HEAT, SUNS TAKE FIRST STEP TOWARDS FINALS

 

 

Well, the 2006 Eastern Conference finals is a rematch of the '05 finals betwee, the Pistons and the Heat. This time out the Pistons have home court advantage but Shaq and Wade are both fit and in my predictions I'm backing the Heat(of course that couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I have grudging respect at best for the Pistons, could it?). Anyway with Game 1 in Detroit, it was always going to be optimistic for any Heat fan to be looking for a win off the bat.

Well it was the Heat fans who started out happy, as their side blasted into a 11-0 lead and from there the Pistons struggled to keep the gap within double figures(while Dwayne Wade slammed in a beauty of a dunk). In the second quarter though they got to work on reducing the gap and a Chauncey Billups three pointer cut it to two points followed by a traditional Detroit sludgefest. The home side couldn't complete the turnaround though and the Heat came ended the half 48-44 up.

The Heat opened the second half scoring but the Pistons went on to turn things round before Antione Walker and James Posey hit threes for Miami to swing it back. After a scoreless opening to the fourth, Gary Payton killed off the Pistons with another three ball and though the Pistons went on to narrow the gap, Wade will been in a very good mood coming off the court. 25 points for him, a 91-86 win for his team and 'wham' the oh-so-great Detroit side are on the ropes after game 1.

Out West through, there was a new champion to be decided and the spot would be up for grabs between two old mates. Neither Steve Nash nor Dirk Nowitski are known for high flying slam dunks but the Suns fans don't care and the Mavs fans would rather turn the clock back to when both Allstars played for their club. Game 1 looked like a formality for the Mavs in Dallas.

Steve Nash had other ideas though. First he set Shaun Marion up with a long pass for the opener and then throughout the first half he regularly made idiots of the Mavs defence, turning them inside out as the Suns built up a lead. The home side weren't helped with Josh Howard quitting the game with a sprained ankle but the bottom line was, the Suns led 62-58 at half time.

In the second half Nowitski decided that he wanted a piece of the action and got his team to first tie the game then turn things round so at the end of the third the Mavs were leading 95-91. In the fourth quarter the Mavs lead got as large as seven but Nash led his team back once again, setting up Marion for another slam as the Suns regained the lead only for Devlin Harris to reply with a jumper which put the Mavs up 118-117 with 4.5 seconds on the clock. No problem for the Suns though, Boris Diaw simply faked Jerry Stackhouse out of his shoes before firing off the winning jumper. After a couple of free throws the Suns finished 121-117 winners.

Well that's home court advantage blown to pieces.

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