Miami 91 - Detroit 86. What, me worry? Maybe...

A few quick thoughts on tonight's loss before I call it a night...

The Pistons looked like a team coming off of an emotional 7 game series, as they were gassed. There wasn't much in the tank tonight, physically or emotionally. That goes for the fans as well. The 11-0 start for the Heat quickly took the Palace right out of the game. The Heat were smoking from the field, shooting the lights out damn near all night, while the Pistons siezed.

I saw a Pistons team that was getting more than their share of open looks, but couldn't drain their shots. Again, as in the Cleveland series, the opposition played decent D, but it just felt like it was more what the Pistons weren't doing, rather than vice versa. Even still, the Pistons hung around all game, even took a the lead a couple of times in the 2nd half. But they couldn't ratchet up the offense or defense enough to pull away. You'd eapecially think that when Dwayne Wade had to sit for the majority of the 3rd quarter with foul trouble, the Pistons would make their run. We thought wrong.

The offense did not look sharp. Hamilton and Billups couldn't throw the ball in the ocean tonight, let alone the hoop. You look at their scoring, 22 and 19 respectively, and you'd say they played well. You'd be wrong. Shooting 15-41 isn't going to cut it. On the other hand, Wade pretty much did what he wanted offensively, when he wasn't in foul trouble. Shaq was Shaq, but really didn't have a huge impact. He got his early, but didn't do much in the 2nd half. Which shows how badly the Pistons played. With Wade off with foul trouble and Shaq having an average game and foul issues himself, the Pistons still couldn't take advantage. Pat Riley's 3 ringers, Walker, Williams, and Payton, all had productive games, picking up the Shaq/Wade slack.

Lindsey Hunter threw up some ugly shots, going 0-3, and there was one drive to the basket in the 3rd quarter that was paticularly awful. Just a badly wasted posession in a tight game. It was another game where the bench scoring, save for McDyess, was non existent.

'Sheed had one of those games where he just seemed to float around on both ends of the floor, and had a minimal no impact on the game. When 'Sheed goes for 7 and 3, it's near impossible for the Pistons to win. Was it the ankle, or just a very bad game? Either way, it doesn't bode well.

So here we go again. The Pistons making things hard on themselves. Game 2 has now become the next closest thing to a must win. Might as well come out and say it, Thursday's game is a must win...

The Pistons have come up with a rallying cry, "If it ain't rough, it ain't right." Personally, it's one I could do without.