AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - The Detroit Pistons refused to let Dwyane Wade beat
them again.
In their first meeting since Wade scored Miami's final 17 points in a
two-point win on Feb. 12, the Pistons held him to a season-low 13 and rallied
for an 82-73 victory Wednesday night.
"You never want to have a player that has so much confidence against you that
he thinks he can just take the game over at any time," Pistons coach Flip
Saunders said. "At least he's not going to think he can walk on the floor and
score 17 straight on us."
Wade was just 3-of-15 from the floor.
"I missed some shots that I normally make, and they really pressured me," he
said. "It was tough, but when we play them again in April, we'll have some
counters for what they were doing tonight."
Shaquille O'Neal (thumb) returned to the Miami lineup after sitting out
Tuesday's loss in Minnesota, but the Heat lost his backup, Alonzo Mourning, in
the second quarter. As a result, O'Neal played a season-high 43 minutes, scoring
27 points.
"We played pretty well, but we had a letdown in the last five or six
minutes," O'Neal said. "It wasn't really anything they did ¡ª we just made a lot
of mistakes and they capitalized."
Mourning left the arena with a boot on his right leg after sustaining what
the Heat believe is a torn calf muscle.
"I don't know the exact prognosis, but it's not very good," Miami coach Pat
Riley said. "There's a reason we didn't trade Michael Doleac, and that's because
of this exact possibility. He's going to have to step up."
O'Neal has averaged only 30 minutes a game this season, thanks to Mourning,
but knows that number is about to go up.
"It's going to be very tough without him," he said. "But Dolie will step up
and 'Zo can get some rest and come back strong."