Pistons Rise to Own Defense to Beat Heat

Never underestimate the heart of a champion.

At least not for two more days. The Detroit Pistons, NBA champions in 2004 and runners-up in 2005, staved off elimination Wednesday night by outscoring the Miami Heat, 12-2, at the end of Game 5 to win, 91-78.

Miami now leads the Eastern Conference finals series, 3-2, as the teams head back to Miami for Friday’s Game 6.

“We know the atmosphere is going to be rowdy,” said Tayshaun Prince, who scored 29 points while his more famous teammates struggled, “but in a situation where you’re on the road, everybody in that blue jersey is all we can worry about.”

The Pistons, who rallied from a 3-2 deficit to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the last round of the playoffs, might no longer look like a great team, but they’re still a tough team. They are 11-2 in elimination games since the start of the 2003 playoffs.

It wasn’t pretty. The Pistons missed 13 of 15 three-pointers as their three primary options continued to struggle.

Richard Hamilton shot seven for 21, Chauncey Billups three for 12 and Rasheed Wallace three for 11.

Helping the Pistons out in their time of need, the Heat missed 14 of 20 free throws. Dwyane Wade started the night averaging 31 points in the series and shooting 69.5% but was held to 23 points.

With two or three Pistons dogging his every step at the end, Wade’s last six touches resulted in one field goal, two misses, two missed free throws and two turnovers.

While the stars flickered, it was Prince, the skinny left-hander from Dominguez High, the only Pistons starter who wasn’t an All-Star this season, who took over, slashing past or shooting over Miami’s Antoine Walker.

“He’s unorthodox in a way,” Miami Coach Pat Riley said. “He reminds me a lot of a player that I coached, Jamaal Wilkes.... Jamaal used to wind up [when he shot] but it was like snow falling off a bamboo leaf, it was so smooth.

“He [Prince] had a monster game. We have to find a better answer for him.”

The Pistons reeled into Game 5 off their two losses in Miami, in which they scored 83 and 78 points, amid much finger-pointing at Coach Flip Saunders. Every Pistons starter was quoted as questioning something.

The most dramatic of the complaints was the one filed by Ben Wallace, who said the difference between their defense this season and that of previous seasons was “day and night.”

Of course, there was also a lot of complaining about Ben Wallace, who has to shoulder the job of playing Shaquille O’Neal one-on-one every game. Wednesday night, he held O’Neal to 19 points and blocked two of his shots.

“You know it’s a tough task to go down there and fight with Shaq for 48 minutes,” Ben Wallace said. “I don’t know how much of that was skill or determination, you know, but we all get lucky at times....

“You know, I am who I am. I come out and do whatever I can do to help this team win. Of course, we’re all human. At nights, it might not be good enough. Tonight it was probably just enough.”

That was a man who knew he’d be lining up against O’Neal for 48 more minutes in 48 hours.

As usual, as soon as Game 5 was over, the Pistons began suggesting that all the pressure was now on Miami because a loss in Game 6 would send the series back here for Game 7.

“You know, I don’t think they have too much pressure on them,” said Ben Wallace, who must not have gotten the memo.

“They’re still up. We’ve still got to come out and play desperate. They’re still up and everybody knows that any team in this league likes to play from the front and it’s tough to play from behind.

“Right now we’re playing from behind and all the pressure is still on us.”

Unfortunately for the Pistons, they may not become any more accurate between now and Friday. On the other hand, they’ll still be just as tough.