben wallace showed once again why he is DPOY!!!!

The Pistons really need to start playing in the 4th quarter though.

[Andrew]

Wild finish, one that almost makes NBA Live's comeback logic seem realistic.

I believe the Heat could've taken the game when they got it to 77-71, but they settled for the rushed threes, though I wasn't all that surprised when Walker pulled up for one of them. It reminded me a bit of the NBL though. That's what a lot of teams seem to do here in Australia, when they get within striking distance they start launching threes. Great if the shots fall but I thought they should've taken it to the hoop and perhaps tried to draw the foul. Four points on those two possessions instead of the two missed threes and four points given up at the other end and the final couple of minutes could've gone a lot differently.

As if there was any doubt, the first two games have certainly shown Antoine Walker to be the "x-factor" for the Heat, looking great when he's hitting and shooting them out of the game when he keeps launching when he's cold. 3/12 and 1/7 from downtown just won't get the job done. Obviously the other key players need to step up and support Shaq and Wade but Walker is at the top of that list of key players and he fell back into bad habits in Game 2.

[Matt]

That's what a lot of teams seem to do here in Australia, when they get within striking distance they start launching threes.

that's what Detroit does when it gets a nice lead.....which is why often they see their lead evaporate and in a game that should have been closed a long time ago.

[sucram]

Game 3 is looking good! Nice start from Shaq, anyone notice Rasheed shrug off flip Saunders? Aparently during a time out he refused to 'huddle', instead he sat on the half court bench. Whats up?

[hammertime23]

He's a bitch lol. Wade is on fire, he had a nice dunk and he's making his jumpers

[Ruff Ryder]

Hack-a-Ben in affect. If anything, that will spell the demise of the Pistons. A team like the Heat having a 7+ point lead with 4 minutes or under on the clock, fouling Ben and him missing both FTs, then the other team getting the ball back and running out the clock.

I'm surprised Detroit isn't subbing Ben out, well he is now but it's under 2 minutes on the clock so it doesn't matter.

[hammertime23]

the games over now and the heat won

[dennisxruud]

o......I think the heat is so strong today,i am a pistons fans,so i hope the next game pistons can win the match(I am from HK^^)

[Pera]

Ah yes another fine win by the Heat. The Pistons look really tired on the field.A few moments they looked like they didn't wanna play basketball.If they wanna win they have to stop Shaq inside,but I don't see that happening.Wade looks strong today and Shaq was almost like the good old times.The others chiped in and here's the win.

[Andrew]

Haslem finally did some damage offensively and Walker scored a more effective 11 points in addition to those two lobs to Shaq, but it was mostly Wade and Shaq in this one. I can't believe Wade's field goal percentage in the series, 30.7 ppg on 69% shooting against the Detroit Pistons is incredible. He goes to the basket a lot but he's been knocking down jumpshots seemingly with the ease of layups especially in Game 3.

[Matt]

Someone needs to check Wade.....Hunter needs more time because he makes things happen.

As far as Shaq goes, he's not gona beat Detroit himself.....Wade can though. Wallace is playing excellent 1-on-1 defense on him except he's forced to come out and Shaq gets lobs. Stop Wade and you stop the heat.

[Abctest123]

og man, the shooting was fairly terrible for those two quarters, atleast from first quarter until about halfway second. It was 25-31 with 6mins left in the second, thats pretty bad. 38-44 Heat at the beginning of the third.

[Ruff Ryder]

Who's that? Lol at this:

[Its_asdf]

Yeah I saw that coast to coast by Shaq, it was pretty entertaining to watch him do something that he hasn't done in a long time.

Anyone see that ridiculous 3 point play by Wade? He always seems to be able to flip it up there and miraculously get it in. Absolutely insane.

[dada]

Pistons choking? Hmmmm.

Miami is really making a statement against this team tonight. I would have never predicted the Pistons would be down 3-1. Its hard to see them comeback in this series against the likes of Shaq and Wade. 3 in a row is just too unlikely. Oh well, maybe they'll pull a stunt like the Phoenix Suns.

[Axel]

Well, the Heat really seem to be cohesive now... all of the naysayers who kept claiming they had no chemistry are really eating their words now... everyone is chipping in.

[artestfighttrainer]

3-1 Heat leads series

Dwayne Wade is amazing! Go Heat!

[Andrew]

The Heat must avoid getting complacent. Having gone up 3-1, history is on their side but with the Pistons' reputation of bouncing back they can't sit back and wait for the history of the 3-1 hole to repeat itself. It's easier said than done but if Detroit takes Game 5 at home, carries the momentum into Game 6 and steals one in Miami, suddenly they're looking at a decisive Game 7 back in Detroit. The way Miami is playing I believe they could still win if it came to that but they'd be foolish to get comfortable and let it come anywhere near that situation.

As far as Detroit's concerned, they do have that reputation for overcoming the odds but 3-1 is a different ballgame. They are of course one of 9 teams to come back from a 3-1 deficit and with some of the same players who remain part of their main rotation and I don't want to count them out but if any of the Pistons come out and say they're not worried and this is going to be a piece of cake - and truly believe that - then they're only fooling themselves. I'm stating the obvious here but when you need to win three straight and the other team only needs one more win to advance, you're in trouble.

Game 4 was another good game to watch, Wade's play and stats continue to be ridiculous and Shaq had some fine moments, the block leading to the layup and that quick spin baseline on Wallace for the reverse dunk leaping immediately to mind. The Heat also did a good job recovering from the subpar third quarter to take the lead back by the end and stay ahead in the fourth.

Going to the 3-2 zone definitely helped Detroit though, trapping Wade and thus impeding his ability to create for himself and his teammates derailed the Heat and started to swing the momentum in Detroit's favour. I expect they'll throw that Wade again in Game 5 though the Heat are no doubt anticipating that.

[benji]

While with these playoffs, I am loathe to say it. But. This series looks over.

The Heat's offense hasn't been off their playoff averages, the Pistons offense has been, well, if you can't say anything nice.

[BIG GREEN]

Who's that? Lol at this:

look at the elevation on that durr. I've never seen a better play from shaq EVER.

[Pera]

Who's that? Lol at this:

He is actualy making a lay up .
Now the Heat got 3 chanches to get to the finals