Miami – Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade had team president Pat Riley telling him even Michael Jordan had bad games. Wade listened to teammates Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning while O’Neal took them on a late-night drive around Miami.
After all that advice, Wade responded from a tough opening game in the Eastern Conference finals with a 40-point performance Wednesday in Miami’s 92-86 victory over the Detroit Pistons that tied the best-of-seven series at 1-1.
“I just listened to the people I listen to all year,” Wade said. “All my coaches. My high school coach. My college coach. My NBA coach. I listened to them. I know I’m human. I know I am going to have some bad games. But it’s all how you come back the next day, the next game. I helped my team get a win tonight, and that’s all I can ask for.”
Wade, who was averaging 28.6 points entering the conference finals, missed 18 shots and was limited to 16 points in Game 1 against Detroit. But he responded Wednesday by making 15-of-28 shots, scoring 20 in the fourth quarter, and making all 10 free throws. He also had eight rebounds and dished six assists.
“You guys all saw that tonight, how tough he is mentally,” Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said. “They’re a great defensive team. I don’t think it will be easy for Dwyane or any of our guys the entire series. But Dwyane for two years has been a guy that when you find an answer to him, he’ll go back and take a look and make some adjustments himself.”
Game 3 is Sunday at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
“All we did was get back in the series,” Van Gundy said. “They came here to Miami just wanting to take home the home-court advantage. They got that. So, obviously we’ve got our work cut out for us going up to Detroit against the defending champions.”
Wade scored his first basket on a driving layup that put Miami ahead 4-2. He finished the first quarter with eight points, but Miami led just 24-23.
“When you get a couple layups like he did in the first quarter, that gets your game going right away,” Detroit forward Tayshaun Prince said after scoring 17 points. “First quarter, he played smart.”
Wade and backcourt teammate Damon Jones combined for 16 points in the second quarter to give Miami a 47-36 halftime lead. O’Neal had three fouls at that point, but picked up only one more and finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Detroit’s Chauncey Billups scored 14 but had eight turnovers.
After being down by as many as 12 in the third quarter, the Pistons trimmed their deficit to four with 1:27 left in the third quarter. Lindsey Hunter’s 3-pointer finished off an 11-1 run, giving the Pistons a 63-62 lead with 4.6 seconds remaining in the third. The Pistons made five 3-pointers in the third quarter.
“We didn’t come out of the locker room with the same energy in the third quarter,” Van Gundy said.
Hunter’s 3 with 10:01 left in the fourth quarter gave Detroit a 69-66 edge. But Wade’s alley-oop put Miami ahead 78-76 and woke up the crowd. A layup by Jones gave the Heat an 87-80 lead with 2:32 remaining.
Rip Hamilton (team-high 21 points) brought Detroit within 87-84 with 1:08 left after being fouled on a layup, but missed the free throw. Another layup trimmed Detroit’s deficit to two with 15.7 seconds left. But Wade made two free throws with 14.8 seconds left for a 90-86 Miami lead. And after a Pistons miss, Wade’s fast-break dunk with one second left sealed the game.
“I have all the confidence in the world in myself,” Wade said. “If I have a bad game, I try to come out the next game and do something different and be aggressive. I believe in my ability.”
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
