Piston Season, wasted in the NBA Playoffs?

It was a wasted season for Ben Wallace.

And he meant that in a good way. Because Ben Wallace, being a champion that he is, knows so well that being contended with what they have done this year, settling for second best in the Eastern Conference, certainly is not something a franchise like Detroit's should be proud of.

After the Miami Heat ended Detroit in what would've been their third straight trip to the NBA Finals, Ben Wallace knows so well that once a team settles for simply not being No.1, that team will NEVER be No.1.

The 2005-2006 NBA Season almost dictated another year for the Pistons hopefuls. A 37-5 start and a season where the Pistons ALMOST got to the 70-win plateau certainly made that.

They didn't expect a Miami Heat team coming together at the right place, at the right time.

Fans tend to only see things from the perspective of their team. They tend to overlook that there is a fine line between winning and losing at this elite level, and others want it as badly or more. The Pistons encountered the same thing that took down San Antonio. Other teams have you in their sights and want what you’ve achieved as badly as you wanted it before you got it.

In the Pistons case, Miami had their hearts cut out when the Pistons beat them in games six and seven last spring. Pat Riley, one of the greatest coaches in history, returned to the bench and brought in four proven players to mesh with his two superstars.

He also motivated Shaquille O’Neal to lose 25 pounds and nursed him to health the first half of the season. The Heat had just one mission – dethrone and avenge the Pistons, and their established stars and the new players all bought into it – willing to sacrifice in any way they were asked in order to achieve the greater goal.

Now, looking back at these, the Pistons will look forward for the next season, this time NOT as the team to beat but a TEAM. A team agitated, furious, and pissed off. Next season, the Pistons will come in as the HUNTERS, instead of the HUNTED.

[The Miami Heat dethroned the Detroit Pistons in the East and will be going for their first championship against the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. Can they finally win a title? Visit and bet on Bodog now.]