In one game, six months of superiority was washed away.
With a 91-86 victory Tuesday night, the Heat snatched homecourt advantage in the Eastern Conference finals in the opener of their best-of-7 series with the Pistons. A more significant challenge remains–turning that advantage into the franchise’s first berth in the NBA Finals.
Continuing to right its regular-season wrongs, the Heat again made a convincing argument against a division champion, just as it did in taking out Atlantic champion New Jersey 4-1 in the second round.
“Everybody contributed,” coach Pat Riley said. “We ended up making enough plays to win it.”
Tuesday, Alonzo Mourning was brutishly aggressive in the paint, Antoine Walker timely from the three-point arc and Gary Payton accurate enough with his offense to help offset the play of Pistons guard Chauncey Billups.
That allowed the Heat to stay afloat amid Dwyane Wade’s foul trouble until the guard provided a finishing kick to close with 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting in 27 minutes.
“My teammates did a great job keeping the lead and making plays,” Wade said. “I was in a groove tonight and I didn’t really get a chance to use my groove.”
Factor in 14 points and eight rebounds from Shaquille O’Neal, who endured foul trouble of his own, and the Heat knows it will return home for Saturday’s Game 3 with homecourt advantage in tow. Game 2 is Thursday at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Walker supported Wade with 17 points, with Payton adding 14.
Detroit guard Richard Hamilton scored 22 and Billups 19 for the Pistons, who finished the regular-season 64-18, 12 games ahead of the Heat in the regular-season standings.
The Heat eased any doubts about rust at the outset, hitting 15 of its first 18 shots to jump to a 33-21 lead. Miami had been idle since eliminating New Jersey on May 16.
“We came out really focused, had a lot of energy,” Wade said.
Detroit answered and put aside any notions of fatigue by closing within 37-36 midway through the second quarter. The Pistons finished off their second-round series against the Cavaliers on Sunday.
The Heat led 48-44 at the intermission. From there, Miami used its depth to wear down Detroit, especially Mourning, whose six points, four rebounds and two blocked shots barely did justice to his overall impact.
“Alonzo played big for us,” Wade said.
