yeah eddie jones really struggles as a player.who was gonna step up in wades absence.obviuosly no one wanted to or had the talent to.shaq all though he got 24 you would of through he would of exploded with 35-40 points in wades absence.

ps pistons to shut down miami again.wade will have to play no matter how bad his ribs are.it will be a sign of a true workhorse.also spurs for the ship with duncan taking out series mvp!

That is the key for the whole series, the Pistons having to keep tabs on Wade. Unfortunately Flash is injured, but it's playoff time. Time to suck in the big ones, and play through the pain. Sudden death and Miami need Wade to beat the Pistons.

It's gonna be a cracker of a game 7.

My finals MVP is Manu. He's killing them at the moment. Everyone knows how good Timmy D is, and how valuable he is to the Spurs, but I think Manu has done wonders in the playoffs.

game seven, this is where finals heroes are created. Will we see a classic finals story come out of this game.

Picking shaq to play better than he has this series. His numbers will pick up

I think this highlights the issue about Shaq and his MVP aspirations. I didn't follow the NBA that closely this year, but from what I did follow it seemed like he didn't have an exceptional year statistically and on face value shouldn't really have even seriously been in the running. While his stats were still obviously very good the MVP argument for Shaw was that since he joined the Heat they instantly went from middle of the road to top of their division, the same argument used for Nash. I think the thing that was drastically overlooked was that the Heat's resurgance this season had just as much to do with Wade's continued development as it did Shaq's arrival, and these playoffs have proved the point with Miami winning twice without Shaq but getting blasted as soon as Wade's out of the picture. I suppose you could make the argument that Amare has also stepped it up this season, but that is as a direct result of Nash, whereas Wade would have developed with or without the big man in my opinion.

Anyway, I guess we'll see how Sahq goes in game 7, should be a belter.

Detroit to win by 8 points. With Big Ben muscling it with Shaq and to finally put up some double figure scoring on the board. While Rip will continue to tear it up.

Article about whether Shaq has been overrated recently:

Who is the real Shaquille?

I don't see why he was touted as the #2 MVP candidate because as has been said so many times, he wasn't even MVP of his team (IMO).

Very interesting reading. I do tend to agree with him in the fact that Shaq can lead in a different way rather than having to carry the team, he can lead them in the right direction, while still putting up reasonable numbers.

Thanks for that read Isaac!

TR, u are right on the money bout Manu, he is a gun and is playing very well, also RIP Hamilton is killing every team so far. In my book RIP is one of the best playoff players in the league.... If Wade comes back for game 7 then it will be a close game, but will win only cos its home court. But If Wade dunt come bak then dats the end of the season for Miami...

I think Scoop got a bit carried away with that article, especially with

"Shaq won that game for Miami last night in January  when he took Rasual Butler out to lunch while they were in Portland and gave him a pep talk, telling him to keep his head up and that his time would come.

Rasual had 14 in Thursday night's game. He was D-Wade in the fourth quarter. All praises due to Shaq."

I get the point he's trying to make but come on, Miami had them on toast when Wade went out, he'd done his job, all Shaq and Miami did was not choke their tits off.

Will be interesting to see if Wade suits tonight. If Miami manage to make it through to the finals with their 2 main stars carrying injuries I think that's an ominous sign for the rest of the league for the next 5 years if they both remain injury free in the following years. If Wade does play through injury I can see Miami scraping over the line and limping into the series against the well-rested, healthy, hungy Spurs and getting spanked in 4 or 5 games like the Suns. I think Detroit Spurs would be a better finals assuming Wade doesn't make a full recovery immediately.

its half time rite now. e jones just hit a remarkable shot from half and the score is 40-45 in favor of detroit.

exactly how i predicted the team chemistry and defence is too much for two superstars. even if wade was healthy they wood still beat them.

finals:
repeat for detroit. exactly like last yr.

Dirk, it's Spurs time now.

Spurs are as tough a defensive team as Detroit, but can score too, as they showed against Phoenix. Spurs in 6..

Its all over Pistons advance winning 88-82.

Bring on the Spurs I say - let Big Ben bang bodies in the middle!!

Pistons in 5.