Takeaways and details from Heat’s blowout home loss to struggling Pistons to fall to 11-14
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s ugly 116-96 loss to the struggling Detroit Pistons (7-19) on Tuesday night at FTX Arena to open a three-game homestand. The Heat (11-14) continues the homestand on Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers:
This was a really bad loss for a Heat team in need of every win it can get after a slow start to the season.
Entering with the second-worst record in the NBA at 6-19, the Pistons cruised to a double-digit win over the Heat on Tuesday. It marked the Pistons’ most lopsided win and just their seventh win of the season.
The Heat’s final lead of the game came midway through the third quarter, as the Pistons entered the fourth quarter ahead by five points and extended their lead to as many as 22 points in the final period.
“I didn’t sense that we had a lack of urgency or that we were flat. We simply just didn’t play well,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I thought we were pretty stable defensively through three quarters and then the flood gates just went open in that fourth quarter.”
Detroit won the fourth quarter 38-23 to run away with the win, shooting 16 of 23 (69.6 percent) from the field and 5 of 10 (50 percent) from three-point range in the period. Miami shot just 7 of 20 (35 percent) from the field in the final quarter.
“The defense in the fourth quarter was certainly not to our standard,” Spoelstra said.
The Pistons outscored the Heat 69-46 in the second half.
“I think a lack of focus just on the defensive end,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said when asked to explain the loss. “Obviously, down some guys still but I feel like with the guys we had out there, we could have gotten the job done. We needed to make a few more plays on both ends.”
With star Jimmy Butler held out on the second night of a back-to-back, the Heat got big performances from Bam Adebayo and Herro on Tuesday.
Adebayo finished with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field and 15 rebounds.
Herro matched his season-high with 34 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting on threes and 8-of-8 shooting from the foul line. It’s tied for the third-point points he has scored in a game in his NBA career.
But the rest of the Heat’s roster combined to score just 41 points on 12-of-44 (27.3 percent) shooting from the field in the loss.
“Our offense for large portions of the game, there wasn’t a flow,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat holding the NBA’s fifth-worst offensive rating this season. “Guys were not making quick decisions, quick reads. We’re much better than we showed the last two nights offensively and we’ll make sure that we’ll get on the same page and get our flow going offensively and our rhythm much better for Thursday.”
Herro started fast, totaling 21 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting from three-point range and 5-of-5 shooting from the foul line in the first half. It’s tied for the second-most points Herro has scored in a single half in his NBA career, just one point shy of his career-high for a half of 22 points.
Herro started 8-of-8 from the field before missing his first shot — a 12-foot runner — on his ninth attempt of the game with 7:40 left in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Bojan Bogdanovic led the Pistons with 31 points on 12-of-16 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 shooting from three-point range. He scored 28 of his 31 points in the second half.
On Friday, the Heat earned one of its most impressive wins of the season on the road against the Boston Celtics to get to 11-12. But Miami has lost two straight games since then to erase all of the positive momentum it has built.
“None of us are happy about this,” Spoelstra said. “You walk in the locker room, nobody feels good about the last 48 hours. And again, as a reminder, just five days ago, we were coming off of a very good road win. But we do have to collectively own this and that’s all of us. Everybody in the locker room and the coaching staff and myself, we have to do a better job.”
It came nearly two months into the regular season, but Heat guard Victor Oladipo finally made his season debut.
After missing the first 24 games of the season because of left knee tendinosis, Oladipo made his return in Tuesday’s loss. He finished with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 shooting on threes, two rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes off the bench.
“Obviously, it wasn’t the result we wanted or I wanted,” Oladipo said after the loss. “But it’s definitely good to play again. It’s just good to be out there. I’m optimistic, just going to keep getting better and everything else will take care of itself.”
Oladipo entered for his first action of the season with 3:47 left in the first quarter. He went on to play the rest of the first period and then the first 4:32 of the second quarter.
During that eight-minute stretch, Oladipo recorded two points on 0-of-2 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from the foul line, one rebound and one assist.
Oladipo’s second and final stint of the night began when he entered with 3:34 left in the third quarter. That shift included Oladipo’s best stretch of the game, when he scored seven points in a three-minute span in the fourth quarter.
With Oladipo back, the question now becomes: What’s the Heat’s plan for him moving forward? The expectation is Miami will continue to be cautious with Oladipo’s minutes and workload.
“For him to just get back out there, I think was a big step for him,” Spoelstra said following Oladipo’s season debut. “We’ll temper the expectations because there will be a minutes restriction for whatever ‘X’ period of time. But the most important thing is he’s feeling great. He’s already as I was walking here [to the press conference room], he’s already in the weight room getting some extra work. That’s a good sign that the minutes were fine and I think that’s because it was an appropriate healthy plan the last few weeks to get him to this point.”
Tuesday marked just the 13th regular-season game that Oladipo has appeared in with the Heat since Miami acquired him in a trade in March 2021. But he was a consistent part of the Heat’s rotation during last season’s playoff run to the Eastern Conference finals.
Oladipo already endured two long recoveries stemming from a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee in January 2019 that required a second surgery in May 2021. He waited until March 7 to make his season debut last season following an 11-month recovery.
This past summer, Oladipo signed a two-year, $18.2 million contract as a free agent to remain with the Heat. The deal includes a second-year player option of $9.5 million for next season.
But on the second night of a back-to-back, the Heat held out Butler on Tuesday.
On the injury report, Butler was listed as out because of right knee injury management. Butler, who logged 33 minutes in Monday’s loss in Memphis, missed seven straight games because of right knee soreness before returning to play in Friday’s road win over the Celtics.
With the 33-year-old Butler recently missing time because of a knee issue, the Heat took a cautious approach and sat him on the second night of the back-to-back. It marked the 10th game he has missed in Miami’s first 25 games of the season.
Along with Butler, the Heat was also without Jamal Cain (G League), Dewayne Dedmon (left foot plantar fasciitis), Gabe Vincent (left knee effusion) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) against the Pistons. That left 11 available players for the Heat on Tuesday.
The Heat fell to 2-3 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.
The 36-year-old Kyle Lowry is still the only Heat player who has appeared in every game this season.
Through all of the Heat’s injury issues this season, Lowry has managed to be play in each of the first 25 games.
Lowry was listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game because of left ankle discomfort, but he was able to play against the Pistons. He closed the loss with eight points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 shooting from three-point range, six rebounds and six assists.
Lowry has been a stabilizing force for the Heat this season when others have been out. He has played the second-most minutes (907) in the NBA this season behind only Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant (921).
Tuesday marked the start of a soft spot in the Heat’s schedule that it must take advantage of. Miami is off to a bad start.
Tuesday’s loss to the Pistons marked the start of an 11-game stretch for the Heat that includes eight games against teams that currently have a sub-.500 record.
The Heat has yet to get above .500 this season. This stretch presents Miami with a very good opportunity to finally cross that threshold and make up some ground in the Eastern Conference standings, but Tuesday’s loss to one of the worst teams in the NBA didn’t help.
The Heat is in 11th place in the East.
This story was originally published December 6, 2022 at 10:00 PM.
