Curry gets tossed as Pistons fall
Pistons coach Michael Curry thought it was an obvious foul.
Ditto for the rest of the Pistons.
But that's not how the officials saw it.
On a play in which there appeared to be contact, Rodney Stuckey was stymied by Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade with 1.9 seconds left Sunday causing Curry to receive the first ejection of his coaching career and the Pistons fell to the Heat, 101-96 at the Palace.
The No. 5 Heat (37-32) is three games ahead of the No. 7 Pistons in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
But the last sequence left Curry and the players shaking their heads.
"They were calling us for those same fouls all game long, riding Wade to the basket," said Tayshaun Prince, who scored 14 points, but missed several key shots down the stretch. "You can see why Coach Curry got thrown out the game because of that situation, and we felt what D-Wade did to Stuckey at the end of the game, they were calling us for those fouls on the other end over the course of the game.
"Obviously you know in late-game situations they are going to try to let us play, but I think you saw the inconsistency there when Stuck' drove on that play and got rode all the way to the basket, and that was pretty much the game right there."
The Heat's Udonis Haslem then made a jumper off an offensive rebound with 6.3 seconds left to give the Heat a 97-96 lead.
Curry called a time-out to set up a play for Stuckey.
He drove right and it appeared Wade was riding him all the way and was able to block Stuckey's shot. Wade picked up the loose ball and Curry got two technicals, which carries an automatic ejection.
"I guess the ref saw it different," said Stuckey, who returned to the lineup after missing one game with a bad cold. "I thought I went to the basket aggressively while he had 10 of his fingers on me and they didn't call the foul.
"He's an All-Star so I guess you are going to get those calls."