NBA Game Summary - Detroit at Miami

Miami, FL (Basketball News) - Rasheed Wallace scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Detroit to a 90-81 win over Miami in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Chauncey Billups netted 18 points and Richard Hamilton contributed 16 for the defending world champion Pistons, who are appearing in the conference finals for the third consecutive season.

Detroit, which has won four straight series openers, will try and take the first two games of this best-of-seven set when the teams square off again on Wednesday night in Miami.

Shaquille O’Neal returned to the lineup after having missed the team’s past two playoff games with a bruised right thigh and scored 20 points and grabbed five boards in 33 minutes for the Heat.

The 33-year-old O’Neal, who recently had blood drained from the thigh, has been bothered by the injury for the past five weeks and played his first game since Game 2 against Washington on May 10, a span of 13 days.

The All-Star center practiced on Saturday for the first time since the injury flared up against the Wizards, but then sat out Sunday’s practice. O’Neal then participated in Monday morning’s shootaround, but was still listed as a game- time decision and was not announced into the starting lineup until two minutes prior to the game. During the contest, O’Neal had the thigh heavily protected with pads to help ease the pain.

Eddie Jones had a game-high 22 points and also hauled in eight boards while Dwyane Wade added 16 points for top-seeded Miami, which suffered its first loss in nine playoff games this year.

The Heat, who are playing in the East finals for only the second time in franchise history and the first since 1997, had an 11-game winning streak dating back to the regular season snapped. It was the team’s first setback since losing to Boston on April 15.

Miami played for the first time since sweeping Washington on May 14, while the Pistons had just wrapped up their second-round set versus Indiana this past Thursday, but the short rest apparently did not bother Detroit.