Heat pound Pistons to take series lead

Shaquille O’Neal added 27 points and grabbed 12 boards, as the Heat rebounded from a Game 2 loss on Thursday to move ahead in the series. Antoine Walker ended with 11 points, as the Heat shot 58.2 percent from the field and held on after nearly blowing a 12-point lead at the end of the third quarter.

Wade shot 13-of-17 from the field and missed just two of his 11 foul shots. O’Neal made 11-of-15 from the floor, as the Heat moved a step closer to exacting revenge for losing to Detroit in last year’s East finals.

"Shaq got aggressive early, then I got kind of aggressive early," Wade said. "Things were working for us. Then other guys stepped up for a while until we took it upon ourselves to once again be the leaders of the team and find a way for us to get a win."

Chauncey Billups hit for 31 points and Richard Hamilton added 20 for the Pistons, who struggled by shooting 42.2 percent. Rasheed Wallace ended with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

"Anytime you’re in a series, whoever wins the last game has momentum," Detroit head coach Flip Saunders said. "We’ve got to find a way to take that momentum back."

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Miami was ahead 74-62 going into the fourth, but the Pistons scored the opening 11 points of the final quarter. Billups drained a pair of three- pointers to cap the rally, but the Pistons couldn’t go ahead.

Wade knocked away Antonio McDyess’ dunk attempt and then converted a three- point play at the other end. O’Neal hit a hook shot for a 79-73 Miami advantage midway through the period.

"NBA is a game full of runs," Wade said. "They made their run, now we go to timeout, we regroup and played excellent offense and took the game from there. We’re a confident team, we understand that things are going to happen in ball games. We stuck together, came out and scored and took it from there."

Six straight points later in the quarter moved the Heat to an 85-75 lead, but two free throws by Hamilton had the Pistons within 85-79. Miami came right back to effectively put the game away with Wade nailing two free throws and Udonis Haslem converting a dunk.

It was a rough night for Detroit center Ben Wallace, who was limited to two points and six rebounds. He went 2-of-10 at the foul line. In Game 2, he had nine points and 12 boards.

Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince, who had 24 points and 11 rebounds in Detroit’s 92-88 win on Thursday, was limited to three points on 1-of-7 shooting in Game 3.

"I think the biggest thing is their forwards were much more aggressive offensively, and our forwards had Tay back on his heels a little bit," Saunders said. "Walker was extremely aggressive to the rim as far as on penetration."

The first quarter was tight throughout, but the Heat took a 26-24 lead after 12 minutes.

Back-to-back baskets by Walker moved the Heat to a 38-28 lead nearly four minutes into the second and an 8-1 spurt later in the period had Miami in front 49-38. O’Neal’s shot a few seconds before halftime finished the push.

Miami held a comfortable lead most of the third quarter, and Gary Payton’s bucket at the end of the stanza extended the Heat to a 12-point cushion.

Game Notes

The Heat are 6-1 at home in this year’s postseason...Haslem had 10 points and seven rebounds...Miami outrebounded Detroit, 40-27.