Heat wins fourth quarter on the way to holding off winless Pistons. Takeaways from the victory
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 106-98 win over the Detroit Pistons (0-4) on Monday at Kaseya Center on Dwyane Wade Statue Night. Next up for the Heat (2-1) is a matchup against the New York Knicks on Wednesday to close a quick two-game homestand:
The winless Pistons didn’t make it easy on the Heat. But the Heat won the fourth quarter and that was the difference.
The Heat led by as many as 13 points in the first half and entered halftime ahead 64-53. That double-digit lead didn’t last long, though.
The Pistons opened the second half by dominating the third quarter, outscoring the Heat 26-14 in the period to turn an 11-point halftime deficit into a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Heat shot just 5 of 22 (22.7 percent) from the field and 2 of 13 (15.4 percent) from the field in the third quarter.
But the fourth quarter was a totally different story.
The Heat began the fourth quarter by scoring the first 12 points of the period to pull ahead by 11 just 1:51 into the quarter.
The Pistons again responded, cutting the Heat’s lead to three points with 7:04 to play.
That’s the closest the Pistons got..
The Heat used a 13-5 run to pull away and seal the win, as a three-point dagger from Terry Rozier capped off the spurt to push the Heat’s lead up to 11 with 1:52 left and force a Pistons timeout.
After an ugly third quarter, the Heat won the fourth quarter 28-19 to go from trailing by one point at the start of the period to earning an eight-point win. The Pistons shot just 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) from the field and 3 of 11 (27.3 percent) from three-point range in the final quarter.
“Just getting stops,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said of the fourth-quarter turnaround. “I think the most important thing right now is just trying to find an identity at this point of the season – it’s really early. We can hang our hats on the defensive end, whether shots are falling or not.”
Jimmy Butler finished with a team-high 23 points for the Heat on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 9-of-11 shooting from the foul line. He also contributed four rebounds, seven assists and four steals.
“I’m not going to get away from my game because of the way that people would like for our organization to play,” Butler said. “I got to be on the attack, I got to find my guys, guard on the defensive side of the ball and it will look like it looked tonight.”
Rozier added 20 points on 5-of-12 shooting from three-point range, five rebounds, three assists and one steal.
Herro ended the night with 19 points on 7-of-20 shooting from the field and 3-of-12 shooting on threes, four rebounds, six assists and one steal.
Heat center Bam Adebayo added 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks.
In total, 83 of the Heat’s 88 field-goal attempts on Monday came from either the paint or three-point range. That’s the efficient shot profile that Miami is looking for this season.
“I thought it was overall a pretty efficient night as far as the shot diet, profile that we want,” Herro said. “Just continue to get more shots and more layups, and shots will fall.”
The Heat knows it needs to force a lot of turnovers to be at its best. Miami did that against Detroit.
The Heat totaled 21 points off 17 turnovers from the Pistons on Monday. The Heat did that by racking up a season-high 14 steals after hitting that number only three times last season
In the end, the Heat outscored the Pistons 21-13 in points off turnovers. That’s an eight-point advantage in an eight-point win.
Pistons guard Cade Cunningham finished with a team-high 24 points, but he also finished with a game-high five turnovers.
The Heat will continue to try to be aggressive because pressuring opponents into high-turnover games is a big part of its winning formula.
On Monday, the Heat improved 12-4 when tallying 14 or more steals in a regular-season game since Butler joined the team during the 2019 offseason.
“We know already in a young season where we are, what it looks like when we’re at our best defensively,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We saw a lot of that tonight.”
Defensive rebounding continues to be an issue for the Heat at this (very) early stage of the regular season.
In Wednesday’s season-opening home loss, the Heat allowed the Orlando Magic to score 25 second-chance points with the help of 18 offensive rebounds.
In Saturday’s road win, the Heat allowed the Charlotte Hornets to grab 15 offensive rebounds and total 20 second-chance points.
With those two games, the Heat entered Monday with the NBA’s worst defensive rebounding percentage (the percentage of available defensive rebounds a team grabs) at 60.7 percent this season.
Defensive rebounding was again a problem for the Heat on Monday, as the Pistons finished with 20 second-chance points with the help of 19 offensive rebounds.
“We just have to get better at it,” Spoelstra said when asked about the Heat’s defensive rebounding following Monday’s win. “It’s been a little bit different each game. The first game, there were a bunch of bobbles and missed box outs. I think there was a better intention tonight.
“Everybody has to be an active participant in rebounding. That’s not just exclusive to us, that’s this league. If teams are shooting a lot more threes, longer bounces, things that are different, then everybody has to be a participant to rebound.”
If history is any indication, the Heat will find a way to clean this issue up. The Heat has finished each of the last three regular seasons with a top-10 defensive rebounding percentage.
But for now, rebounding is a problem for the Heat early this season.
Josh Richardson was available to play for the first time this season, but he was not part of the Heat’s bench rotation on Monday.
Instead, the Heat went with a five-man bench rotation of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Duncan Robinson, Thomas Bryant, Alec Burks and Haywood Highsmith.
Jaquez was the Heat’s leading scorer off the bench, finishing the win with 12 points, nine rebounds and three steals in 33 minutes.
Jaquez (plus 15), Robinson (plus 15), Bryant (plus 11), Burks (plus 4) and Highsmith (plus 17) all finished Monday’s victory with a positive plus/minus.
While Richardson didn’t play against the Pistons, it’s good news for the Heat that he was back in uniform. Richardson missed the entire preseason as he worked his way back from March surgery on his right shoulder and then was held out of the first two games of the regular season with left heel enthesopathy.
The only unavailable players for the Heat on Wednesday were Kevin Love (personal reasons) and Josh Christopher (G League). Love has missed the first three games of the regular season because of personal reasons.
The only active and available players who did not get on the court against the Pistons were Pelle Larsson, Dru Smith, Kel’el Ware and Richardson.
Two-way contract forward Keshad Johnson was available, but the Heat made him inactive for the contest.
The Heat capped off its latest celebration for the greatest player in franchise history with “Dwyane Wade Statue Night.”
After unveiling Wade’s bronze statue in front of Kaseya Center during a ceremony on Sunday, the Heat held “Dwyane Wade Statue Night” during Monday’s game on the 21-year anniversary of Wade’s NBA debut.
Wade addressed the crowd during a halftime presentation and video tributes to his Hall of Fame career were also sprinkled throughout Monday’s game.
“It was a great celebration for all of us,” Spoelstra said during his pregame media session on Monday. “We love to celebrate greatness, we love to celebrate all these iconic players and iconic moments.”
Wade’s statue is the first Heat statue to go up at its home arena in the franchise’s 37 seasons.
“I think it’s crazy that he’s the first one to get a statue out there,” Butler said. “I’m pretty sure he won’t be the last one to get one. But what a way to set an example. That guy has done so much for this organization. That’s my brother, man, and I’m proud of him.”
After retiring at the end of the 2018-19 season, Wade is still the Heat’s all-time leader in categories like points, games played, minutes played, assists and steals and is considered one of the top shooting guards in NBA history. Among his most impressive accomplishments: three championships with the Heat (2006, 2012, 2013), a Finals MVP award in 2006 and an NBA scoring title in the 2008-09 season.
“I always talked about a bar that was set and there have been many bars set in this organization,” Wade said before Monday’s game. “I was able to jump over that bar. Now I’ve set them, UD (Udonis Haslem) has set them, Zo (Alonzo Mourning) has set them and now you have future players to come and jump over these bars.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 10:09 PM.
