[Tommy]

By Michael Robinson.

Bet Now: Detroit is (-5.5) tonight and (-250) for the series

Frontcourt

Pistons’ center Ben Wallace is the defensive player of the year and he does as good a job as possible guarding Shaquille O’Neal. Last year in the playoffs against Detroit, Shaq averaged 20.6 points per game and just 7.6 rebounds, as Wallace did a great job keeping him off the offensive glass.

Joining Wallace up front are Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince, both of whom have to make up for Ben Wallace’s lack of scoring. Flanking Shaq are Udonis Haslem and Antoine Walker, neither of which is a small forward, and both of whom will have a lot of trouble guarding Prince.

Edge: Push


Backcourt

Detroit’s backcourt of Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton is in many ways the heart and soul of the team. Not only were they the two leading scorers on the team during the regular season, they often take the big shots during crunch time.

Miami’s Dwyane Wade is the best all-around player on either team right now, sorry Shaq. His cohort is the streaky Jason Williams. Williams averaged 12 points on 44% shooting during the regular season, but he is shooting only 36% this post-season and you never know which Williams is going to show up.

Edge: Detroit


Bench

The bench is the biggest hole in Detroit’s game right now. Sure, Antonio McDyess and Lindsey Hunter are both stable veterans who have experience in playoff basketball. The problem is that they are not getting off the pine nearly enough.

Miami has a veteran laden bench with Alonzo Mourning, Gary Payton and James Posey. Posey will get a lot of time guarding Tayshaun Prince as he is by far their best match-up defensively. Payton averaged over 22 minutes per game in the New Jersey series, while Mourning is more an insurance policy in case Shaq gets into foul trouble.

Edge: Miami


Coaching

Flip Saunders is kind of an enigma to a lot of people. His teams underachieved for the most part in Minnesota. His first year in Detroit was a huge success in the regular season, but no one thought that the Cleveland series would be such a tough test. The pressure is really on Saunders to deliver a championship just as Larry Brown did two years ago.

Heat President, Pat Riley replaced Stan Van Gundy with himself exactly for this situation, and now he must deliver. Riley has the championship pedigree as a head coach and more importantly, the respect of Shaquille O’Neal. Riley also knows how to deal with veteran players, and Miami has a roster full of them.

Edge: Miami


Prediction

Even after a great comeback to beat Cleveland, Detroit is hurting right now. Four of their five starters averaged over 38 minutes per game in that series, with Richard Hamilton at 43. Detroit’s starters are in great shape, but minutes like that start to take their toll as the playoffs drag on.

Miami, on the other hand, just took care of New Jersey in five games. That means they will have had a full week off between games. Normally, you would be worried about the team getting rusty, but these players and coaches have seen it all before. I look for Miami to continue their momentum and knock out Detroit in six games.

Pick Miami


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