Another starter injured as Heat falls to struggling Pistons. Takeaways from the loss
The Miami Heat’s margin for error without Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro is slim.
How slim? The Heat (18-13) missed enough shots and made enough mistakes that it fell to the struggling Detroit Pistons 100-90 on Sunday night at Little Caesars Arena to close its four-game trip. The result snapped the Pistons 14-game losing skid and marked their first win in over a month since Nov. 17.
Miami finished 2-2 on its trip.
“The guys laid it out there. The guys were competing,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, complimenting his team’s short-handed effort in the loss. “This is not one of those things where I’m walking out of this building saying, ‘Yeah, we needed to do this harder. We needed to compete. We didn’t have any competitive disposition.’ We did.”
The Heat led by as many as nine points in the first half, but the Pistons (5-24) ended the second quarter strong to enter halftime trailing by just two points despite only shooting 2 of 19 on threes in the first two periods.
The Pistons controlled the game from there, winning the third quarter 33-19 to enter the fourth ahead by 12.
The Heat pulled within five points multiple times in the final quarter, but that‘s the closest it would get.
Miami’s offense struggled in the loss, shooting just 37.8 percent from the field.
Max Strus scored a team-high 24 points off the bench for the Heat. But Kyle Lowry (19 points, five rebounds and 10 assists), Duncan Robinson (six points, three rebounds and four assists) and Gabe Vincent (eight points, three rebounds and five assists) combined to shoot just 8 of 34 (23.5 percent) from the field and 5 of 25 (20 percent) on threes.
“We shot 37 percent from the field tonight,” Lowry said. “That’s not going to win you many games, but we had a chance. So we fought hard and we had an opportunity, we just didn’t complete the task.”
Saddiq Bey led the Pistons with a game-high 26 points with the help of 3-of-6 shooting on threes and 9-of-10 shooting from the foul line.
After playing 19 of its first 31 games on the road, the Heat now returns home for a four-game homestand that begins Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s loss to the Pistons:
The Heat won the battle from three-point range. But it didn’t matter because it turned in a very inefficient offensive performance.
Miami outscored Detroit 39-24 on threes despite shooting only 13 of 43 (30.2 percent) from deep. The Pistons shot just 8 of 32 (25 percent) from beyond the arc.
But the Heat still lost because it finished just 4 of 12 (33.3 percent) on non-rim paint attempts and 1 of 5 (20 percent) on midrange opportunities while being limited to only 14 shots from within the restricted area.
How does that compare to the Heat’s usual production from those areas? Miami has shot 45.6 percent on non-rim paint shots, 41.7 percent on midrange looks and has averaged 21.5 shots per game from within the restricted area this season.
By comparison, the Pistons shot 18 of 25 (72 percent) on non-rim paint shots and 3 of 8 (37.5 percent) on midrange attempts to end their losing streak on Sunday. That helped negate Detroit’s three-point shooting struggles and the fact that it finished with just 10 shots from within the restricted area.
As a result, the Pistons outscored the Heat 48-28 from inside the paint.
“You do have to credit Detroit,” Spoelstra said. “They were extremely aggressive, particularly off the drive and putting pressure on us in the paint. We’re one of the better teams at protecting the paint and they tested the fences.”
To make matters worse, the Heat also missed more free throws than usual. Miami, which entered shooting 78.8 percent from the foul line this season, finished just 21 of 33 (63.6 percent) from the free-throw line on Sunday.
Lowry missed five of his 16 free throws, Vincent missed two of his three free throws, Strus missed two of his eight free throws and Omer Yurtseven missed two of his four free throws.
“We did things in our wheelhouse,” Spoelstra said. “I think we missed 12 free throws. You make seven, eight of those and it might feel a little bit different. We had some good clean looks at the three-point line. Make four or five more of those, maybe it feels different. We had some layups that we missed. Maybe make two or three of those at key points in the game, maybe it feels different offensively.”
The Heat scored at a pace of just 94.7 points per 100 possessions on Sunday. Miami is 0-6 this season and 2-21 since the start of the 2019-20 season when posting an offensive rating worse than 100 points per 100 possessions.
“We still had good looks, clean looks,” Spoelstra said. “I think at least eight, 10 of those threes were clean and that’s what you’re aiming to get. Are you generating open looks? Are you getting to the free-throw line? Are you getting paint attacks? We did those things and sometimes it can be make or miss. Because we really did compete.”
A third Heat starter is now dealing with an injury.
Already without two starters in Adebayo and Butler, starting forward P.J. Tucker left Sunday’s game with 7:32 left in the third quarter because of a left knee injury and did not return.
Tucker was injured when he left his feet to challenge an Isaiah Stewart shot around the rim and landed hard on the court. He exited the contest after recording nine points, four rebounds and one assist in 21 minutes.
That left the Heat with just nine available players, as it entered Sunday’s game without Adebayo (thumb surgery), Butler (tail bone contusion), Herro (right quadriceps contusion), Caleb Martin (health and safety protocols), Markieff Morris (whiplash) and Victor Oladipo (right knee injury recovery).
Spoelstra said he did not have an update on Tucker following Sunday’s game, with more clarity expected Monday afternoon when the Heat issues its injury report.
It seems like Herro is moving closer to a return, but he missed his third straight game on Sunday.
The Heat’s sixth man went through his pre-game routine in Detroit, but was formally ruled out less than an hour before tipoff.
Herro suffered the injury at the beginning of the trip when he took a knee to his quad during the first half of Monday’s loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He remained with the Heat for the rest of the trip, but ultimately missed the next three games.
With Adebayo, Butler and Herro out, the Heat played the final three games of the four-game trip without its top three scorers. While Adebayo’s return is still about a month away, the hope is that Butler and Herro will return in the coming days during the Heat’s homestand.
With starting center Dewayne Dedmon running into foul trouble, Yurtseven was again asked to play double-digit minutes.
Dedmon was called for his second foul with 6:07 left in the first quarter and then picked up his fourth foul with 8:25 left in the third quarter.
As a result, Yurtseven played double-digit minutes for the fourth straight game. The rookie center finished Sunday’s loss with six points, tied a career-high with 12 rebounds and blocked two shots in 18 minutes.
With Adebayo out until mid-January, the rookie center has appeared in 11 straight games after spending the first month of the season out of the Heat’s rotation.
Also, Heat two-way contract rookie guard Marcus Garrett contributed five points. He made both of his shots from the field, including a three-pointer, to score his first NBA points on Sunday.
A Heat contingent attended the University of Michigan’s win on Saturday in support of Wolverines head coach Juwan Howard. And Howard returned the favor the following day.
Howard, who played for the Heat and was an assistant coach on Spoelstra’s staff for six seasons from 2013-2019, attended Sunday’s Heat loss to the Pistons in Detroit.
Spoelstra, Robinson and assistant coaches Chris Quinn and Octavio De La Grana were among those from the Heat who made the drive to Ann Arbor to watch Michigan’s home win over Southern Utah on Saturday. Spoelstra addressed Howard’s team following the game.
“It was a lot of fun. The stars aligned, where our schedules matched up,” Spoelstra said of the experience. “We were able to go visit him. It was something we’ve been talking about even last year, getting together. It just never materialized. We were able to do that.”
Howard took over for John Beilein at Michigan in 2019.
“[Howard] is family. That’s really what it’s all about,” Spoelstra said. “I really enjoyed being able to sit right next to the bench and watch him coach his team and lead his team. It was a really fun experience. ... We were thrilled that we were able to spend some time with him. The staff, we still all stay really connected. It still is like a family. Whenever he plays games, if we’re on the road, we get together as a staff and we watch his games and root for them. Even all of us who did not go to Michigan, we feel like we’re honorary Michigan alums.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2021 at 8:48 PM.
