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Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
The Heat get their miracle, but the Pistons get the victory in a fabulous Game 7. Plus: TNT ends its NBA season with some ABC-style missteps.
Jun 7, 2005 | The Miami Heat got their miracle Monday night, and it still wasn't enough to beat the Detroit Pistons in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Miami got an improbably great game from the ailing Shaquille O'Neal and an impossibly courageous one from the badly injured Dwyane Wade, and the Detroit Pistons left the door open by going through a terrible stretch in the fourth quarter.
Almost all of the things that had to happen for the Heat to win happened -- almost all of them -- and they still lost. The Pistons won a hell of a game, a Game 7 that lived up to the billing. They made the plays down the stretch and won, 88-82.
That's what they do.
"That's what we do," said Pistons guard Richard Hamilton. They make the plays. They'll play the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals starting Thursday night in Texas.
O'Neal, slowed throughout the playoffs by a deep thigh bruise, scored 27 points on 12-of-19 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. Wade, who suffered a painful muscle pull in his rib cage in Game 5 and missed Game 6, had 20 points and four assists.
Wade looked tentative and slow for much of the game, but carried the Heat with a brilliant stretch in the third quarter. He made five straight shots and a pair of free throws and assisted O'Neal on a dunk as the Heat rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to tie the game and nudge into a two-point lead.
The Pistons had tied the game 66-66 on a Hamilton baseline jumper a little more than a minute into the fourth quarter, then fallen behind by a bucket when Keyon Dooling hit a little runner in the lane. That's when the Pistons went through one of their crazy offensive stretches and invited the Heat to take the game and the series.
With a Finals berth on the line and offensive weapons Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince on the floor, Detroit decided it would be a good idea to have various defensive specialists and role players hoist up shots. Lindsey Hunter launched a 3-pointer. Miami rebounded and took a 70-66 lead on Dooling's crazy bank shot.
After Wallace brought Detroit to within two with a jumper, Dooling missed a three and the Pistons came downcourt with a chance to tie. Antonio McDyess launched a shot from the top of the key that rimmed out. A few moments later, having turned the ball over on an offensive foul by McDyess on their next possession, the Pistons were down 73-68.
