Larry Brown will return to Detroit to coach at least one more game. His defending champion Pistons made sure of it.
Detroit ensured that the Eastern Conference finals will last at least six games, getting a big performance from Richard Hamilton on both ends of the court to defeat the Miami Heat 106-96 Tuesday night in Game 4 of their best-of-seven series.
Bouncing back from a 2-1 deficit just as they did in the second round against Indiana, the Pistons took the lead for good after Shaquille O'Neal got into foul trouble midway through the first quarter and knotted the series 2-2 heading into Game 5 on Thursday night in Miami.
PHOTO: EPA
Game 6 will be Saturday on Detroit's court in what could be Brown's last home game as coach of the Pistons.
The 64-year-old Brown has met with the Cleveland Cavaliers about becoming their president of basketball operations, though he continued to insist Tuesday that he would like to continue coaching if his health allows it.
In the Western Conference finals, San Antonio will try to wrap up the series Wednesday night in Phoenix. The Spurs lead the Suns 3-1.
The Pistons had their most dominant performance of the series after they lost Games 2 and 3.
Detroit did not have a single turnover in the first half, never let Dwyane Wade get into a scoring groove -- thanks in large part to Hamilton's defense -- and was never seriously challenged in the fourth quarter.
"We're in much better shape than we were after the other night. We all felt this would be a great series, and hopefully that's the case," Brown said. "We have to find a way to win one game on the road and take care of our own court."
Hamilton scored 28 points, Rasheed Wallace added 20, Chauncey Billups had 17 and the Pistons finished with six turnovers. The lopsided result even allowed little-used forward Darko Milicic to see his first playing time of the series -- the final 93 seconds.
"For the night, their four main guys that they look to offensively, we didn't do a good job on any of them," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. "Just a great, great game by them. A very complete effort on their part."
O'Neal, limited by foul trouble to 8 minutes in the first half, had 12 points and five rebounds. Wade had 28 points on 10-for-22 shooting as Brown made a switch and used Hamilton instead of Tayshaun Prince as the primary defender on the Heat's second-year guard.
Detroit also handed Miami its first road loss of the postseason. The Heat had been 5-0 against New Jersey, Washington and the Pistons.
"Tonight we took care of the ball the whole game, and that was the key," Brown said.
O'Neal picked up his second foul just 6:14 into the first quarter with the score 11-11, and the Heat were behind 32-25 when he returned 2 minutes into the second quarter.
O'Neal's third foul came just over 2 minutes later when he was called for bumping Hamilton on a drive. O'Neal protested that he had his arms straight up, then frowned at the referee who made the call, Jack Nies, as he exited for the rest of the half.
Miami had a 13-3 run to pull to 46-42, but things went bad for the Heat after O'Neal's backup, Alonzo Mourning, drew his third foul with 3:30 left. Hamilton scored six points and Billups had four as Detroit closed the half with a 14-4 run for a 60-46 lead.
Wade had just 10 points at the half as Hamilton did a superb job keeping him out of his rhythm.
"We just wanted to change up," Brown said. "The kid's a great, great player. You can't always give them the same look."
O'Neal's fourth foul came with 3:05 left in the third quarter after Miami had managed to pull to 70-65, and the Heat entered the fourth trailing 79-69. A 3-pointer by Damon Jones pulled the Heat to 84-75 with 7:51 left, but Prince hit a short jump-hook to start a 9-1 run -- ending with a fast-break dunk by Antonio McDyess -- that made it 93-76.
Earlier Tuesday, Brown was unusually defensive and testy in reacting to a report on ESPN.com that he already had agreed to become president of the Cavaliers.
"Why should I worry about Plan B when I'm worried about being healthy?" Brown said. "Why should I ever be thinking about that? I want to coach here. I want to coach. This is what I've done my whole life. I love this team."
Brown has three years remaining on a five-year contract, but the Pistons have made it clear they would not stand in Brown's way if he wants another position.
"All my players ever ask is how I'm feeling," Brown said. "They know I want to coach, that's what I do. Could you imagine me not coaching?"
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
RSS