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Detroit falls in Game 6, Heat advance

by David Pincus
2006-06-04

Detroit rolled through everybody in the regular season. The loss of Larry Brown was said to have made the team freer on offense, and Flip Saunders was in the running for Coach of the Year. Nonetheless their 64-win season came to a surprising end at the hands of the Miami Heat, and much can be taken out of this series.

The Pistons were so great in the regular season. They had four all-stars, a franchise record in wins and an almost completely healthy team. Yet something happened when they faced the Cavaliers, and suddenly the team that rarely made mistakes looked more human than ever. Both on offense and defense, the Pistons looked nothing like the best team in the League. In Game 6 they shot 33.3% while allowing the Heat to shoot 55.7%.

Detroit has several hurdles to jump before they can become a contender again. Ben Wallace is an unrestricted free-agent, and nothing ruins a team's continuity more than a guy with a giant contract. Flip Saunders job security is suddenly in jeopardy, with much of Detroit's struggles burdened on his hands.

Ben Wallace had a Scottie Pippen-esk moment earlier in the year against the Magic where he refused to go back in the game. Saunders being head coach could influence Wallace to either stay or leave Detroit, and in the minds of most it would make Ben want to choose the latter. If he leaves, the best starting lineup in basketball would have a vacant position, an enormous dent since there isn't an abundance of great centers in the NBA.

With the win Miami advances to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. Shaq and Wade are definitively the best duo in basketball, and Alonzo Mourning and Gary Payton have another shot to gain the elusive NBA title.

For Pat Riley it's total vindication all around. As GM he made transactions that attracted a lot of debate my analysts. But in the end he seemed to have made the right move. Miami's offseason acquisitions scored 41 points in game 6, including a 10-12 performance by Jason Williams. And let's not forget that he brought in Shaq as well.

As coach he is forgiven by most for pushing Stan Van Gundy off a cliff to gain the head coach position. In the regular season they won just twice against the division winners and had a losing record against teams with .500 records. But when it counted, the Heat dominated in the playoffs. In the postseason they went 12-5 against Chicago, New Jersey and Detroit, teams that gave them problems at first before eventually finishing them off.
Now Miami has just four more wins to go before Riley, Mourning and Payton can retire with ease.