http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/sfl ... picgalleryWith Mario Chalmers again in foul trouble, and with Chris Quinn being, well, Chris Quinn, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra decided to cut the pretense and go with his best point guard.Dwyane Wade couldn't have looked any more at home. A game after serving as a do-it-all scorer with a career-best 50 points in a blowout road loss to the Orlando Magic, Wade this time shared the wealth in Tuesday's 103-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons at AmericanAirlines Arena. "This is so much better," Wade said. "I made the plays that were there. Wade downplays Shaq's impending visit "Some nights my shot is not going to be going, but I've proven I can do other things." With 31 points and a career-high 16 assists, Wade helped the Heat move within two games of the Hawks for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, with the Heat's next outing Friday in Atlanta."It was an incredible performance he had up in Orlando," coach Erik Spoelstra said of Wade's effort in Sunday's loss. "But I think he understood that that's not what it's going to take for us to be successful."
Sparking a 22-8 run to close the third quarter, Wade pushed the Pistons further into the abyss. "Finally, in the third quarter," Spoelstra said of a stretch when Detroit shot 1 of 13, "we really made a concerted effort to make it tougher for them." The loss not only extended Detroit's losing streak to seven, the franchise's longest since December 2001, it also dropped the Pistons below .500 this late into the season for the first time since 2001. Detroit has not lost eight in a row since January 1995. "We gave the effort. That is something to feel good about," guard Allen Iverson said after leading the Pistons with 22 points. "We just didn't get it done." The best of Wade was needed for the Heat to distance itself from a foe that had won 20 of the previous 24 regular-season meetings, including a matchup last month at the Palace of Auburn Hills.Since that loss in Detroit, the Heat swapped out Shawn Marion for Jermaine O'Neal. But in his fourth appearance for the Heat, O'Neal hardly was a difference maker, with just one first-half rebound, before closing with 14 points and five rebounds. Instead of an improved post offense, it was the outside game that sparked the Heat.
Finally breaking out of a slump that followed his 3-point championship at All-Star Weekend, guard Daequan Cook shot 4 of 8 from beyond the arc to ignite the Heat's 9-of-19 accuracy on 3-pointers. "They were in a zone a lot, sagging off," said Cook, who closed 6 of 11 from the field, slowed only by a shot to the groin that briefly sidelined him in the third quarter. Spoelstra said the early shift to Wade at point guard was by design, to get Cook into the game earlier than usual. "Daequan is a big piece of our success," Spoelstra said. Backup forward Jamario Moon, who also was acquired in the O'Neal deal, added two 3-pointers, as did starting small forward Yakhouba Diawara, with Wade consistently finding the open man. "We've got to keep going," Wade said. Career high in points, followed by a career high in assists. "MVP, that's all I can say," Chalmers said. "He's leading us. He's our leader." The effort left the Pistons dazed and confused. "We were trying to double-team him, but I guess that didn't work," guard Rodney Stuckey said. "He was just finding the guy that was cutting down the middle."
