Throwback NBA Playoffs ECF 2006.5.29 Detroit Pistons at Miami Heat G4 FHD
three and one to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself with a loss in the very next game. Dwayne Wade said, “Coach just wants to make sure we’re focused. We cannot afford a let down. Trust me, Riley’s voice was heard.” Mike, back to you, guys. Thank you. Certainly hungry for their first ever championship. They’ve never even been to an NBA finals. A big opportunity tonight to take control of the series with a victory. Meanwhile, the Pistons in a place they find themselves quite a bit as Wade draws the first foul. Phillips, you know that you’re taking your game to a new level, but then the rebounding and assists are off the chart. Hamilton blocked by Wade. That’s the other part of Wade’s game. Not just an offensive player, strong defensively, although Richard Hamilton felt there should have been a foul call. Teaming, not a hard double team. Phillips down there faking get Shaq to pick up his dribble. Now, will they continue to do this? Hamilton knocks it down. Richard Hamilton in Miami. number of key offseason acquisitions like Walker and Jason Williams. Wallace with the shot clock winding down. Well, we’re seeing a lot of missing here, Mike. A lot of missing, but no second shot attempts at either end. Haslam puts it in. I like Pat Riley’s game plan in game three. Hamilton, who runs off as many screens during the course of the game as anybody in the NBA, hits Prince and Prince in and out. Prince only had three points in game three. Hit a three-pointer for Detroit’s first points of the game. Did not score again. O’Neal inside. Ben Wallace felt he was pushed. Yeah, he was. They were the lob because they emptied out the opposite side of the lane so no one could come in to steal the pass. Prince against Walker. Tough match up for Walker. Desawn Prince. Nice little jump hook. Now, in this series, that has been almost negated mainly because Miami has been coming quickly across the lane to look for the double team. O’Neal deep in the post, an easy two. Impossible to stop him down in front of him. Sometimes trying it from behind. That is the third straight clear out for Prince. Prince didn’t have possession. Knocks it down. Crowd wanted to travel. All in all, not too bad. Mike, that’s what he always does. Lisa was he was born and raised in Miami. Went to high school in Miami, college in Gainesville at Florida. He’s living a dream playing his pro basketball with Shaquille O’Neal. Dwayne, he’s had one bad game game three. And you can see tonight he’s right back in swing. Look how quick the big guy is, Bob. He’s showing you different moves. He’s coming in whichever side of the lane he’s on. As soon as he makes the catch, he catches you off balance. I think he caught the crowd a little by surprise. They’re buzzing after that move. Phillips operating. Williams. Good defense there. Here comes Wade right at Hamilton. And a blocking foul called on Richard Hamilton. Yeah, Richard. Richard gave it a three. Keep an eye on it. There was the lock. Now Jason comes into your picture up at the top. Now the way he had it on the drive or on a drop off. Now keep an eye on Shaq right here. See that’s beautiful. Anytime that he makes that spin move, he’s got you on the back. Now it comes down to which side of the basket he wants to power dunk. We saw it first time that we’ve seen that. They’re not going to allow them to run their continuity offense. O’Neal looks at the shot clock, gets it back, is going to have to put it up a little further out. And Shaquille O’Neal knocks it down. They had position. A low percentage shot for him, but then he knocks it down. Rasheed Wallace the quick jumper and Wade the rebound. Thing about Wade, he’s their leading assist man. He rebounds, he defends, and he certainly can shoot. Have numbers here. Four on three Phillips. Not many second shot opportunities. Uh and we’re not seeing at either end that the teams are doing an excellent job taking care of the defensive rebound. Wade, beautiful move from Dwayne Wade against the zone. The zone did its job, but then Shaq negated it with that pipe. Low percentage shot. Let’s work together. You’re a team. It’s all about chemistry and performance. And again, the Piston players, as Hamilton rushed it, then Wallace gets the rebound. He got pushed and puts it out. Shot clock is down to three. Prince has to put it up. Tough shot and he knocks it down. They’re very nonchalant about Hunter also in for the Pistons. So, three reserves. Payton crowding Phillips. Prince lines himself up, knocks down a three. Taan Prince. And so were the Lakers a couple of years ago in their loss to these Pistons and also with Seattle back in 96. Shot clock down to three. Wave. Boy, that’s a tough shot. And he banks it in. In this series, Mike, he has proven 60% for Miami. Wade again. Now Mike, listen. Lindsay Hunter out and he said it was the best thing that happened to him. It prepared him for the NBA. A year away year playing in France. He came back and he wowed him in the summer league and now such a big part of this team. Mcdice puts it in Mike. A lot of sacrifice and a lot of hard work by Posie right up on Prince Wallace. Tough shot with that high release. Now Wallace with his first field goal. There’s the extra pass for Miami. Payton rattles in a three. Pickers have been blowing the whistle now between Phillips and Hamilton. The Pistons are really struggling. They only have one field goal between them. And there it is. That’s the guy. You got to get him going. Those curls and hit that shot. Evans now the latest guy to try to defend Wade. [Applause] Wade spinning inside, stripped and fouled. That That’s where you just cannot gamble. When he comes out of that, force him to come out of the spin and make the shot. See, they spun it right there. You just can’t gamble at that chance. When you get him is on the dribble, meaning the Pistons, you’ve not had a great half. You only have one player who’s putting up any type of numbers. O’Neal with the deflection. Here he goes, Shaquille O’Neal. Oh god. Wow. There was no way he was giving that ball up. I tell you that was very impressive. Come on. Wallace inside. Blocked from behind by Wade. Last touch by Wallace. No Bob the dribble and you’re seeing here comes the coverage and I’m going to run you down. I am not going to give up after you blow by. Great offensive rebounding. Keep an eye right here. Shaq blocks this. That’s the guy that’s been stepping up. And then this is just a terrific finish. He’s 71 325 and the Heat lead by 10. [Music] Estimate the good coverage. The man-to-man coverage and the team coverage on rotations that we’re seeing in this first half. Miami doing a terrific job. Posey for three and the lead is 14. He’s They run no plays for him. He gets everything in transition on the threes, shooting it at 44% at playoff time, but he’s here for his defense and he’s done an excellent job as you said, Hunter. And that’s a big shot [Applause] for Wade. Can’t get it to fall and a foul is going to be called during a game. It’s eye contact. Now, just watch. See, once he catches you on the top side, Lindseay Hunter played way on the top side with his back to the ball, so it’s easy to throw the lob. Backing it up with another stellar first half. A minute remaining in the second. Hamilton good drive and a tough shot to keep Detroit close. Hamilton on the drive. Hamilton inside. Beautiful move from Hamilton. 44 points. You’re only up six. The reason the miss nine foul shots. You cannot get that double figure lead. O’Neal. An easy two for O’Neal who’s got 13. Best at this time of the season. Had the ankle injury early. Took him a while to get back in shape, but just playing energized basketball. Wallace. Nice move. Yeah, defensive move by Prince. Phillips with the foul trouble. Didn’t score much for Detroit. Did have five assists. I see they can get this all night. He had one of those games early in the series. Third option. Nothing. You got Rasheed on a one-on-one right here. Wallace. Tough shot. Won’t go. Ben Wallace the rebound. There’s Phillips. Phillips. Another field goal. Your first option. Now flip on the baseline. That’s your second option. Hamilton inside. Ben Wallace. Blocked from behind. Wade and Hasslam right there. Wallace gets it back. Sea Bilips on the pullup and Phillips finding the stroke. They’ve tied the game and Phillips again way short. [Music] Walker left wide open and nails it at time to set. See that can’t happen mainly that that is his pet move. And the Heat back up by five. Rasheed Wallace comes right back and answers with his third field goal. Well, he and Phillips had to answer the bell. Between them at halftime, they only had one field goal. So, you know that they’re coming now. They’re in this 32 flat zone, which has given them a lot of coverage, but everybody must rebound the ball. Wade Alioop didn’t work. Hamilton running the floor and misses the layup of Phillips right there. Phillips having a big third quarter. Pistons with a chance to take their first lead since the opening minutes. Prince pulls up and Prince gives Detroit a one-point advantage. Push off. So you must adjust. Walker nice feed. Hasslam inside. Udanis Hlam in the right place at the right time. And that’s what all offensive teams try to do. They try to split the seam of the zone. Back to that play UB they’ve been running. Hamilton inside. Ben Wallace feeds Rasheed Wallace. Now that was pretty. Now into this game he was three for 14. He’s 0 for two. So he’s three for 16 in this series on the line. Prince tipped by Ben Wallace. Keeps it alive. Rasheed Wallace for three. Knocks it down. And the Pistons take a four-point lead. They’re happy when they miss. Okay. They’re always great when he makes them. I thought coaches were never happy. Period. Walker. Ali up to O’Neal. And the foul job in the 3-2 zone. See Walker. Walker, he had no chance. The defense that had is Ben Wallace and Dale Davis. Two guys are very, very poor free throw shooters. Now, right now, the zone has shifted. It’s a two-3 zone. See, that’s good basketball. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Hamilton. [Applause] Hunter open. Lindsay Hunter again. And Hunter big off the bench down there. Now Bernie Fry was right on that play. It was close, but he stayed on his tippy toes. Hamilton nice pass. Davis inside. Blocked by O’Neal and a 24second violation. Hunter remains on Wade. Wade on the drive. Oh, he goes down hard and the foul. Yeah, but he went for the block. You’re talking Dale Davis is a shot blocker worse than the foul was. I mean, it certainly was a foul. You see right there, he went right up. As long He went up for the ball. He didn’t go for his head. He didn’t go for his body. He went right up there for a shot block. And the officials are not going to call a flagrant foul. Difference between the regular and flagrant Gary Payton. Hunter for three. Davis had it, lost it. Dive on the floor. Still a scramble. Hunter inside. Blocked by Morning. They are in a two-3 zone now. I see that’s smart. You go up high. All right. You go up high, you immediately have an open area. Wade finding an open area inside, drives hard, draws the foul. Oh, Wade puts it in. Wow. Wow. What a great shot. It’s a terrific move. Now, watch how he splits the seam in the zone. All right. And then he comes right up. They’re saying moving underneath on the shot. And then the finish. How about the finish? a flip back with the English on the on the spin of the ball. That’s the second time he’s gone down hard on his back. The ability to get off just a quality shot, let alone put it in and a chance for a three-point play. That’s shot clock down to seven. Good defense by Good defense by Gary Payton. Oh, nice move, Lindseay Hunter. Very aggressive. Wallace tips it away from Wade. Hlam. Payton on the drive. Deflected by Hamilton. Wade puts it up. Oh, he puts it in. Wade does it again. Oh my god. That is only his third shot in this second half. A two-pointer for Wade. And the lead back up to six. The crowd a buzz again. Prince makes his drive foul as Hasslam shoved him really well. How about that deflection? The catch. He you saw he looked right down at the clock. Just a fantastic move and then when you realize he has had very few. How about that? And that Riley calls out a play. Wade looking at the bench. Yeah, they’re going to go over and see what happens here. Look at Shaq and then make your move. Wade. Beautiful shot from Dwayne. Wade Pistons must be careful. I just keep an eye. See, this is where he’s he’s really good. He’ll run that reverse move on you if you’re with you. And then then as he steps back, it’s one of his pet areas. Hlam steps back, knocks it down. Eight-point lead. Well, Hasslam a time. Six and a half to go. You’re under that right now. The big thing is you’re only down eight. Here’s your here’s your flat flat area now. Wade fouled on the pass of the fourth quarter on his threeminute spell here. This group out on the floor for Miami has done an excellent job defensively. Phillips on the drive. Nice pull up. Chanty Phillips. Phillips with 12. Pistons need stops. They’ve been able to do it in crunch time throughout the season and in the postseason. Posey for three. Puts it in. Lead at 10 to counteract how he’s going to be trapped. Every day he’s working on keeping him current. Haslam. Shot clock winding down. Payton gets it into O’Neal. Shakil O’Neal puts them up by 12 because it’s over. And now it comes down to whether he’s going to make the shot or miss. Ben Wallace to Hamilton. Hamilton tough four away and Wallace on the tip. They needed that. Under four and a half remaining. Miami Heat trying to take a 3-1 lead in this best of seven series. They have an overload here. And Hlam wide open, knocks it down. Back to that foul line extended. Prince has got to worry about Hasslam or the defender in the or the offensive man in that right corner. Get that at will. Phillips. Good drive. Nice. Miami Heat with another impressive fourth quarter so far. Payton for three. Bang. Gary Payton from downtown. And it’s a 14-point lead. [Applause] Timeout Detroit. Unity is power. Power is unity. Mike, what does all that mean? Well, one player said it’s where Jimmy Ha is Ben Wallace tips in with the left hand. still have one timeout remaining. Neither team with a foul to give. Prince puts it up, tried to bank it in, tips it out to Hamilton. Walker comes away and throws it ahead to Wade. Here goes Wade. Oh boy. And that may be the final dagger. Yeah, that was an explosion, Mike. He just blew right by us. Cozy knocked it away, tried to save it, and Phillips comes up with it. Evans spots up. That’s a three-pointer and Evans knocks it down. Anytime that he’s got time has it Walker. [Music] Just good ball movement. Smart basketball. Spread him out. You don’t want to foul now. The shot clock winding down and Wade gets fouled. That might be a flavor. And just watch to the right of your screen here right now. You’re going to see here comes the foul right there. You see, there’s the push, you know, part forearm, part push. They’ve been down this road before, although this challenge perhaps their most difficult. Final seconds of game four. Uh what a fourth quarter performance for
