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Wade searches for path through large Detroit traffic jam

Dwyane Wade skirted through the lane and found his jumper with ease. His teammates moved smoothly through their plays -- with one small exception. It was only a walk-through Tuesday at the Heat's practice court.

In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final Monday night, the Detroit Pistons' frontline stopped Wade at every turn in the half court, deflecting his shots and his view of the basket, frustrating him into a 7-of-25 shooting nightmare on way to a 90-81 victory.

As much as Shaquille O'Neal's return from his thigh injury energized the Heat early in the game, Wade's struggles deflated his team. Wade, the Heat's most explosive player, watched the game tape Tuesday with his coach, Stan Van Gundy, looking for a way to cut through the Pistons' never-ending thicket of limbs in Game 2 on Wednesday night.

"I thought they did a good job of disrupting his rhythm; he was caught between drives and jump shots and pull-ups," Van Gundy said. "The thing is, Dwyane has become such a great player and a phenomenon in these playoffs, he's not entitled to go 7 for 25."

Just as nobody on the Pistons expected O'Neal to sit out Game 1, none of the Pistons expect Wade to repeat his subpar performance.

"He's pretty darn special, and I'm sure he'll make a lot of the shots that he didn't make in Game 1," Pistons coach Larry Brown said.

Wade shot 51.9 percent and averaged 28.6 points in the two previous series, but he had not seen a defense as potent and long in the frontcourt as Detroit's. Washington's idea of defense was taking the ball out of the basket; the Nets did not have enough frontcourt support.

"They haven't faced a team like us," Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. "We're not going to let you just shoot uncontested shots or go to the basket without getting hit. I think we've got the best athletic big men in the league."

Detroit played such crisp defense against Wade that it could see his frustration mount as the game progressed. The Pistons outrebounded the Heat, 41-34, and slowed Miami's transition game, steering their opponents into the quagmire that is their halfcourt defense.

"This is a good defensive team; they clog the lane up pretty well, and they've got very long defenders," Wade said. "They've got two and three guys who can block shots, McDyess and Wallace and the other Wallace, so they're a very long team, and once you get by one defender, you're going to see some more.

"I didn't drive as much as I normally do. It was more so trying to make a pass out to my teammates, and that's when you see their length."

For the 6-foot-4 Wade, the lane was off-limits (he made one trip to the foul line in the first quarter). If he drove right and got past his primary defender, the 6-9 Tayshaun Prince, the 6-11 Rasheed Wallace was usually there, jumping off a screen.

If Wade drove left and attempted his step-back jumper from the corner, Ben Wallace, the 6-9 defensive player of the year, was there. Guards Richard Hamilton and Billups were always there to double-team.

"We just tried to limit him getting to the paint," said Prince, whose body seems as elastic as Gumby's. "He was missing easy shots, and he never got into a good rhythm. He'll bounce back, and we'll just have to be able to respond with better defense in Game 2."

Wade was the last player on the practice court, practicing his step-back shots against the assistant coach Erik Spoelstra.
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