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Game 7 Awaits for Heat and Pistons
June 06, 2005
Additional intrigue is hardly necessary for a Game 7. Yet Monday
night's Detroit-Miami showdown for the Eastern Conference title has a
ridiculous number of subplots: Dwyane Wade's health. Larry Brown's
future. The Pistons' legacy. The Heat's evolution.
Little was said from the respective camps Sunday as neither team
practiced, an effort to heal and ensure that weary legs will be spry for
the series finale. Detroit, the reigning NBA champions, will aim to end
this matchup the same way it started — by stealing a win on Miami's home
floor.
"It's been a great series and it's a great opportunity for both teams,"
Brown said Sunday. "And the reward is incredible."
That reward for the winners will be a trip to San Antonio, where the
Western Conference champion Spurs will host Game 1 of the NBA Finals on
Thursday night.
Wade's status will likely remain a mystery until tip-off. His strained
rib muscle suffered in Miami's Game 5 victory kept him out of Game 6.
Without its leading scorer, Miami was crushed 91-66 at Detroit on
Saturday night.
Wade tried to warm up for that game, but was ruled out by the team's
medical staff and the Heat sputtered through one of their most
disappointing losses of the season — one coach Stan Van Gundy wants them
to quickly forget.
"I guess this is what everybody else wanted, and they get it," Van Gundy
said after Game 6. "So, you know, that's where we are now. And like I
said, every kid grows up dreaming of playing in the NBA, dreams of
playing in Game 7. So, there we are."
The sense in the Heat locker room after Game 6 was that Wade would try
to play Monday, with teammates hopeful that two more days of rest would
alleviate some pain and restore some mobility. Team officials said he
remains a game-time decision, but his father, in a published report,
insisted Wade would play.
"Even if he's only 30 percent, he will contribute," Dwyane Wade Sr. told
The Palm Beach Post for its Monday editions. "My word on it. He will
play."
There's plenty of historical trends that seem to favor both sides.
Miami can take comfort that home teams are 74-16 all-time in Game 7's,
according to the NBA. Shaquille O'Neal is 3-0 in winner-take-all games.
And in the last 40 years, there have been 17 instances of teams taking
3-2 leads into Game 6 and losing by more than 15 points — but 15 of
those teams won Game 7.
Meanwhile, there's no shortage of items under the "Advantage, Detroit"
heading as well.
Since the NBA adopted its current playoff format, conference-final Game
1 winners have advanced 37 of 43 times; the Pistons took Game 1 in Miami
90-81. The Pistons have won three straight Game 7 matchups — and,
perhaps most significantly, have won nine straight when having the
opportunity to close out an opponent.
"Great teams win on the road," said Pistons guard Chauncey Billups, last
year's Finals MVP. "It's a little different challenge, you know what I
mean, because we're playing a very, very good team and we're playing
them at their place. ... But we're up for it."
Brown, whose tenure as Pistons coach could end Monday if the team loses,
will visit the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., soon after Detroit's
season ends — as soon as Tuesday, or as late as June 24 — to address a
medical problem that developed after complications from hip surgery.
If surgeons are not able to correct it, Brown plans to retire from
coaching. Speculation has been rampant that if he leaves Detroit, Brown
may join the Cleveland Cavaliers' front office.
"Hopefully, we can keep playing," Brown said Sunday before the Pistons
traveled to Miami.
If they keep playing, they'll have a chance to be the NBA's 10th repeat
titleist since 1988 — and avoid the possibility of being looked at as a
one-hit Motown wonder, a fluke champion.
"We've got to find a way to bring it down to Miami and give ourselves
every opportunity to win the game," Pistons center Ben Wallace said
Saturday night.
And since Wade likely won't be 100 percent, Miami will hope O'Neal —
whose bruised right thigh has been problematic for nearly two months —
can summon the energy for a dominant game.
Shortly after the trade that sent him from the Los Angeles Lakers to
South Beach last summer, O'Neal vowed to bring Miami a championship.
He's averaged 19.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in the series with Detroit;
solid, but hardly Shaq-like, numbers.
"Game 7 is no room for mistakes," O'Neal said, "and everyone has to come
and do their part."
Miami — which, until this season, had never won more than one game in
the conference-finals round — won a Game 7 at home last year against New
Orleans. But some of the franchise's darkest days have come on its home
court in winner-take-all games, including losses to the New York Knicks
in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
"It's really going to show a lot," Heat center Alonzo Mourning said.
"It's going to expose anybody that steps into that arena that's not
ready."
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