MIAMI - On a night when Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade makes only five of 23 shots, most teams will have a great chance to beat the defending NBA champions, especially while Shaquille O'Neal is out.

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (3) passes around Detroit Pistons guard Chauncey Billups during NBA basketball action in Miami, Florida, November 30, 2006. [Reuters]

But the Pistons needed every second to hold off the Heat, winning, 87-85, at AmericanAirlines Arena on Thursday night. The Pistons have now won seven straight games.

They held a one-point lead when Wade blocked a shot attempt by Chauncey Billups, giving the Heat the ball with 25 seconds left. Wade, who scored 21, dribbled down the clock then drove to his left and pulled up for a jumper.

This time, it was short. The Heat knocked the rebound out of bounds with 1.2 seconds left. The Pistons inbounded the ball to Richard Hamilton, who led Detroit with 24 points and closed the game with free throws with .2 seconds left.

His second free throw missed, bouncing off the rim. But the game clock remained locked at .2 seconds, causing some confusion.

The officials then waved their arms and called it a game.

The Pistons' offense notched only 13 assists on 31 shots. Billups finished with 11 points and seven assists. Tayshaun Prince scored 12 points, and Ronald (Flip) Murray served as a catalyst off the bench with 10 points.

Udonis Haslem scored 20 for the Heat (6-9).

The Pistons had established a six-point lead early in the fourth quarter after trailing most of the night. But the Heat roared back, thanks, in large part, to Wade.

Wade scored nine in the fourth quarter and attempted six free throws.

But after Wade's bank shot tied the game at 76, the Pistons scored eight straight and seemed to have the game in hand.

Billups got the run going by finding Rasheed Wallace (eight points) open for a three. Then after Wade missed a three and the Heat called time-out, Billups spotted up for a three of his own.

Hamilton ended the run with a jump shot.

The Heat climbed to within one when James Posey nailed an open three-pointer after Billups tried to swipe the ball from him near midcourt. That shot made the score 86-85 with Detroit leading with less than two minutes to play.

The Pistons took their first lead of the game midway through the third quarter, when Hamilton burned Jason Kapono on a curl. Long before that, momentum started to swing Detroit's way.

Using a zone defense as well as traps and presses, the Pistons held the Heat to 33.3% shooting in the third quarter.

The Pistons fell into an 11-point hole in the first quarter.

Some of that probably was rust from having five days off between games; still, it was ugly. The Pistons only made seven first-quarter baskets, notched just one assist and turned over the ball four times.

Wallace earned his fifth technical of the season as the teams left the floor for halftime. His beef concerned the no-call on the final play of the half, in which Billups lost the ball as he attempted what would have been a game-tying three.

Official Sean Corbin called the technical, ending Wallace's technical-free streak at 10 games.