Pat Riley is ready for another sabbatical

Just when he thought he was in, they push him back out.

I'm not trying to imply that Miami Heat coach Pat Riley deliberately decided that the middle of the season - which conveniently coincided with Shaquille O'Neal's recovery from knee surgery - was a good time for procedures on his own knee and hip. I'll just let the Miami Herald's Dan LeBatard come right out and say it for me. (Here's some disagreement from elsewhere in the Herald's sports department.)

But with Dwyane Wade dislocating his shoulder last night - an injury that could keep him on the bench in street clothes for six weeks - I can't help but wonder if Riley's knee and hip are starting to ache more than they did earlier in the week.

I suppose we'll have to wait to see the doctor's prognosis on Wade's shoulder before we know whether or not Riles will find the strength to lead the Heat into a possible playoff run (where we'll surely hear that they're "the team no one wants to face"). But being helped off the court in a wheelchair can't be a good sign.

Was the wheelchair a bit much? Well, I'm no doctor, though I spent enough years in college for the occasional acquaintance to ask if I was going to medical school. Friends who would know better tell me the team physicians needed to keep Wade's shoulder immobilized. And he apparently has been having issues with that shoulder for the past week. I can only imagine how painful a dislocated shoulder must be, so I'm not trying to imply that Wade would exaggerate his agony. That would just make me an @$$hole. However, there has been recorded visual evidence of Wade misrepresenting how he's been thrown to the floor.

Regardless, no one likes to see a team's chances killed by injury. And suddenly, it's not looking so good for Miami's playoff prospects. Judging from the Miami Herald's blogs, it could be over. Israel Gutierrez: "Worst possible scenario? This is pretty much it." Greg Cote: "Wade injury = Heat nightmare." (Gutierrez still thinks the Heat "is still a .500 team or better," however. After all, they do still have The Big Aristotle.)

Of course, this all could just be setting up a glorious comeback story, a further testament to the coaching and leadership genius of Pat Riley. If the Heat somehow manages to make a playoff run without Wade, we'd very likely hear all kinds of praise for this being one of Riley's best coaching jobs ever (despite benefiting from the aforementioned presence of one of the NBA's most unstoppable forces). And that might be enough to keep the coach pacing the sideline all the way into a first-round playoff series with the Detroit Pistons. Will we see you here, Coach?

The Unbearable Heaviness of Losing

Yes, I would've rather been watching basketball last night, instead of passing time before The Sopranos. (And the "half-season finale" was almost as much of a letdown as the Pistons 2005-06 season.) Of course I wanted to see this team compete for another NBA championship. But I was also kind of relieved to be watching something else. Because I think we saw the end coming during the Cleveland series. And if not then, it certainly became apparent after losing Game 4 to Miami. It had become painful to watch the Pistons on their slow march off the cliff, trying to stay alive in the face of inevitability.

Was Miami just the better team, as Complete Sports says? I have trouble believing that, but I still haven't taken off my Pistons-colored glasses yet. This reminds me, however, of an argument I had ten years ago with my girlfriend's New Englander roommate. Michigan had just beaten Boston University in the NCAA hockey tournament, but Chowdahead maintained that BU was the better team. "Well, if they're the better team," I said, "why didn't they win?" She didn't have an answer then, and I'm not sure I have one now.

But the Heat was definitely hungrier. And that desire gave them enough fuel to surpass Detroit.

What's surprising is how it all unraveled. It wasn't the Pistons' defense that failed them (though the Detroit News' Bob Wojnowski feels differently), but their offense. And it wasn't necessarily because of an increased emphasis on offense. The Pistons lost because they suddenly could not shoot. Scoring 80 points became a struggle for this team. Even with their season on the line, as Big Al points out, the Pistons managed a feeble effort.

During this run of excellence, when the Pistons lost games, it was typically because their jump shots weren't falling. And you could expect that to happen in one or two games during a playoff series. But for an 11-game stretch? When did bad shooting go from the exception to the rule? Ever since Game 2 of the Cleveland series, when the LeBrons turned a blowout into a close game, the Pistons lost something. Did they hit the wall at that point? Is that when all the basketball they've played over the past four years finally caught up with them?

To me, this season proved one thing: A team can't just turn it on. Maybe you already knew that. I did, too, but kept thinking the Pistons might be the first team to do it successfully. A team can't keep creating challenges for itself, digging itself into deep holes, in order to stay interested and motivated. The other team will provide enough opposition, as it is. There's only so much energy to tap. And a team can't squander it. The Pistons certainly tapped themselves out against Cleveland, and just had nothing left for Miami.

But maybe Detroit burned up too much fuel in the regular season when they peaked extremely early. Is there such a thing as being too good? I think there might be - at least in the regular season. Ask the Red Wings what they think of that. Ask the Indianapolis Colts. Ask any team that's playing its best long before the playoffs have arrived. The Pistons were ready to win a championship back in November. Unfortunately, the NBA Finals aren't played until June.

I'll finish with one more thought: I was wrong.

I thought Miami tinkered way too much with its roster last offseason. The Heat were arguably one Dwyane Wade rib injury away from beating Detroit, yet Pat Riley overhauled half of the team. Riley did the same thing with the Knicks, taking a tough team that gave Chicago all it could handle, and neutered it by making too many changes.

And look who he brought in. Antoine Walker on the floor with Shaq and Wade? C'mon, who thought that would work? By January, someone would be crying about getting the ball, right? Shaq and Wade standing with hands on hips, as Walker jacks up a stupid three? Sure.

Jason Williams as the point guard? Oooh, he likes to shoot, too. More shots taken away from Shaq and Wade. Gary Payton? Excuse me, Gary Payton from 2003 just called. He's wondering where his game went. James Posey? Solid role player, but not usually someone the other team accounts for on defense.

And what about Riley himself? Was he still a good coach or were his methods and philosophies - most of which made for some of the worst NBA basketball we'd seen over the past 10-15 years - past their prime? Was he a coaching dinosaur who made a better executive? And why replace Stan Van Gundy, who came so close to beating Detroit?

Well, it worked. At least in getting past Detroit. Somehow, Riley made it all come together. We'll see if the tinkering can yield a championship. That'll give me something else to chew on over the next couple of weeks, as I decide whether or not I can watch other teams compete for a NBA title I - and many, many others - probably took for granted.

Game 5: Still alive

So do we have a series again?

It's probably natural to overreact just a bit after a Game 5 victory, but the Pistons showed they still have some fight left, and if Miami's going to win this series, they'll have to earn it. That shouldn't surprise anyone, but it was still nice to see last night. (By the way, do I get any credit for correctly predicting Detroit's 91 points? No? Because Miami only scored 78? Okay. But I'm just sayin'...)

Any game analysis I could offer would be shaky because I was close to DEF CON 1 Fan Panic Mode as I watched the game. No superstition was left unused last night. It's probably a good thing I was alone, because I would've been annoying as hell to be with. I didn't watch the first quarter live, opting for the radio broadcast. When I did turn the TV on, and the Pistons seemed comfortably ahead, Miami would come back, cut the margin to two points, and I'd turn the channel. (And with Tigers-Yankees in a rain delay, there was not much else to watch.)

Eventually, however, I settled in and witnessed the most important plays of the game.

Alonzo Mourning picking on Tayshaun Prince? Probably not a good idea, as it turned out. 'Sheed only had seven points in the game, but getting in Mourning's face to defend his teammate stoked some defensive passion. Tayshaun, meanwhile, went on to score 29 points (a career playoff high, as the K-Dog points out).

And perhaps the most important of those 29 points were the three Prince scored with four-and-a-half minutes left in the fourth quarter. That three-pointer gave Detroit a six-point lead, and Miami never got close after that. Heat coach Pat Riley called Tayshaun's three "the biggest play of the night."

Oh, I beg to differ, Coach. So does virtually everyone else who watched that game. The pictures of the play that made the biggest difference, the one all the cool kids are talking about, can be found all over the internet this morning. Detroit Bad Boys and Need4Sheed have it from almost every angle available in the arena. Ben Wallace's block on Shaq, which forced a jump ball and made the monstrous Big Aristotle look rather feeble, was the play of the game.

And now, we can argue for the next two days over which team will feel more pressure in Game 6. After last night, Miami and Detroit players were tossing around the burden like a hot potato.

"The pressure's all on Miami," said Lindsey Hunter. Dwyane Wade countered with a definitive Nuh-Uh! "There isn't any pressure on us at all," he said. "They're the defending Eastern Conference champions." But wait, Big Ben says it's still on Detroit. ''I don't think they have too much pressure on them,'' said the man who made the magnificent, game-changing block (see above). "They're still up. It's tough to play from behind."

Scintillating $#!+, no? Oh, whatever.

It does make you wonder, though. Miami stayed close throughout the game, never allowing Detroit to establish a solid lead. But the Heat never could get over the top, and once the momentum of the game shifted, it seemed like they felt content to take the series back to Miami. And that can be a dangerous mindset to adopt in a playoff series. Look what's happened to the Pistons when they took their foot off an opponent's throat. Cleveland took Detroit to seven games. And Miami made Game 2 of this series a close game.

Being faced with elimination seems to sharpen the Pistons' focus. And with these guys rediscovering the effort - most especially on the defensive end - required to win in the playoffs, Miami could be feeling some Heat tomorrow night.

Daddy's home, and he's not happy

Right now, I feel like a parent who's been gone for a week, only to return to a house that's been trashed by the kids.

I leave for one week, Detroit Pistons, and come home to a 3-1 deficit in your series with the Miami Heat?

No, don't speak. You've already done enough. It's my turn to talk, Misters. You'd better think long and hard about what you've done and how you're going to fix it.

What, you wanted to make this postseason even tougher? You fell behind 3-2 last year to the Heat, so you thought going down 3-1 this year would be more of a challenge? Oh, you've got yourself a challenge now, Detroit Pistons.

"If it ain't rough, it ain't right"? How rough do you want it? How rough do you need it? You've got yourself some big-time rough right now. You guys look like the Red Wings out there. The Florida papers are already declaring you done (via MLive's Full-Court Press). How's that making you feel?

Don't look at the floor. Look at me when I'm talking to you. This is serious. You are lucky you haven't been swept in this series (despite Dick Bavetta's best efforts in Game 2).

And I'm not even going to reach into the "you could've drafted Dwyane Wade, but chose Darko instead" box, because I've already gone there before, and it's a moot point. But it would be nice if you at least tried to stop him - foul calls or not.

Yes, I'm happy that you didn't take as many three-pointers last night, because you'd been taking far too many and looked like some Kentucky team that was a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament but took an upset loss when the threes stopped going in.

But that's (clearly) not enough. Stop blaming the officials. (Though I was almost inclined to side with you after fourth fouls on 'Sheed and Ben effectively killed last night's rally.) And stop complaining about the coach favoring offense over defense. Coaches and players chirping at each other through the press? You're already setting up the scapegoat for the offseason when the season isn't even over yet?

I don't even want to look at you right now. Where is your sense of accountability? Where the hell is your sense of responsibility?

You guys need to go to your rooms, and not come out until you're ready to play. You stare at those Dwyane Wade posters I taped to the ceilings, and the Shaq photos I put on the walls, and think about how you want to go down. Is this how you want this run to end?

I am very, very disappointed in you. And you should be disappointed too. Not just because of this series, but because Mom was going to make her famous Larry O'Brien trophy meat loaf tonight. And you know it's delicious. But there won't be anyone to eat it, because you guys will be up in your rooms, thinking about what you've done and what you're going to do about it. I'll just have to eat it myself. And you know I'm trying to watch how much I eat!

Walk upstairs in shame, Detroit Pistons. And if you're going to cry, you'd better do it in your pillows. Because if I hear any, I'm coming up there.

(Photo by Clarence Tabb, Jr./ Detroit News)

Metro Detroit 2, South Beach 0

Tell me you didn't have a bad feeling in the first half of last night's Heat-Pistons game. It usually doesn't end well when the Pistons miss that many jump shots. And they missed a lot of them. Think of any jokes about laying bricks and building walls, and they'd fit.

Detroit shot 35% from the field. Chauncey Billups was 5-for-16 (but made up for it big-time by going 11-for-12 at the free throw line). 'Sheed was 3-for-12 (and only went to the line twice).

And I know it does no good to complain about this, but I will never be comfortable with 'Sheed shooting that many three-pointers. Call me "old school" - I don't believe a big man should be taking shots that far from the basket. That belief is affirmed when those shots don't go in. Rasheed Wallace, you are not Dirk Nowitzki.

He could go 4-for-4 from three-point range, and my teeth would still grind. I hate it. Last night, the Pistons needed a low-post threat, and the one guy on the team who can provide it chose to stay away from the paint. And that was with Shaquille O'Neal looking like he was wearing cement shoes and Alonzo Mourning out of the game with a pulled calf.

(Photo by Julian H. Gonzalez/ Detroit Free Press)

Of course, the Pistons did win the game, 82-73, so maybe I'm fretting over nothing. (Greg Eno says I am.) To have played that badly, yet still win a game over their closest competitor in the Eastern Conference is an impressive feat. I've heard a lot of jabber on sports talk radio today from people scared over how the Pistons are playing. But Miami should be freaking out, if you ask me. Detroit was just asking to be beaten last night, and the Heat couldn't get it done.

Teams shouldn't be able to win games by suddenly "turning it on," but the Pistons seemed to do exactly that. When they decided to crack down on defense, Miami was shut down. Big gold stars to Rip Hamilton and Lindsey Hunter, who did a good job holding Dwyane Wade to 13 points on 3-for-15 shooting. Pistons killer? Soooo last month, Dwayne.

Meanwhile in Ann Arbor, Michigan made it a doubleheader sweep for metro Detroit. The Wolverines and the Maize Rage are apparently off to the NIT semi-finals in New York after beating Miami's other basketball team, 71-65. I say "apparently," because I didn't see it. But this time, it's because I couldn't see the game. Raise your hand if you have ESPNU? Where does that channel come in? On campus? In the dorms?

It's not like I'm mad about it; I would've watched the Pistons game, anyway. But it would've been nice to watch the NIT during commercial breaks.

Is it silly if I feel a bit excited about Michigan going this far in the postseason step-tournament? Probably. It's like winning the "Toilet Bowl" in Gus Macker 3-on-3. You only got that chance because you lost when it really counted. But I'll still enjoy watching them play for a trophy. Unless ESPN sticks the games on ESPNU again.

(Photo by Kirt Dozier/ Detroit Free Press)

You could've had him, Joe D

Friends and family have told me that I sometimes dwell too much on the past. Mulling over the "what ifs" and "could've beens" of events that passed long ago is a sure ticket to Crazytown, they've warned. And I've gotten better with that. Really.

But after watching Dwyane Wade score 37 points (and hit the game-winning shot) against the Pistons, leading the Miami Heat to a 100-98 victory, I found myself wishing I had paid more attention and tried harder in my high school and college science classes. If I had, maybe I'd be capable of creating the time machine needed to fling me back to 2003, right before the moment Joe Dumars turned in the draft card with the name "Darko Milicic" on it. It could be one of those slow-motion "NOOOOO!!!!" moments. Or if that's a little too melodramatic, maybe I could just stop time. Then while Joe D was frozen in time, I could just switch the cards in his hand without him knowing.

(Photo by Luis M. Alvarez/ AP)

Of course, if Detroit wins another NBA championship this season, that little fantasy will probably be pushed back in the dusty corner of my mind with other past delusions, such as playing third base for the Tigers, dating Ashley Judd, and becoming Batman.

But if Miami somehow knocks Detroit out of this year's playoffs, or the Heat go on to become a perennial Eastern Conference power after the Pistons' window of championship opportunity has closed, I'll be trying to read Stephen Hawking books and looking up "flux capacitors" on Google again.

During last year's Eastern Conference finals, Evan kept me out of a padded room by convincing me that Wade wouldn't be a good fit on the Pistons, as presently constructed. And it's true, he might be the team's sixth man, rather than America's Next Top NBA Superstar. But oh, can you imagine if Flip Saunders could bring him off the bench right now to spell Chauncey Billups or Rip Hamilton? Or what if Wade was a starter, and Rip came in for instant offense, a la Vinnie Johnson? No second-string guard in the NBA could run with him. And what if the Pistons had Wade in last year's Finals vs. San Antonio?

I know, I know. Check back in May and June, and see if Wade can do that against Detroit in a seven-game series. And even with Wade's superstar effort, Miami only won by two points. If Tayshaun Prince hit his shot at the end of the game, Detroit would've won. The Pistons still have the best record in the NBA (though not by much). They have four All-Stars.

But if they'd drafted Chris Bosh instead of Darko, they might've had five All-Stars. And think about how good Detroit would be if they brought Bosh off the bench to spell Ben or Rasheed Wallace. What if the Pistons could've thrown Bosh at Tim Duncan in last year's Finals...