Auburn Hills, Mich ? The final score showed that the Heat defeated the Pistons. The story of the game, however, was how the Pistons beat themselves.

On a night when Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal were better in the first half than they were in the final two quarters, the Heat didn’t need either of them to be the key factor in their 113-104 victory over Detroit on Sunday night for a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

Instead, Detroit got upset with the officiating and lost its cool, and Miami was more than happy to watch the Pistons self-destruct.

“We’re too good of a team to have a meltdown like we had tonight,” Detroit’s Richard Hamilton said. “This late in the season, the Eastern Conference finals, we can’t afford to have those types of letdowns. We let little ticky-tack stuff bother us, and we can’t do that.”

The Heat scored 11 points from the foul line during a 13-4 run that put them ahead for good midway through the fourth quarter, and the Pistons lost control to such a degree that Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups drew technical fouls in the fourth quarter for screaming in disgust at the officials.

Pistons coach Larry Brown got in on the act, too, venting his displeasure with sarcastic shouts after the game had slipped away from his team.

Billups eventually fouled out, and Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess all finished with five fouls apiece.

“It wasn’t the Heat. They played well, but they aren’t what got under our skin,” Billups said.

The statistics did not show too much of a disparity in the calls – Detroit was whistled for 33 fouls to Miami’s 29, and the Pistons went to the line 54 times to the Heat’s 43.

But there was several moments that infuriated the Pistons and their fans, including a pair of very late whistles that sent Wade to the line in the first half, and numerous non-calls on the inside – one of which Billups emerged from with a bloody nose.

“We kind of lost our poise,” Brown said, “and as a result of that we dug ourselves a hole with a chance to win.”

Miami attempted 29 free throws in the fourth quarter alone, making 22. Jones was 6-for-6 in the period, and Wade was 6-for-8.

Wade scored 21 of his 36 points in the first half, getting limited in the final 24 minutes by Lindsey Hunter’s defense and some foul trouble of his own.

But Wade was able to hit a jumper over Tayshaun Prince with 2:46 left, shortly after checking back in for the final time, to give Miami a 102-93 lead that made the crowd begin scurrying for the exits.

O’Neal finished with 24 points and Eddie Jones had 19. O’Neal made his first six foul shots of the fourth quarter and finished 8-for-12 from the line.

“I’m just getting better and better,” O’Neal said. “It’s just like a bunch of worker bees protecting the king bee, because I’m not a queen bee. I’m a king bee.”

Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, left, shoots over Detroit Pistons center Elden Campbell during the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Heat won, 113-104, Sunday in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Hamilton led Detroit with 33, while Billups struggled from the field by shooting 6-for-19. The Pistons missed 15 of their 43 free throws.

“I told him before the game we really needed him,” Wade said of O’Neal, who was slowed by a bruised thigh and was not a huge offensive factor for Miami in Games 1 and 2. “He knew we needed him and this is where we needed him the most – on the road in a hostile environment. And he stepped up big for us. He hit big free throws down the stretch.

“That’s the kind of player he is, and it was a great win for us.”

O’Neal’s first two fouls came in rapid succession midway through the second quarter, but the Heat lost nothing – thanks to Wade – when their big man went to the bench.

“We kept our poise, man,” said Jones. “We didn’t lose it.”

Game 4 is Tuesday night.