Heat Sweeps Past Pistons

(AP) 
The Detroit Pistons kept saying they matched up with the Miami Heat. And they probably believed it until Grant Hill broke his ankle.

Without their All-Star forward, they had almost no fight left in them Saturday.

Clarence Weatherspoon, off the bench, had 18 points and 10 rebounds as Miami powered to a 91-72 win, sweeping the Pistons in their best-of-five first-round series.

The Pistons had been talking bravely about finding someone to step up ever since Hill went down Tuesday in the second game. But that fizzled fast once the game started before a crowd of only 14,507 at The Palace.

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"I think some guys just looked scared out there," interim Detroit coach George Irvine said. "I don't know why they would be. They have been in this league for years, at least some of them have.

"I hope to God they weren't scared, but that's how it looked."

While Miami was shooting 52.1 percent, the Pistons made just 23 of 73 shots. The Heat outrebounded Detroit 47-34 and converted 18 turnovers by the Pistons into 21 points.

The game was so one-sided that Heat coach Pat Riley was able to sit Alonzo Mourning down after just 22 minutes of playing time. Mourning, who blocked 14 shots in the three games, finished with 12 points and Jamal Mashburn added 11. Both had scored over 20 points in each of the first two games.

"They missed Grant Hill quite a bit, you could see that," Mashburn said. "But Jerry Stackhouse is tremendous. You have to give Jerry a lot of credit. He did all he could.

"But, let's face it, Grant is the star of that team."

Mourning, however, took great pleasure in sweeping the Pistons. He said many of his teammates were angered by some of the things the Pistons especially Stackhouse had said before the series started. He said the remarks motivated the Heat.

"They said they wanted Miami," Mourning said. "Then they said they could take our rookie point guard, Anthony Carter. But we went out and said, `If you want us, you got us.' Now, we're moving on."

Stackhouse tried his best to carry the Pistons, who haven't won a playoff series since 1991. He scored 25 points, but the rest of Detroit's offense, which averaged 103.5 points per game during the regular season, just couldn't seem to function without Hill.

"I think you have to give credit to Miami," Stackhouse said. "They outplayed us. We couldn't knock down our shots, while they were hitting clutch shots all over the place."

Michael Curry scored 14 points starting in place of Hill. But he was the only other Detroit player in double figures.

The Heat, who had five players in double figures, will meet the winner of the New York Knicks-Toronto Raptors series in an Eastern Conference second-round matchup.

"The next series is going to be more difficult than this one, regardless of who we play," Mourning said.

Miami led by five at the half and put the game away with a punishing defense and timely scoring in the third quarter.

A basket by Stackhouse pulled Detroit to within 62-52 with 2:38 left in the third, but the Pistons went scoreless the remainder of the quarter. Weatherspoon, meanwhile, had two baskets as the Heat closed out the quarter with an 8-0 run, taking a 70-52 lead into the fourth quartr.

"Looking at tapes, we could see they were going to try to deny the ball to Mash and Zo," Weatherspoon said. "We thought if we could kick the ball outside, we could get some open shots. Fortunately, I was able to knock some down.

"You know, the playoffs are all about making adjustments."

This was the first win at The Palace for the Heat, who had lost twice on the Pistons' court during the regular season.

Carter had nine assists for the Heat who were playing again without Tim Hardaway, who is recovering from a sprained left foot.

"Anthony Carter made a believer out of me," Stackhouse said.

Notes

Fans began to boo during a timeout with 9:39 left in the second quarter, but it had nothing to do with the fact that Detroit was in the middle of a 6:33 scoreless spell. The big screen on the scoreboard was showing a picture of retired Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders, sitting in the stands, eating popcorn.

Hill had surgery Friday in Cleveland to insert a pin in the ankle.

The Heat had a losing record on the road this season for the first time in the Mourning-Hardaway era after playing .600 ball on the road the previous three seasons. Miami lost 15 of its final 22 road games, including two in The Palace where the Pistons were 27-14 during the season.

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AUBURN HILLS, Mich.
The Miami Heat eliminated the Detroit Pistons from the playoffs Saturday. (AP)
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Heat’s Pat Riley

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