HoopsHype.com Columns

Orders of business
by Eddie Johnson / May 30, 2006

After watching the Pistons completely dominated by the Miami Heat, I started
to think about how quickly perceptions change when the team everyone thought could win 70-plus games and the championship all of a sudden looks as if it didn’t even belong in the Conference Finals.

The Pistons are worn down when it really counts – which I expected. I stated all year long that chasing 70 wins and not using the bench would eventually take them down. Teams don’t win titles without good role players and the Pistons
have just one and half in Antonio McDyess and Lindsey Hunter.

The Heat was my pick to come out of the East. They have not disappointed me. Miami has clearly been the best team in the playoffs so far. Antoine Walker, Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning and James Posey are paying dividends at the right time. Dwyane Wade is just plain unguardable and Shaq is quick and nimble.

Here are five things the Pistons must do to get back in the series and five things the Heat must do to close them out.

THE PISTONS MUST...

- Stop blaming Flip Saunders. You wanted a calmer coach and more freedom and now when things are going haywire you start to question a coach that allowed you to do anything you wanted for 82 games. Look in the mirror.

- Play Kelvin Cato and see if he can get in Shaquille’s way, because Ben Wallace is helpless. No way should Wallace be playing 30-plus minutes if he can’t do what is his strength – and that is play defense. He had no blocked shots in Game 4 and he is a liability to the extreme on offense.

- Run the offense through your best player – his name is Rasheed Wallace not Chauncey Billups. He is your best high-percentage scorer and best passer.

- Up the tempo. The Pistons proved during the year that they can run and score, but for some reason they think that they have a better half-court offense than Miami. How can they think such a thing when Miami has Shaq and Wade?

- Involve Shaq more defensively. That again means sitting Ben Wallace down and putting McDyess on the floor.

THE HEAT MUST...

- Keep pounding the ball inside to Shaq. Ben Wallace can't guard him and never could... Anyway, has anybody ever guarded Shaq other than the officials?

- Keep isolating Wade. He is wearing down the Pistons perimeter players and causing them to suffer on the offensive end.

- Get back in defensive transition and continue to make the Pistons shoot from the perimeter. The Pistons have struggled to get easy baskets and that is killing them right now.

- Play deep into your bench. The Pistons have committed to only playing seven players all year and in the playoffs this method has finally caught up to them. The beauty about the playoffs is every once in a while a role player can win a game for you because defenses aren’t prepared for that. The Pistons refuse to give any of their role guys that opportunity and they have become extremely predictable.

- Stay focused. The Pistons will not quit and they still feel like they can win on your floor. Two of the next three games are on the Pistons' floor.

In the West, things have gone as expected. Dallas and Phoenix are mirror images. Both teams love to run and play small ball. The difference so far is that the Mavericks have a height advantage and more healthy bodies. The Suns continue to have a run of bad luck on the injury front. Raja Bell’s calf strain could be the deciding blow to a team that lost its best player (Amare Stoudemire) before the season and its best low post defender (Kurt Thomas) before the playoffs and still managed to win 54 games.

THE MAVERICKS MUST...

- Make sure Josh Howard scores 20-plus points because when he does that, the Mavericks are 23-0.

- Transition defense is a must. Once the Suns shake loose, it’s like an earthquake. The Mavericks not only have to get back defensively, but they must locate shooters around the perimeter – which is totally against what basketball players were taught to do growing up.

- The Mavericks must continue to attack the offensive glass and negate the Suns potent fast break. Josh Howard has hurt the Suns all year with his rebounding.

- Avery Johnson must continue to go deep on his bench in an effort to play fresh players against the Suns' tired players. This I believe has allowed the Mavericks to win the last two contests in the fourth quarter.

- Keep Mark Cuban muzzled. He has been pretty quiet in this series and that has kept bulletin-board material out of the Suns locker room

THE SUNS MUST...

- Roll the dice a little longer with Eddie House. He is the answer to Jerry Stackhouse. House won five or six games during the regular season with his shooting. With Raja Bell out, the Suns need someone to potentially give them a 15-to-20 point night off the bench. Either use House more or put Tim Thomas back on the bench to provide the firepower.

- Shut down Howard. He is the most logical choice because Jason Terry has the ball and Dirk Nowitzki is unstoppable. The Mavericks can’t beat the Suns with just two players in high double figures.

- Steve Nash has to shoot early and often. Nash averaged more than 30 points after deciding to take over the series last year. He will need to provide that same lift for the rest of the series – especially if Bell is not back.

- Run, run, run and don’t stop. The Suns will not win a half-court game with the Mavericks. Nowitzki is too good.

- Take a look at Kurt Thomas and see if he could be a factor. He is the Suns' best picker in their two-man game and will force Erick Dampier and DeSagana Diop to play on the perimeter when they are in the game.

Eddie Johnson is a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com

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