Pistons started off horribly in the first quarter, but some great bench play in the 2nd quarter got them right back in it. The starters pushed out to an 8 point lead with only about 4 minutes left, but then they choked repeatedly down the stretch and gave Wade a chance to win it on the last possession. Fortunately, he was way off from the floor tonight, and he missed two jumpers in the last minute that would have given Miami the lead.

Good win. Strange ending.

It was ugly, but we won and I will take every win we can get.

Our frontcourt played awesome tonight, especially the bench.

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

The second quarter boost from the bench was a great part of the win, and the Pistons took good advantage of mismatches in the second half to build a lead. The crappy execution in the last couple of minutes was worrisome, and uncharacteristic of the solid 4th quarter play they've had during most of this winning streak. But, yeah, a win in Miami is always nice to get.

Now the Pistons just need to prevent the road warrior Knicks (5-5 away from home, as opposed to 1-6 at the Garden) from stealing one at the Palace tomorrow night, and the winning streak will be at 8.

It's no wonder you're Mensa

The Pistons came out looking a little out of sync. Nazr didn't look so good. Billups looked pretty bad. They did keep going to Tay and he curled into the lane with a soft floater for the most part. Looked like they had better spacing for passes out of the post.

The Heat was able to get out in the open court early. When the 2nd unit came in they really helped out the team. Flip Murray made some good plays and i think help some on the boards on both ends. Dale davis brought a good inside presence and rebounded well. I think Hunter kinda cancelled himself out with a combination of nice D and stupid decisions. Delfino was OK in his time. Dyess IMO was solid. I liked Davis and McDyess tightening up the boards. It seems that those to end up in better positions to grab offensive boards.

Flip S. mentioned making it hard on Dwade and it looked like they managed to do that but Miami (ZO) cleaned up WAY too often on the offensive glass. Nazr came to life in the second half. Some one needs to work on his skills but I like his intensity. Rip became the go to guy and there was a stretch where anyone who got Kapono attacked and scored. Miami came back but the Pistons started hitting the 3 ball.

Sometimes I wonder why the starting 5's frontline is so porous but I kinda believe that is cuz chauncey gets beat so much. When he gets beat by Jason "I just had rehab" Williams, what can you do. Chauncey also got blocked taking the 'big shot.'

The pistons score well when there is a lot of movement but a lot of times once the set is run, they clear out and let whoever has the ball (rip or tay) try to create. Neither are good crunch time iso guys.
We got it done from downtown but I liked how we tried to work inside out. and if we could inject some lateral quickness into CB, we'd dominate.

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Was I right or was I right?

Rip's shot with 2:00 to go was very clutch. It stopped a mini-run by the Heat and it was not an easy look. I'm giving my imaginary game ball to Rip.

I just don't trust the refs around D Wade. Never will.

Did anyone think that Flippin Murray played well? He really had some key plays in the game. I no he gets no love around here, so I'll give him a plug.

These ugly 80-80 games are my favorites.

You were ....

Flip played well tonight. He's pretty fearless going to the hole and his crossover move reminds me a little of Vinnie Johnson (without the spinning).

Ditto. It's great to watch with your heart in your mouth through the entire 4th quarter.

Actually one of my favorite playoff series of all-time for the Pistons was the series with the PACERS in 2004. What a great matchup of defensive teams. THAT WAS SOME SERIOUS BASKETBALL, none of this pansy act of Dwayne Wade or whatever other PRIMA DONNA we have to play in the playoffs.

That INDY series was REAL BASKETBALL and all points that were earned, were paid for with SWEAT, BLOOD AND TEARS.

That's when you had to "earn" your points and wins and not have the commish make a call to "his henchmen" and get your team a FREE TITLE (aka last year's FLUKE team).

Ok, that's it for my rant, I loved that series, I miss that style of basketball, but from everything that Stern would have you believe, I'm a dying breed of fan.

On TNT, EJ just pointed out that the Pistons are 9-0 when they lead going into the 4th quarter. They dodged a couple of bullets tonight, but you gotta like how they've been closing out games.