Heat Puts Hurt on Pistons

Welcome to the Eastern Conference finals, where the Miami Heat is running out of healthy stars and the Detroit Pistons are running out of time.

Shaquille O’Neal has been dragging his leg for a playoff eternity, but his bruised thigh was of secondary importance to the Heat when Dwyane Wade exited in the fourth quarter with a strained rib muscle.

O’Neal had 20 points and guard Damon Jones’ 15 points helped cover up a rapidly disintegrating roster as the Heat limped, staggered, hopped and hoped to an 88-76 victory over the Detroit Pistons, taking a 3-2 series lead in front of 20,225 Thursday at American Airlines Arena.

It doesn’t get too much better for the Heat, which is one victory away from its first NBA Finals appearance, although it could be without Wade for Game 6.

It might only get worse for the Pistons, who could slide from defending champions to former champions now that they have bigger distractions than Larry Brown’s job status.

Brown, the playoffs’ most compelling sideshow, acknowledged for the first time there had been “contact” with the Cleveland Cavaliers, an admission that came several days after numerous media reports had him leaving the Pistons to become the Cavaliers’ president after the season.

But suddenly of more concern for the Pistons was the reemergence of the old Rasheed Wallace, complete with on-court antics, mile-long scowls and a postgame performance that included referee-bashing and the guarantee of a Piston victory in Game 6.

A key player on the championship drive last season, Wallace raged during and after the game, a slow burn that began after he picked up his second foul, crumpled to the court in disgust and remained there for several seconds midway through the second quarter.

He was only beginning.

He collapsed onto the court again after picking up his third foul and stayed there as Brown and Piston trainers hustled over to him. As they arrived, Wallace bounced up and stalked off the court, glaring at the referees as he went to the bench.

A minute later, he was hit with his fourth foul. Then a technical foul.

He finished with two points, five fouls and four turnovers in 27 minutes.

“Wasn’t a lot of time for us out there on the floor,” Wallace said. “You know, had to put up with that extra help they had out there.”

Extra help?

“Come on, man,” he said. “Don’t try to bait me. You already know what I mean.”

Meaning?

“Y’all had to see that,” he said. “Y’all had to see that out there. It’s so blatant. I’m going to see out of ... y’all who really knows basketball by reading your columns and sports stories tonight. It’s too blatant out there.”

He finished with a prediction.

“We’re going to win Game 6,” Wallace said. “They are going to send some good people out there [to officiate] and there’s going to be a Game 7.”

The Heat had 22 fouls and the Pistons were called for 23, a fairly even number, although O’Neal seemed irritated as well.

He had five fouls, including a couple on the offensive end while going up against Piston center Ben Wallace. O’Neal delivered a post-game body blow to Wallace, basically reducing the league’s defensive player of the year to nothing more than a mere flopper.

“My feeling is, if you’re the defensive player of the year, show me,” O’Neal said.

“Show me. That’s my thing. If you want to play me one on one, show me.”

O’Neal, who had five rebounds and no blocked shots, will have to fare better if Miami plays Game 6 without Wade.

Wade headed for the locker room with 5:08 left in the third quarter, holding his right side after feeling a twinge on a cross-over dribble before a jump shot. He returned for the first 2:18 of the fourth quarter but went back to the locker room for treatment.

“Feels like he’s getting stabbed when he breathes,” Heat Coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

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After the game, O’Neal said he wanted to handle funeral expenses for the family of Hall of Fame center George Mikan, who died this week at 80.

Mikan’s son Terry said he appreciated O’Neal’s offer but said it would be up to his mother whether to accept it.