http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/team/DET_3079.gifhttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/team/at.gifhttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/team/MIA_799.gif

Detroit Pistons at Miami Heat
Thursday April 6th, 2006 ~ 8:00pm
American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL
TV: TNT (Canada: RNBATV, RNBATVHD)
Radio: WDFN


Probable Starting Lineups

Your Detroit Pistons

Ben WallaceRasheed WallaceTayshaun PrinceRip HamiltonChauncey Billupshttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/ben_wallace.jpghttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/rasheed_wallace.jpghttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/tayshaun_prince.jpghttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/richard_hamilton.jpghttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/chauncey_billups.jpg

The Miami Heat (boo, hiss)

Shaquille O'NealUdonis HaslemAntoine WalkerDwyane WadeGary Paytonhttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/heat/shaquille_oneal.jpghttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/heat/udonis_haslem.jpghttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/heat/antoine_walker.jpghttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/heat/dwyane_wade.jpghttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/heat/gary_payton.jpg

~Tale of the Tape~

http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/mia040606-1.png
http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/mia040606-2.png
http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/mia040606-3.png
http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/mia040606-4.png

GUESS THE SCORE!!

Your Comments??
~

Ah, this is shaping up for a good one. The cliches will be many, "this one means more to the Heat than the Pistons", "This is a statement game", "This is a preview OF THE ECF", somebody better tell the Nets about that last one.

Sheed will be back and rested, I want him to misuse and abuse Haslem down low. Flip can you please put Delfino on Wade, just for a few possessions, please? CB, if you happen to find J-Will on you I would appreciate it if you back his ass up, and 1, if you know what I mean.

The ref`s didn`t allow Shaq to pummel his defender with his elbows the other night against NJ, let`s see what happens against Ben, Dyess, DD, Cato, or whichever Piston guards him.

One thing is certain, a slow start in Miami would almost guarantee the 15th loss for the Pistons. The 1st quarter might determine who wins this one.

The score:

Detroit Pistons 89

Miami Heat 87

Ehh. . Pistons'll win. It'll be close. If they lose, I'm going to be uber angry. Charley Rosen'll head an article titled 'HEAT Dominate Pistons. Pistons have no chance in the playoffs. Why does Ben even bother covering Shaq? I have a man-crush on D-Wade. I know everything about basketball.' I hate Rosen.

How would Doug Collins phrase this?
"You look at his body, Dwyane Wade, it’s as if Michelangelo sculpted it in a dream. He’s just so cut, and his posture, the rack upstairs and those shoulders, so broad."

Kelvin Cato's first game of the season?

This is a game of cat n mouse....
Don't give them anything new to prepare for down the road.

Now that the Nets are getting close to the Heat we could see their best effort.

We really should activate Cato to see if he can do anything with Shaq... that's gotta suck being on the last year of his contract and not playing.

Without Zo this team has very little interior defense for our cutters.

It was interesting listening to Hammond talk about it being a mistake putting Tay on D Wade... can Rip match the effort from the last game on him?

All I really care about is no injuries for this game.... we can run the table after this.

AHB, Collins did say that, right? Funny. Almost sounds like Walton creaming over a big.
Ps 95
Hs 90
Eat S. and die, Riley.

No, that was actually Walton describing Wade during the last loss to the Pistons. Maybe he woulda said Ben Wallace, but none of Michelangelo's surviving works feature an afro.

No, that was actually Walton describing Wade during the last loss to the Pistons. Maybe he woulda said Ben Wallace, but none of Michelangelo's surviving works feature an afro.
I'm pretty sure that Michaelangelo intended an afro for the Bacchus carving, his bohemian tribute to CRUNK Roman Street Art, but probably caved in to traditional pressure to carve wine grapes into this statue's hair.

It was a commisioned piece after all.

Bump for stats update in first post.

This should be a good one need some playoff type intensity here. Hopefully it will be called like when they played the Nets but don't be suprised when you see Shaq's elbow bulging out of Ben's back, offensive foul or not.

Since this game is at Miami, it might be hard to evaluate what the outcome of the game would be…

But then again, it’s Detroit. =P

Detroit 95

Miami: 87

Also, I really hope we don't tire ourselves to much, it'd be an embarrassment to lose to Lee’s Poster Child.

Is this the tackiest piece of junk you have ever seen?

http://www.nba.com/heat/news/fireball_express.html

http://www.nba.com/media/heat/fb_express.jpg

I wonder if Darko has had a chance to ride in it?! (http://www.pistonsforum.com/13026-post80.html)

95 is my number V!et. You gotta get in sooner.
I hit the Hornet number on the knob and didn't get no love. Ps 101.

All I care about is health. Spurs lost tonight, so this one is far from a must-win.

Word is JWill is out until the playoffs (per Riley)... he's got tendenitis on the knee.

When the Pistons have a big game these threads come alive. What I want to see in this game is the mettle the the Pistons show on other teams home court. I think this game will be a back and forth game and if Miami does play without Williams, Posey and Mourning then the Pistons should win.

If thi game is played within the 80's the Pistons will win, if they let Miami hit high % shots than Miami will pull out a close game. I look for this game to be at the Pistons pace tonight.

Pistons 91 Heat 84

CHAT is OPEN!!!!!!!!

See you at Tip off! :D

http://www.pistonsforum.com/news/853-pistonsforum-com-game-chat-debut.html

http://www.pistonsforum.com/news/announcement-chat-rally.html
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I think the Pistons should offer a friendly pre-game handshake to Wade, only to gang up on him and hit him "in those bad ribs" with one of the Roscoe championship belts. Then the Miami bench can tape him up to play, so the announcers can talk about how heroic he is while Detroit delivers withering body shots all game long.

Then he'll miss the final game-tying shot because he's just too worn down, and the Pistons will again punk him with a terrible beatdown until Bill Walton jumps over the announcer's table to rescue him ... at which point they start working Walton over, leaving Flash and his man-crush at halfcourt sprawled out against the Heat's stupid logo.

Just a suggestion.

The Heat deserved to lose especially because of those butt-ugly uniforms.Just terrible.Nice scoring from Delk off the bench, disappointed to not see Delfino though.Good win, nice intensity.Playoffs are coming are you ready?!?

Pistons win #61 95-82
http://www.nba.com/games/20060406/DETMIA/boxscore.html?nav=scoreboardhome

Nice win by the road warriors tonight. The Pistons were not going to let an undermaned Heat team steal a victory in the 4th qtr, like they did the last time they visited South Beach. Good time out by Flip to stop the bleeding at the 6 minute mark and then a three ball by CB at the 4 min mark to go up by 7 cemented the W.

Besides the defense, the key to the game surprisingly was the three ball even though the Pistons only took 12 of them. 5-12 for the Pistons and 0-10 for the Heat. They beat us in the paint as usual, but we got them on fast break points 27-12. Wade got his points, but not in crunch time. It was CB who stepped it up at crunch time after the bench came out flat to start the 4th. The bench did very good in the first half outscoring their's 14-0.

Just think, if not for those two losses to the Nets and the Knicks, we'd be in the midst of a 14 game winning streak and would be the Hottest team instead of the overachieving Nets.

Pat Riley blew up that team. Got a little greedy. Miami came into this season overrated and now they are exposed. They must be getting a little discouraged knowing they have such a slim shot at beating us in a series. :eyebrows:

Nice road win, but its hard to get too excited, given how many players were out for the Heat.

The Heat are a totally different team with Zo, and White Chocolate has played well against us this year, getting to the rim at will.

Posey, their best 3 point shooter, was out as well.

A win is a win, but I think that's all this was. Not a "sending a message" game.

Workmanlike yet pretty win. The Heat now know they have a whole another level to catch the Pistons. Must be discouraging. They did miss Williams who could open up the floor but he also jacks up whatever. Zo can let Shaq play more quality minutes. But...Shaq really look slow and tired and I would have thought he would be up for this game. With Wade, we now know his game and what to expect. They are not out of it but they are starting to look like a longshot.

On our side, Tay is playing at a higher level than last year. And our D and D off of the bench is becoming a force to reckon with. Tonight it was Delk, the other day Dyss. Arroyo couldn't do what Delk did. The key to Sheed is keep him fresh. Keep him fresh. My only complaint, please keep Wade off of the boards!

Nice road win, but its hard to get too excited, given how many players were out for the Heat.

The Heat are a totally different team with Zo, and White Chocolate has played well against us this year, getting to the rim at will.

Posey, their best 3 point shooter, was out as well.

A win is a win, but I think that's all this was. Not a "sending a message" game.

It didn't do anything for the pistons, but it would have been huge for miami to beat us without key players in a close game.

Come on jammer, I want to get excited.

Nicely executed game for the Pistons. I think I recall nine turnovers in the first half, the final game stats show a total of ten, so, one in the whole second half. Taking care of the ball really makes a difference. So does 13 boards from Rip and Prince.

The Heat just aren't a very good defensive team, especially without Zo. TNT showed a graphic sometime along the way looking at what good games opposing shooting guards have against the Heat. Rip was near the bottom of the ranking at 22 PPG. Most of the higher scoring guards were averaging over 30.

I'm also continually amazed, especially in the second and third quarters, how often the Heat go for three, four, or even five possessions without Shaq touching the ball. Their offense seems to either go to Shaq or to Wade, without any structure that gets them both touches on the same play.

And I am loath to admit it, but I kind of liked Reggie Miller's in game analysis. I always in the hate Reggie camp, but he wasn't half bad.

Reggie's analysis is decent. It certainly helps that he likes the Pistons so much! :D

I hate to admit it, but the game was close without any made Piston 3 pointers, and then in the second half, 'Sheed and CB opened the game up dropping bombs. One day I will get over these butterflies that come on when I see a contested three go up. :ohwell:

Tay was really great, I liked how he took it down into the post against Shandon Anderson (a really staunch defender), and kept working for his shot even when the double team came.

Here is the gameflow (http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20060406&game=DETMIA).

I think Derek Anderson could be an X-Factor for Miami. He didn't have a good game last night, but he's comfortable playing 1~3 and can hit the 3, pass, rebound. I almost wonder if he might have been a better fit than Delk. Mind you, Tony Buckets was the leading Pistons scorer at the half!

I don’t know about you guys but our approach to the Heat seemed for the most part stade, business like and generally without passion beyond that of a typical Thursday night game.
Miami’s acceptance of the unfolding conclusion must trouble Pat Reily. Their lack of fight down the stretch seems to speak volumes as to how they may view their playoff chances against us. I won’t say the Heat rolled over, but in the closing minutes their leaders showed surprisingly little desire to compete.

I don’t know about you guys but our approach to the Heat seemed for the most part stade, business like and generally without passion beyond that of a typical Thursday night game.
Miami’s acceptance of the unfolding conclusion must trouble Pat Reily. Their lack of fight down the stretch seems to speak volumes as to how they may view their playoff chances against us. I won’t say the Heat rolled over, but in the closing minutes their leaders showed surprisingly little desire to compete.

mission accomplished. :eyebrows:

Good win last night. With three players missing from the heat lineup, however, only one starter. We beat the heat with their full complement of players earlier this year therefore, it was not too much of a surprise that we won most convincingly.

The only thing that continually gnaws at me to no end is; CB pulling up for the three with so much time left on the shot clock. Last night he had Tay wide open down low, instead he went for the quick three. CB is the man though and I highly respect his game, in the playoffs he may curb his appetite on the very quick three.

The only thing that continually gnaws at me to no end is; CB pulling up for the three with so much time left on the shot clock.

I've been right there with you most of the season - too many quick threes, etc., etc. But I'm starting to see the argument from some of the gang. CB is shooting 0.445 from three, and I'd guess substantially higher on those in rhythm uncontested ones - 60% 70%? I agree, never pass up a sure two unless it's the last shot of the game and you need a three, but I'm also coming around to the "in Chauncey we trust" bandwagon.

I saw that too.

I think CB taps his chest in apology when he misfires. I also think his teammates accept the occasional shoot first behavior as thanks to him for deferring use of his considerable offensive skills early in games allowing them to get going .

CB has become very good at the give and take part of his position.

It didn't do anything for the pistons, but it would have been huge for miami to beat us without key players in a close game.

Absolutely no doubt himat. It wasn't a message game for us, but it would have been a huge message for the Heat, had they won.

Come over to the 3 side. It's a stable of any dagger flashing team. You wouldn't want some team beating us with 3s now would you. You wouldn't us to be bomb inferior, like we are "in the paint" lacking.
...2 games in a row I hit the Piston total on the knob. Ps 95
If I hit 3 in a row you can officially put me in the ZONE !
Now dig it !!!
:)

Absolutely no doubt himat. It wasn't a message game for us, but it would have been a huge message for the Heat, had they won.

Had the Heat won that game last night with their depleted squad, it still may not have made a difference to the Pistons as it relates to the psyche, but it would have given the Heat a huge confidence builder as the last win did when Wade Went Wild!

If the Pistons had lost this game, this and the other board would have blown up again with our second guessing Flip's coaching and the teams concentration. The team (starters and bench) appear to be ready for the playoff run it looks like Flip has settled on 9 man location with Delfino being the odd man out. The question is will we ever see Cato actually play or he just an insurance policy.

great win, heat had no chance in this game, and aside from wade's random lights-out performance to win them a game against us earlier in the year, the heat have shown they are no match for us.