Pistons Turn Back Clock to Beat O’Neal and Heat

MIAMI -- It was a familiar scene: a guard futilely firing away from outside against the Detroit Pistons while Shaquille O’Neal was forgotten in the lane.

It cost the Lakers the first game of the NBA Finals and ultimately the series last season, and on Monday night it led to the first postseason defeat of the 2005 playoffs for the Miami Heat.

And, just like last year, after Detroit’s 90-81 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, it’s difficult to imagine the Pistons losing four times in the next six games.

What makes it even bleaker for Miami is that even if it does incorporate O’Neal, he probably won’t be able to match his 2004 NBA Finals numbers of 26.6 points and 10.8 rebounds a game.

He managed 20 points and five rebounds Monday. Watching him drag his bruised right thigh around the court makes it look as if he’s competing in a company picnic potato-sack race, not the NBA playoffs. He could not elevate and didn’t even bother to get in position for offensive rebounds, choosing instead to save his energy for getting back on defense.

Before Monday, O’Neal went 11 days without game action since sitting out the last two games of the Heat’s second-round sweep of the Washington Wizards. From here on it’ll be the equivalent of a wake-up-late-for-work-and-rush-out-the-door look, as five of the potential six upcoming games will come after one day’s rest, including Game 2 Wednesday night.

As Heat guard Eddie Jones said, “I don’t care if he’s 50%, he can still do damage.”

The Heat made do without O’Neal against the Wizards, thanks to Dwyane Wade’s 73 points in the last two games.

But these aren’t the Wizards. The Pistons confounded Wade with a mixture of defenders, including Richard Hamilton and long-armed Tayshaun Prince. They cut off the baseline, trapped him and boxed him in. When Wade managed to get into the lane he encountered Ben Wallace or Rasheed Wallace.

And yet Wade kept shooting, much as Kobe Bryant did in last year’s Finals. Wade wound up missing 18 of his 25 shots and finished with 16 points.

“Sometimes I’ve got opportunities to drive and I pick up my dribble and I’m looking for my teammates and they did a good job, and after that I had to force up a shot,” Wade said.

“It was just more my mind state than them just totally shutting me down. Sometimes I just missed shots and made bad decisions tonight, and I will correct that.”

Two of his worst decisions came on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter. Wade wound up taking a jumper against Rasheed Wallace, then shooting a fallaway over Prince.

Said O’Neal: “We just have to take the high-percentage shots, especially in the fourth quarter.”

But O’Neal quickly shifted to Wade’s defense, saying, “He’s been playing great. He’s been playing the best in the playoffs. I know he’s going to pick it up the next game.”

Miami Coach Stan Van Gundy vowed to come up with some schemes to get Wade better looks at the basket.

So if Wade can improve and O’Neal can somehow manage to post similar numbers, then why does the forecast look so good for the Pistons?

Because they don’t need great performances from any individuals. A few good ones will do. Detroit had six players score in double figures Monday, ranging from Rasheed Wallace’s 20 points to reserve Antonio McDyess’ 10. Richard Hamilton managed 16 despite an off shooting night (seven for 20). The Pistons should be able to duplicate those numbers on any night. And then there’s the defense.

After an early burst from O’Neal, who made his first four shots to power the Heat to a 23-19 edge, Miami scored only 58 points in the last 40 minutes. O’Neal made only three of his last 10 shots.

“That’s a better defensive team than we’ve played in the playoffs,” Heat backup center Alonzo Mourning said. “They’ve proven that statistically. We have to make better decisions than we’ve made in the past.”

Van Gundy made the decision to play Mourning alongside O’Neal for the first time, a lineup both big men endorsed. They could get away with it because Detroit Coach Larry Brown didn’t have Rasheed Wallace on the floor. But Brown could diffuse that Heat lineup by sending in Wallace and daring either O’Neal or Mourning to go outside and keep him from making three-point baskets -- Wallace made four of five Monday.

Brown also made an adjustment, heeding his players’ request to double-team O’Neal in the post. That’s one reason he took only three shots and made only one in the fourth quarter. O’Neal still can overpower defensive player of the year Ben Wallace one-on-one, which is why Rasheed Wallace wisely came down and slapped O’Neal’s arm when he got the ball deep in the paint in the fourth quarter. O’Neal made only one of two free throws with 4:36 left, and it was Miami’s final point as the Pistons scored the last eight.

O’Neal couldn’t provide any definitive answers about his bruised thigh.

“I’m not really worrying about it now,” he said. “Tomorrow’s a rest day. We’ve just got to see how it goes. Then Wednesday, it’ll come. Once game day comes, the adrenaline factor ... it’s kind of hard to measure the adrenaline factor.”