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Detroit becomes defensive

Defending champion Detroit swarmed and swatted its way to a dominant defensive performance to defeat the Miami Heat 91-66 on Saturday and force a deciding Game 7 in the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

The tiebreaker will be in Miami on Monday to determine who will meet San Antonio in the NBA Finals.

And the deciding factor may end up being a player who was no factor at all in Game 6 -- Dwyane Wade.

A strained rib muscle was too painful for Miami's emerging superstar to bear, and he decided to sit out just before gametime. Without their leading scorer, the Heat had no one aside from Shaquille O'Neal to give them an offensive boost -- and there were several long stretches when that was exactly what Miami needed.

The 66 points represented the lowest postseason point total in Heat franchise history.

"The thing I dread about Game 7 is for players to fear losing. I just want them to enjoy it, do the best they can -- and hopefully the best team will win," Pistons coach Larry Brown said. "I'll be really disappointed if [Wade] doesn't play on Monday."

The Pistons used runs of 13-0 and 10-0 in the second quarter to take a 44-32 halftime lead, and the lead grew to 23 before the third quarter was over. Miami didn't reach 50 points until 8:07 remained in the fourth quarter, and by then the Pistons were already ahead by 26.

"The two teams played with who they had, and they dominated. Period," Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said.

Hamilton scored 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting with six assists and six rebounds, Tayshaun Prince scored 16 and Chauncey Billups 14 for the Pistons, whose most telling statistics were generated on the defensive end.

Detroit had a 19-7 advantage in fast-break points and an 18-7 edge in second-chance points, and the biggest factor in the Pistons' favor -- aside from Wade's absence -- was their 25-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

O'Neal led Miami with 24 points, but he was one of the main culprits when it came to failing to take care of the ball, committing six of the Heat's 19 turnovers.

The Heat now must hope that Wade's injury starts to heal a lot quicker over the next 48 hours, or the chances increase that it will be the Pistons heading to San Antonio for Game 1 of the Finals on Thursday.

"I'm thrilled we're in that position, based on how this series has gone," Brown said.

Wade was replaced in the starting lineup by Rasual Butler, who scored 13 points.
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