Mark Cuban is already thinking about what it would be like for the Mavericks to reach the NBA Finals.

"Everyone in Dallas is rooting for the Heat for two reasons,'' Cuban, whose team is favored to beat Phoenix in the Western finals, relayed via e-mail. ``We want to see Shaq in the Finals again, and it gives the Mavs home-court advantage.''

``Great for TV ratings. We can play our Shaq Albert video and crack Shaq up during the games. Shaq and I can give hand signals and see if we get caught. Most importantly, if the Mavs make it past the Suns, it would be great basketball between two great teams.''

It looks as though the Detroit Pistons are turning their frustrations from their coach to the officials, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is reporting, with forward Rasheed Wallace complaining about the free through disparity as his team now faces elimination, down 3-1.

Wallace pointed out the Heat's 47 free-throw attempts to 22 for Detroit and Dwyane Wade's 19 attempts.

"You know that was some B.S." Wallace said. "They doubled us on free throws. He had 19 and we had 22. We have just got to stay together. We did a couple good things in this game. We got close and then there was some B.S. But we have got to fight through it. We've done it this long, so we just have to keep doing it."

Wallace, who spent most of the game in a dialogue with official Bob Delaney, fouled out with 3:30 to play. Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups and Lindsey Hunter all were in foul trouble at some point.

Pistons forward Antonio McDyess, who had five fouls, said, "Breathe on [Wade], it's a foul. You back off, he makes shots. You can't really play physical with him."

After beating the Pistons 89-78 on Monday night in Game 4, the Heat now hold a commanding 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.

"Everybody's doing their job," Heat backup center Alonzo Mourning said. "Dwyane Wade and Shaq have been spectacular, and the role players are doing their job."

"We're on the same page," said James Posey. "We understand what each player brings to the table. Bottom line -- we're winning. That's what you want."

Before Monday's game, Pistons coach Flip Saunders reacted strongly to his players questioning him for assorted things after Game 3.

On Ben Wallace suggesting that Saunders doesn't emphasize defense as much as ex-coach Larry Brown: ``This is the same group that said we did more defensive drills than we ever did. . . . You want to talk about lack of defense? Yeah, there's a lack of defense because guys aren't doing what they're supposed to do. If I gave up 50 points in the paint and I gave up 13 straight drives to the basket when I'm supposed to be guarding someone, I mean these are things you learn in the sixth grade: Stay between your man and the basket. If you can't do it, you are right, there's going to be a defensive lapse.''

On Tayshaun Prince questioning why Lindsey Hunter, who has had some success defending Dwyane Wade, did not play in the second half of Game 3: ``The reason we couldn't put Lindsey on the floor was . . . because Tay wasn't scoring. That was one of the things that went into it, so it's pretty ironic.''

Saunders made it clear that players would not dictate his decisions: ``As a coach, I make decisions. I have to live by the decisions. As players, they play, and they have to implement. . . . [But] we're better when we're irritable, and we're feeling fat cats about ourselves.''

The night belonged to Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat.

With one more win, so will the Eastern Conference crown.

Wade scored 12 of his 31 points in the final quarter Monday night, leading a late charge that carried the Heat to an 89-78 win over the Detroit Pistons and a 3-1 lead in the series. Miami is on the cusp of its first trip to the NBA Finals.

It isn't hard to wonder why the L.A. Lakers didn't ask for Dwayne Wade when discussions were taking place with the Miami Heat regarding Shaquille O'Neal.  According to a report in the L.A. Times you can wonder no more, because they did, and Pat Riley refused to budge.

"I thought the deal was fair," said Riley of the July 2004 trade that sent Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant to the Lakers. "Giving up all three of those guys? Dwyane was the one guy that we didn't want to let go. Not that we had a crystal ball, but we felt there was something there that might be better even than what we'd seen."

The 12-point lead Miami held minutes earlier was whittled to a single point, and Antonio McDyess rose for a dunk that would have given the Detroit Pistons the lead and all the momentum.

Dwyane Wade chose that moment to take over.

"Guys look at me and say, 'It's your time," Wade said. "That's all you need."

He blocked McDyess' dunk try, then had a three-point play 8 seconds later to end a huge Detroit run. The Heat went on to beat the Pistons 98-83 on Saturday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

"Play of the game," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said.

Heck, it might have been the biggest play of Miami's season.

The Pistons, who lost Game 1 and nearly blew a double-digit lead in the final minutes of Game 2, are looking like a team that has yet to recover from facing elimination games twice in their previous series.

"Let's face the fact," said Pistons coach Flip Saunders at the team's practice facility Wednesday. "We had two elimination games in 6 and 7 (against Cleveland). You're playing pretty much every other day, and as the series progresses, it does become kind of a grind.

"We have to get back to having fun and we have to get back to playing the way we were playing as far as moving the basketball, being more aggressive offensively and making basketball plays."

Miami's outburst of 17 points in the final minute and 47 seconds of Game 2's loss showed the club that they will need to play with that kind of intensity in Game 3.

"The only thing we can take from that (rally) is we've got to have that same aggressiveness (in Game 3)," said Dwyane Wade.

"We have to go to that offense," Pat Riley said with a laugh. "I'm going to that offense at the beginning of the game and find out exactly what we were doing to score 17 points."

Tayshaun Prince had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Richard Hamilton scored 22 and the Pistons bounced back -- as usual -- and held on to beat the Heat 92-88 Thursday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Detroit got off to a great start after an awful one in the opener. Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade's supporting cast was lackluster following its outstanding performance.

But the Heat still made it close with a frantic rally -- scoring 17 points in the final 1:46 after trailing by 12.

"I'm going to go to that offense in the beginning of the night," Miami coach Pat Riley joked.

The conference finals rematch is now a best-of-five series, with Miami headed home to host Game 3 on Saturday night.