Pistons headed for exit

The demise of the previously bickering Pistons remains in the control of Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and possibly the three referees.

The elimination of the Pistons cannot come soon enough.

The Pistons are so full of themselves that their likability quotient is nearing empty.

They have been obligated to play the game on the court instead of in their heads of conceit.

Their conceit is counterproductive, built as it is on the goings-on of the regular season.

They still have life, just not the kind of life a championship-seeking team usually wants.

O’Neal succumbing to early foul trouble in Game 5 was a clear indication that the series was destined to shift to the environs of the Gilbert Arenas arrest.

Ben Wallace has taken to flopping around O’Neal more than Vlade Divac, which is a sign to the referees to be kind to him.

Their kindness was apparent long before Wallace rejected a shot attempt of O’Neal, which has generated an exaggerated amount of significance for what amounts to a two-point attempt.

The potpourri assembled by Pat Riley is mostly a support-hose one, which perhaps explains the sympathy leggings of Wade. Aging teams rarely play with the energy and force so necessary on the road in the playoffs.

Riley’s group has shown itself to be the stronger team partly because the Pistons have shown themselves to be the finger-pointing one.

The Pistons already have placed the blame on coach Flip Saunders, although he is not the one who has been missing shots, committing unforced turnovers and passing along delusional thoughts.

If the Pistons go down tonight, it will be well-deserved.

That would prompt a goodbye, along with a good riddance.

No team should find a reward after throwing its beleaguered coach under the bus, especially the coach who succeeded the one who abandoned it for the 23-win dream job in Manhattan.

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