Pistons Star-Struck by Wade and O’Neal

A highlight-reel play in the closing seconds of the first half Saturday night told the story of Game 3 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals.

All-Star center Shaquille O’Neal of the Miami Heat set a screen for All-Star guard Dwyane Wade near the top of the key, then rolled toward the basket. Wade drove and shoveled a lob pass toward the heavens, whereupon O’Neal snared it and ferociously slammed it.

This game was about star power, and not only because the crowd in American Airlines Arena included Janet Jackson, Diddy, Enrique Iglesias, Anna Kournikova, Usher, Tom Brady and Jimmy Buffett.

Wade and O’Neal combined for 62 points, made 75% of their shots, took 20 rebounds between them and, after the Detroit Pistons closed to within a point midway through the fourth quarter, made the plays that steadied the Heat in a 98-83 victory that gave Miami a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“That’s why they’re here,” Heat Coach Pat Riley said.

Wade made 13 of 17 shots and nine of 11 free throws, scored a game-high 35 points and also had eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. O’Neal scored 27 points, took 12 rebounds and had two steals. He made 11 of 15 shots.

“They carried us tonight,” Riley said. “We needed them.”

And as they showed on the alley-oop play, which gave Miami a 49-38 lead at the half, the Heat stars need each other too.

They feed off one another, look out for one another.

Unlike O’Neal and his former sidekick, they even seem to like one another.

Riley, alluding to O’Neal’s well-chronicled feuds with Kobe Bryant even as Shaq and Kobe led the Lakers to three NBA titles, said a bond existed between his stars that was fostered early on by O’Neal, who was traded to the Heat from the Lakers before last season, “because of his experience in Los Angeles. ...

“He just wanted to make it right with a young kid, and I think there’s so much respect there for each other.”

At the end of the half, Wade probably could have scored.

But, “Nothing makes him happier than a lob,” he said of O’Neal. “Any time I drive to the basket and his man leaves him, he always tells me, ‘Throw it up.’ I try to do it at least 75, 80% of the time.... It’s a high-percentage shot for us.”

Said O’Neal: “He’s a great player, very unselfish player. We have that connection, and when he goes past his guy and my man steps up, I’ll be there.”

Wade and O’Neal were there for the Heat again in the fourth quarter after the Pistons rallied behind Chauncey Billups, who scored 31 points. Consecutive three-point baskets by Billups, who made 11 of 17 shots and four of five from beyond the arc, made the score 74-73 with 7 1/2 minutes to play.

“You’re about ready to meet your basketball maker, OK, and that’s what it’s about,” Riley said later of the Heat’s moment of truth. “You’ve had this lead the whole game and all of a sudden you’re going to let this thing get away from you. I think our team responded extremely well.”

Naturally, the stars, Wade and O’Neal, led the way.

A three-point play by Wade and a short hook by O’Neal jumped the lead to 79-73, kick-starting a game-ending 24-10 run by the Heat that featured 10 points from Wade and four from O’Neal, including a pair of made free throws.

“Shaq got aggressive early, then I got kind of aggressive early,” Wade said later. “Things were working for us. Then other guys stepped up for a while until we took it upon ourselves to once again be the leaders of the team.”