Miami Heat-Detroit Pistons: Wade Wonders, Curry Blunders In Heat Victory

With the playoffs only a month away, both the Detroit and Miami are a battling for the East’s No. 5 playoff seed in order to secure a first-round postseason matchup with Atlanta, and avoid Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando until the later rounds.

That was why Sunday afternoon’s tilt between the Pistons and Heat was so crucial. Aside from providing a test for the teams to see how they stack up with the second season looming, the game would boost one team closer in the quest for the No. 5 seed at the expense of a competing rival.

However, Miami won the affair 101-96, each team made too many mistakes to consider themselves a postseason factor.

Why The Heat Won:

Dwyane Wade was fantastic in every aspect of the game—13-23 FG, 2-4 3FG, 11-14 FT, 2 REB, 6 AST, 2 STL, 2 TO, 4 BLK. When was the last player who had so much strength but could move as fluidly as Wade? Only the name Jordan comes to mind.

Eric Spoelstra varies the where and the way Wade receives the ball in attack position. Around wing double screens into handoff and rolls, on wing and high screen/rolls, on wing handoff and rolls, on backdoor cuts when denied an entry pass, and by bringing the ball up and isolating from the top or wing. This makes it incredibly tricky for opponents to coordinate their defense because its hard to account for all the different angles and methods can hurt them from.

Detroit tried to send Wade away from wing screen/rolls, but Arron Afflalo often left himself without an angle to cut Wade off, and Detroit’s initial and secondary rotations were poor in cutting off the baseline. Two of Wade’s 13 field goals came on uncontested dunks and layups after being sent away from the screen, including an astonishing lefty drive into a left-to-right spin around Kwame Brown leading to a dunk.

When Wade received a running start off a handoff, he’d  find himself at the rim, or with an easy assist to rolling cutters.

And his defense was just as good as his offense. While Wade did execute a handful of poor closeouts early in the game, his overall defense was remarkable. Fighting around down screens and anticipating passes to the fading screen-setter, harassing Afflalo into mis-dribbles, fighting around another down screen to poke a catch away from Rodney Stuckey, coming off his man to block an Antonio McDyess jump shot, and then in the end game, locking up Rodney Stuckey by twice blocking his shots, and rotating out to Afflalo to block a corner three.

No player in the NBA has gotten the most out of himself and his team this year than Dwyane Wade. Given the vague criteria that constitutes the MVP, that statement is as much a testament to Wade’s greatness as any individual award.

After being repeatedly posted and toasted by Tayshaun Prince early in the game, Moon did a better job of overplaying Prince’s left hand on drives and right shoulder on post ups, forcing Prince away from his most comfortable moves.

Moon also reliably hit three-of-five corner threes.

The Heat used their outstanding team athleticism to either help for their teammates or make up for their defensive mistakes with 10 blocks. Aside from Wade’s four, Moon had three, while Jamal Magloire, Michael Beasley, and Jermaine O’Neal each had one.

Luther Head and Mario Chalmers each showed quick hands and recorded a number of ripped or deflected dribbles.

Udonis Haslem boxed out, ran the floor for a transition dunk, and plugged his mid-range jumpers, including the game winner with six seconds left.

The Heat had good spacing when Wade was trapped after bringing the ball past the timeline, and passouts usually found a big man wide open at the top of the key to shoot a jumper or drive to the basket.

The Heat showed much more defensive intensity in the fourth quarter than they did the first three.

The Heat’s screen/roll defense was much better late in the game than in the beginning. Instead of showing hard on the ball with Udonis Haslem, the Heat decided to keep Haslem on McDyess, fight over the top of the screen, and trust their baseline shot blockers to contest attacks on the rim.

Miami’s zone defense was an effective change of pace the few times it was used. The Heat also adjusted how Moon defended Prince, the areas Wade caught the ball, and the normal second-half rotation of Daequan Cook (which was eliminated). Considering the questionable adjustments and damning lack of adjustments by Michael Curry, and Eric Spoelstra clearly out-coached his counterpart.

After doing virtually nothing the first 49 minutes of the game, O’Neal was able to hit a 19 foot jumper with the shot clock running down, and then was in perfect position for a tip-in which came right to him.

Speaking of luck, on Haslem’s game winner, the initial inbounds pass went right through O’Neal’s hands to Chalmers and Chalmers missed layup squirted fortuitously to Haslem. Still, give O’Neal and the Heat credit for capitalizing on the good fortune presented them.

Why The Heat Almost Lost:

Jermaine O’Neal was atrocious. Dropping passes, fumbling rebounds, arriving late on rotations—he even let Brown blow by him from the top of the key and was forced to commit a foul.

O’Neal tried to isolate Brown or McDyess in the post early in the game, but his brittle body couldn’t back either player down, and his bad habit of needing to shoot with his right hand allowed the Pistons to contest his awkward sweeping left, right-handed hooks from the right box.

Worst of all was how O’Neal was brutalized on the glass by Brown, McDyess, and Maxiell. The trio combined for 10 offensive rebounds, while O’Neal registered a paltry three (!!!) in 34 minutes, one of which was completely unchallenged.

And on Walter Hermann’s go-ahead three with 13 seconds left, O’Neal left him unguarded to drift needlessly to the paint when Wade had bottled up an attempted Stuckey drive.

Miami’s energy level at the onset was catatonic, and they were beaten to every loose ball.

Chalmers was able to get to the basket, but his decision making was deplorable, especially on the defensive end, like taking away an entry pass to Prince allowing Bynum to drive past him and get to the rim. Or attempting to go over screens with Stuckey late in the game when Spoelstra wanted him to go under. Stuckey and Will Bynum blew by Chalmers at will.

Jamario Moon doesn’t pay a lot of attention to detail on defense (like shading Prince right, and overplaying his right shoulder to take away his left hook) and is too reactive defensively. Only after halftime did Moon begin denying Prince the ball by three-quartering him and shading him to his off-hand.

Head isn’t a point guard and can’t run an offense.

Cook is one of the worst defenders in the NBA.

James Jones missed his only shot attempt and lost Walter Hermann on a baseline cut for a layup.

Miami’s defensive rotations were poor, especially their baseline rotations in the first half. And whenever the Pistons ran a screen/roll with Stuckey guarded by Chalmers or an isolation for Prince, something good happened for Detroit.

If not for Wade’s masterpiece, Michael Curry’s mistakes, and lady luck shining down, the Heat would’ve dropped their fourth straight road game.

Why The Pistons Almost Won:

Stuckey has a terrific combination of speed, strength, and explosion and lived in the paint. Only when Wade was sicced onto him in the fourth quarter was Stuckey curtailed.

McDyess, Maxiell, and Brown played terrific post defense and were bulls in Miami’s china shop.

McDyess plugged 18-foot jumpers from here, there, and everywhere—8-13 FG, 16 points.

Maxiell recorded six offensive rebounds and twice stuffed O’Neal head-on at the rim.

If Prince couldn’t find a shot for himself, his vision and intelligence found openings for others—hence his five assists.

Afflalo’s length allowed him to record a pair of steals and finish in transition.

Detroit’s initial rotations were solid, and no player took a play off defensively.

Detroit plugged their free throws—24-27 from the stripe.

Why The Pistons Lost:

Despite their hard work, McDyess, and Brown aren’t shot blockers and had trouble elevating to challenge Miami’s shots at the rim. Brown also failed to get low and move his feet on a pair of closeouts on Wade, and McDyess missed several secondary rotations.

Bynum is reckless, has sticky fingers, only looks to score, and has no clue as to how to run an offense. Yet for some reason, Curry gave him extended minutes in the fourth quarter when Miami made their key run. Stuckey also made poor decisions with the ball, missed open curls, and failed to read defensive pressure when making passes on the perimeter.

The Pistons only connected on two of their 12 attempts from the badlands.

Stuckey had success with screen/rolls with McDyess the entire afternoon, yet for some reason Michael Curry never dialed that number late in the game.

Afflalo and Stuckey had trouble keeping Wade out of the paint all game long, yet for some reason, Curry never tried putting Prince’s infinitesimal wing span on Wade once, even just to try.

Wade had locked up Stuckey late in the fourth quarter but for some reason, Curry thought Detroit’s best play was to isolate Stuckey on Wade one-on-one. The result in the final two minutes was two Wade blocks and an O’Neal-helped assist.

Despite Stuckey’s final attempt getting blocked, and Miami getting the rebound, the Pistons were only down a point with 0.6 seconds remaining. A bleak situation, but one that still left hope for a miracle. Yet Curry thought the situation the perfect time to complain to the refs and earn two technical fouls. Udonis Haslem sank four free throws to seal the win.

Detroit played admirably without three key members—Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, and Rip Hamilton, but they suffered from a lack of one-on-one scoring ability, and their single-double down screen offense had to be vaporized with Hamilton out.

But even when they were healthy, Michael Curry failed to find away to reinvigorate Rasheed Wallace’s withering post game, took the easy way out by benching Hamilton instead of Iverson, and fails to make important adjustments at important times.

While Spoelstra and Wade give the Heat hope of advancing past the first round, it will be a small wonder if the Pistons move on to round two—or if Michael Curry is still employed after this season.