# Game 77: Pistons @ Heat



## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)

<center>
Sunday, April 10th--1:00ET









Miami Heat
(56-20)

vs.









Detroit Pistons
(48-27)


*Starting Lineups:*

    
vs.
    

Heat Bench:
Rasual Butler 
Shandon Anderson
Steve Smith
Alonzo Mourning
Michael Doleac
Keyon Dooling
Christian Laettner
Dorell Wright
Wang Zhi Zhi
Qyntel Woods

</center>


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## JeepLiberty03 (Dec 28, 2002)

I hope Shaq plays tomorrow. We need a win for overall home court, and to send the Pistons a message.


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## maswe12 (Feb 23, 2005)

I'm still undecided but sitting Shaq out wouldnt be the worst thing in the world. Don't want to give Larry B. an extra chance to see the team and learn how to pick it apart. Coaching is going to be their biggest advantage in a series and there is no sense giving them a dry run. On the other hand, it would be nice to send them a message. I guess we will see what happens.


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

even if shaq doesnt play, I think we have a good chance to pull out a win at home...


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## The Future7 (Feb 24, 2005)

I think we will have a good chance at winning if we keep the game close if Shaq doesnt play. I think the Pistons wont play that hard thinking it will be an easy game.


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

no shaq
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3521520


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

ABC said Zo is starting


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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)

Starting at center.....

ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOONZZZZZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOURNING


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

we have to switch wade off prince


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

Zo with the stuff on Prince!!! :biggrin:


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

Eddie! Eddie!


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

Nice D!!!


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

2 fouls on Wade...


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

wadeshaqeddie said:


> we have to switch wade off prince



I think you guys are trying it as an expirement to see how it would work come playoff time because you can't have Wade chasing Rip all series. So far not looking so good. I'd put Wade on Chauncey, but Prince will have the advantage against almost anyone with his length.


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

CJ said:


> I think you guys are trying it as an expirement to see how it would work come playoff time because you can't have Wade chasing Rip all series. So far not looking so good. I'd put Wade on Chauncey, *but Prince will have the advantage against almost anyone with his length.*


Not Woods!


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

HEATLUNATIC said:


> Not Woods!


Does he even play?


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

CJ said:


> Does he even play?


Would I bring up his name if he didnt?


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

Nice Hussle. Zo is playin well so far.


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

Zo is playn really well against Ben inside!


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

Damon is playing pretty horribly tonight.....that bad pass right there and a couple bad shots


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!


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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)

Heat 20-17 end of 1st


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

wadeshaqeddie said:


> Damon is playing pretty horribly tonight.....that bad pass right there and a couple bad shots


tonight? :biggrin:


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

Heated said:


> tonight? :biggrin:


im so used to saying that :laugh: 

anyway, I like how we are playing. Great defense so far


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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)

With Shaq and Zo, we control the paint, and the Pistons offense hurts..........We might lose this game, but I hope SVG and the staff sees what we've had success with and uses it in the playoffs*.....because honestly, I don't think the Pistons are close to as talented as we are, but their smarts/experience can make up for that if we don't play good basketball


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

we need some offense this quarter...cant make anything


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

Wow, we're shooting like crap in the 2nd quarter.


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

Isn't Wade supposed to be stepping it up when Shaq is out.


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

Thats 3 fouls on Wade...


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

Nice f'ing ball movement


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

ugly ugly first half


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

We suck..

Wade - 1-6 3 pts


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

Thats 4 fouls on Wade!

Its over!


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## MarioChalmers (Mar 26, 2004)

Zo is a bright spot, I'm rooting for him. Seven offensive rebounds? That's crazy.


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

Offesive Goaltending on Wallace. Ball was over the cylinder. These refs are damn retarded.


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

Why isnt Woods playn Prince?:curse: 

His D has been great in every game hes played!


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

Shaq and Zo are gonna kill the Pistons in the playoffs!!!

Imagine the two of them on the court together in the 4th qtr!!!:biggrin:


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

Give the ball to Eddie Jones, he's the hot hand. Dooling and Doleac shouldnt be taking those shots.


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

Eddie F'n Jones.. :banana:


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

If we made our FTs in the 4th we'd be down by 1


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

Wade missed 2 ft's and then he fouls out...

Played only 21 minutes...


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## LakerLunatic (Mar 1, 2005)

Way to go Mr better then Kobe. 5 points and he fouled out. :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: 


Wheres this magical leader Dwayne Wade? 

Eddie Jones is the only bright spot today for YOUR Heat.


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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)

LakerLunatic said:


> Way to go Mr better then Kobe. 5 points and he fouled out. :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
> 
> 
> Wheres this magical leader Dwayne Wade?
> ...


 enjoy the next 6-7 games and then watch us in the playoffs


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

LakerLunatic said:


> Way to go Mr better then Kobe. 5 points and he fouled out. :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
> 
> 
> Wheres this magical leader Dwayne Wade?
> ...


Have fun not making the playoffs!!!


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## yodurk (Sep 4, 2002)

Oh man, Dwayne Wade is killing my fantasy team today. I was hoping for a big 40 point game, and all I get is 5 points and 4 turnovers. :sour:


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

LakerLunatic said:


> Way to go Mr better then Kobe. 5 points and he fouled out. :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
> 
> 
> Wheres this magical leader Dwayne Wade?
> ...


Enjoy sitting home for the playoffs you clown. :clap:


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

LakerLunatic said:


> Way to go Mr better then Kobe. 5 points and he fouled out. :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
> 
> 
> Wheres this magical leader Dwayne Wade?
> ...


At least your SN is original...


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

Wade had a tough game. But he has had many great games to get us victories this season. 

better than Kobe not being able to lead his team anywhere


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

D.J. for 3!!!


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

Zo with his 5th block!!!


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

At least we made the score respectable. We need Shaq back.

:clap: Alonzo Mourning :clap: :clap: Eddie Jones :clap:


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## reHEATed (Jun 29, 2003)

Damon took a bad shot when we were within 4. Anyway, without shaq and wade was out most of the game and we made it relatively close


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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)

we stayed close without Shaq and basically without Wade....

At full strength, I can't see how we're not that much better than they are....we just gotta play the games in a few weeks


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## DwyaneWade4MVP (Apr 1, 2004)

Heated said:


> :clap: Alonzo Mourning :clap: :clap: Eddie Jones :clap:


I second this appause!


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## WSU151 (Mar 13, 2005)

DwyaneWade4MVP said:


> I second this appause!


I continue that applause for sure!

Recently, the Heat's lack of ability to make free throws when they are crucial, as well as secure defensive rebounds, terrifies me. Especially the free throws. Wade has become a terrible free throw shooter, and it seems to be just in the last month or so. At least three times today Wade drew the obvious foul with a pump fake, but couldn't hit the shots at the line. Dooling couldn't hit his today. Mourning missed a crucial pair. It was pathetic. 

In the playoffs, if Shaq fouls out, they have to come through on both ends. Otherwise, it may be a disappointing spring/summer.


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## WSU151 (Mar 13, 2005)

HEATLUNATIC said:


> At least your SN is original...


Isn't LakerLunatic the same person as Travis76? They both jock Kobe's nuts, and they're both from Vancouver. And they both make the most ridiculous posts of anyone at BasketballBoards. Congratulations, fella.

EDIT: Yep. It's the same guy. I don't know what he'll do when the playoffs start. Probably go stalk Kobe (no, no, wait, G-d) to some golf course or to a Colorado hotel/resort.


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## BaLLiStiX17 (Mar 27, 2005)

yeah good game guys played well without shaq..


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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)




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## nickrock23 (Mar 28, 2004)

like i said b4 this game is meaningless but i will add my two cents. 
no shaq +
missed free throws
= 
loss

we were within 4 with a minute left with basically no shaq and no wade - not bad at all. we have two 7-game series before we meet detroit again, we will be ready, we have shaq and wade, i am not worried at all.


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## nickrock23 (Mar 28, 2004)

WSU151 said:


> I continue that applause for sure!
> 
> Recently, the Heat's lack of ability to make free throws when they are crucial, as well as secure defensive rebounds, terrifies me. Especially the free throws. Wade has become a terrible free throw shooter, and it seems to be just in the last month or so. At least three times today Wade drew the obvious foul with a pump fake, but couldn't hit the shots at the line. Dooling couldn't hit his today. Mourning missed a crucial pair. It was pathetic.
> 
> In the playoffs, if Shaq fouls out, they have to come through on both ends. Otherwise, it may be a disappointing spring/summer.


championship teams make their free throws. if you have shaq, the other guys have to make 80% of their attempts.. seriously, keyon, wade and zo missing 2 of 2 in the 4th qtr was inexcusable. as long as it doesnt happen in the playoffs, it's all good. wade is allowed to have an off game. keyon usually makes his FT's and Zo hasnt played a whole lot, so i'm not worried. it doesnt change anything, we have homecourt until the finals.


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## WSU151 (Mar 13, 2005)

nickrock23 said:


> championship teams make their free throws. if you have shaq, the other guys have to make 80% of their attempts.. seriously, keyon, wade and zo missing 2 of 2 in the 4th qtr was inexcusable. as long as it doesnt happen in the playoffs, it's all good. wade is allowed to have an off game. keyon usually makes his FT's and Zo hasnt played a whole lot, so i'm not worried. it doesnt change anything, we have homecourt until the finals.


Agreed. Bad habits are hard to break, though. Especially at the free throw line. I definitely would rather have them get their misses out of the way now rather than seeing these sort of mistakes in a couple weeks.


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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)




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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/columnists/dan_le_batard/11363323.htm

The wound was still fresh. But the Pistons play tackle football better than any sports team in Detroit, so it didn't much bother Chauncey Billups that a collision with the Miami Heat's Keyon Dooling on Sunday left him with seven new stitches on his face to go with the other five he collected Friday against Orlando.

Some tourists leave Florida after a weekend with T-shirts and seashells; Billups departed with a new collection of scars.

The Miami Heat will see this battered champion's face again soon, when the games start mattering more, and it will not be pleasant, facing this face. Before the needle and thread put Billups back together, it looked like something predatory had taken two big, deep bites out of him, but this is how the NBA's best rugby team likes its basketball -- raw and bloody. And this is exactly the kind of collision awaiting Miami in the upcoming playoffs, all those long Detroit arms reaching up and trying to drag Dwyane Wade's acrobatics into the quicksand for a fairer fight.

Which is one of the many reasons Miami so badly needs the Shaquille O'Neal it was missing Sunday. If you are headed into a playground brawl, you feel more confident when the biggest bully is on your side. Ben Wallace, all fast-twitch muscle fiber and cartoon biceps, might be the league's best defender. But Shaq dropped 36 points and 20 rebounds on his Afro in one Finals game last season when Larry Brown tried to guard him one-on-one.

*''The way Miami is playing, it is fair to say they are the team to beat,'' Billups said after dragging down a Shaq-less Miami in an 80-72 slopfest. ``But we've got the belt right now. In order for them to get the belt, they have to take it from us.''*

HEAT AS FAVORITE?

But shouldn't Miami be favored in a seven-game series against Detroit, Chauncey, given how much better Miami has been during the regular season?

*''No,'' Billups said. ``I don't see how they can be favored against us.''*

He wasn't being boastful, just proud and honest and unafraid. He pointed out, correctly, that the last Pistons season ended upon the throne even though nobody thought his star-less team could beat Shaq then, either. And he added, correctly, that the last season got there by first steamrolling an Indiana Pacers team that, like Miami, was seeded higher and won more regular-season games than Detroit -- or anybody else in the NBA, for that matter.

Make of this what you will: Miami is 1-5 against a tired Detroit and crippled Indiana this season.

Chauncey doesn't have the most regal-sounding name on his roster only because Detroit also has a Prince, but the Pistons clearly aren't ready to concede much of anything even though Miami ran away with the Eastern Conference so convincingly that O'Neal and Wade could have sat out the season's last 10 games without it mattering.

*''I would never say they are better than us, even though they've been playing better basketball than us consistently all season,'' Tayshaun Prince said. ``Yeah, they've proven they are the team to beat all season long. But that doesn't mean they'll do it in the playoffs.''*

They never have, after all. That is the only concern about a series against Detroit -- that one team has been there, and done it, and the other hasn't.

Wade had the worst game of his professional life Sunday, with more fouls than points, and Prince's length suffocated Kobe Bryant last season, but that should be tempered by this: With Shaq at his side, Wade had a triple double against these same Pistons.

ESSENTIAL SHAQ

That's how it is with this Miami team. The players need each other, and Shaq most of all. Exposed Damon Jones was 2 for 15 Sunday because Shaq was out, Wade was in foul trouble and Jones couldn't get the dozen open looks he gets every game because defenders are preoccupied closer to that rim.

''The most dominant player in the game of basketball,'' Piston Rip Hamilton said of O'Neal.

Would he make any team in the league a playoff team, Rip?

''Yes, he would,'' Hamilton said. ``No doubt about that. Any team.''

He has made Miami the team that matters most in the East.

But a battered, scarred champion is limping toward another fight with him


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## BlackNRed (Feb 9, 2005)

nickrock23 said:


> championship teams make their free throws. if you have shaq, the other guys have to make 80% of their attempts.. seriously, keyon, wade and zo missing 2 of 2 in the 4th qtr was inexcusable. as long as it doesnt happen in the playoffs, it's all good. wade is allowed to have an off game. keyon usually makes his FT's and Zo hasnt played a whole lot, so i'm not worried. it doesnt change anything, we have homecourt until the finals.


Missed FTs in crucial moments in the game are this teams only downfall when healthy, and completely inexcusable. I remember starting a thread on this I believe just before the Allstar break and I got my head bitten off by somebody for it. Wade can hit game winners, but he can't make FTs in the 4th quarter when we need them most. I don't get it.


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## MiamiHeat03 (Mar 28, 2003)

Wade is not perfect its not like he misses alot of FT in the 4th but the past few games he has somewhat missed crucial FT's.

He is not Reggie Miller.


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## MLKG (Aug 25, 2003)

> The players need each other, and Shaq most of all.... But a battered, scarred champion is limping toward another fight with him























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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)




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## maswe12 (Feb 23, 2005)

Interesting quote by Rip: 

“I think we played great. I think they should have gotten a couple more calls down the stretch, but that’s the nature of the game. We would rather play physical anyway.” 

It's weird to say so much for the other team. I guess he is an honest guy...dont know if i would have said that if i were in his positioin. Maybe the heat transcribed it wrong.


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## nickrock23 (Mar 28, 2004)

MiamiHeat03 said:


> Wade is not perfect its not like he misses alot of FT in the 4th but the past few games he has somewhat missed crucial FT's.
> 
> He is not Reggie Miller.


man we just need shaq back in the lineup. the first 2 rounds will be like a warmup for the pistons. im not losing faith, and i do have confidence in Wade making FT's with the game on the line. the other guys are shaky at best , but lets hope it doesnt come down to that


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## Joker (Aug 7, 2002)

its not that bad that we lost tonight... wake up call.
the miami/detroit eastern conference finals... if both teams make it will be absolutely sensational... a new rivalry?


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## WSU151 (Mar 13, 2005)

maswe12 said:


> Interesting quote by Rip:
> 
> “I think we played great. I think they should have gotten a couple more calls down the stretch, but that’s the nature of the game. We would rather play physical anyway.”
> 
> It's weird to say so much for the other team. I guess he is an honest guy...dont know if i would have said that if i were in his positioin. Maybe the heat transcribed it wrong.


What an odd thing to say - "they should have gotten a couple more calls...we would rather play physical anyway" - I gotta think that the Heat's media relations guy typed that in wrong. Good catch maswe.


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## dap (Apr 12, 2005)

maswe12 said:


> Interesting quote by Rip:
> 
> “I think we played great. I think they should have gotten a couple more calls down the stretch, but that’s the nature of the game. We would rather play physical anyway.”
> 
> It's weird to say so much for the other team. I guess he is an honest guy...dont know if i would have said that if i were in his positioin. Maybe the heat transcribed it wrong.


I could not seem to find this quote. Could you please give me a link to where Rip said this?


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