Five Stars: Pistons 93, Heat 92

First Star

Hassan Whiteside (MIA) 16.9

Whiteside scored Miami's first six points of the game, then earned top honors by playing a team-high 35:16 in total. He scored 16 points with 16 rebounds, including six offensive, along with four blocked shots and an even plus-minus rating. He shot seven-for-13 from the floor and made both of his free throws.

Second Star

Luol Deng (MIA) 13.2

Deng didn't put together what would normally be a Five Star finish, but last night, he met the standard. He earned the second star of the night with only nine points, scored on three-of-eight shooting from the field and three-of-four from the foul stripe. He missed all three of his deep attempts, collected four rebounds, and dished out one assist. He finished with a plus-nine rating, and stole the ball five times through the game, playing 33:29.

Third Star

Beno Udrih (MIA) 13.0

Udrih played his way into the Five Stars for the first time this season when first Tyler Johnson then Goran Dragic each went down for minor injuries in the games leading up to last night's matchup. Udrih shot seven-for-11 overall and missed all three of his deep shot attempts, posting a team-high plus-12 rating while putting 14 points on the board. He played 33:58, making six assists and collecting three boards.

That one's a tough one. They had a poor first quarter, we had a horrible second quarter and then it became an absolute grind-out, competitive basketball game. - Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

Fourth Star

Reggie Jackson (DET) 12.7

Jackson, although the only Piston to appear in the Five Stars, is the only player on the list to have tasted victory last night. He played 30:50 altogether, leading Detroit with 18 points on eight-of-16 shooting. He made two-of-four three-pointers, adding five rebounds, three assists, and a steal, finishing the game at plus-3.

I give our guys credit for fighting back to get in that game. I thought we played better defense in the second half. - Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy

Fifth Star

Dwyane Wade (MIA) 11.8

Wade scored 19 points for Miami in 28:53, shooting eight-for-21 from the field and three-of-four from the stripe. He earned a minus-three rating, with five rebounds, one assist, and one steal on the night. His overarching memory of the night's action, unfortunately, will be his missed field goal with seconds left in the game.

I'd love to have that shot back again. - Wade

The Rest

*Steve Blake (DET) 11.1

Blake hit four-of-five shots for Detroit, all from three-point range. He scored his 12 points in 17:10.

*Stanley Johnson (DET) 10.3

In 22:56, Johnson scored a career high 14 points on five-of-10 shooting, including four-of-seven from outside. He added four rebounds and three assists.

*Anthony Tolliver (DET) 10.2

Tolliver registered a game high plus-22 rating, hitting three-of-five from deep and adding five rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Basketball's a pretty simple game. If you do the right things, play the right way, things go your way. - Tolliver

Gerald Green (MIA) 9.4

Chris Bosh (MIA) 9.0

Andre Drummond (DET) 8.1

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (DET) 7.1

Ersan Ilyasova (DET) 6.7

Justise Winslow (MIA) 5.0

Josh Richardson (MIA) 3.6

Marcus Morris (DET) 1.7

Udonis Haslem (MIA) -0.8

Aron Baynes (DET) -2.2

Five Stars Standings

Player	TP
Chris Bosh	115
Dwyane Wade	97
Hassan Whiteside	92
Goran Dragic	33
Luol Deng	30
Tyler Johnson	29
Gerald Green	15
Beno Udrih	5
Justise Winslow	5
Josh McRoberts	4

Udrih's performance last night finally pushed the GOAT (Mario Chalmers) out of the Top 10 Standings. It's too bad that four guys in the top five didn't guarantee the Heat a win, and kinda weird that Deng made it all the way to number two despite only nine points while Chris Bosh scored a game-high 20 points and only had the 10th highest GameScore of the night. Detroit Bad Boys has the winning perspective for you, but I prefer my sour grapes today. The Bird Writes features the New Orleans Pelicans, who the Heat will face at noon on Christmas Day. Happy Holidays to you and yours.