Heat lose lead, finish trip 3-3
Up-tempo Pistons use 10-0 run in fourth quarter to pull away.
DETROIT — The end of the road.
OK, it’s not that bleak, but Sunday’s 112-103 loss to the Detroit Pistons concluded the Heat’s six-game road trip. And while Miami had a chance to head home with a solid win, it could not hold an 11-point, third-quarter lead and fell to old friend Stan Van Gundy’s team.
Hassan Whiteside helped the Heat build their lead, but the Pistons regrouped, took a two-point lead by the end of the third period and a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter sealed the win.
“Probably a pace that was a little more appealing to them, than to us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said about what sparked the Pistons’ run. “We know what our identity is and as much as it looked like we could play that kind of game in the first half, a 48-minute game really has to be on our terms.
“The pace ... it was just a little bit too up and down, and they were able to really capi- talize in some numbers situations.”
Whiteside led the Heat with 20 points, 18 in the second half. He also had 12 rebounds. Goran Dragic scored 18.
Tobias Harris had 25 points for the Pistons and Avery Bradley scored 24.
The Heat (6-7) finished their 11-day road trip 3-3. The Pistons (10-3) concluded a perfect fivegame homestand.
Here are our five takeaways from the game:
Blown opportunity: Miami led 73-62 with seven minutes
remaining in the third quarter and had the Pistons on the ropes.
But Miami suddenly went cold and the Pistons ended the quarter on a 21-8 run to take an 83-81 lead. Detroit then put the game away, stretching a 93-92 lead with 7:55 remaining to 103-92 in a span of 2:45. Miami never got closer than seven.
“They changed a lot,” Dragic said about the fourth quarter. “The second unit came in and elevated the tempo.
“They re a lly p layed up-tempo with Ish Smith and it kind of hurt us a little bit. They got some open transition 3s that we didn’t contest and they made those shots and made that little run. In the end, it wasn’t enough for us.”
But ... 3-3 not all that bad: The Heat went .500, which makes it a successful trip, especially consid- ering three of those teams entered Sunday a combined 16 games over .500.
The schedule now is a bit more home friendly as Miami returns to AmericanAirlines Arena for three of its next four games before heading out for another four games. That trip starts the day after Thanksgiving.
Two of those home games, Washington and Boston, will offer a challenge and gives Miami a chance to prove it belongs in the conversation with the East’s top teams. Miami and Washington play in Miami on Wednesday and in D.C. two nights later.
“I think we got better on this road trip,” Whiteside said. “It feels like we’ve been on the road for two months now.
“It’s going to be good to sleep in your own bed and get to see your house and get back in front of Heat fans.”
Live by the 3, die by the 3: The Heat relied on the 3-point shot early. Miami’s first eight shots all were 3-point attempts and by halftime it was 11 of 23. For the most part, the shots were open as Detroit appeared more concerned with taking away the paint.
But that touch eluded the Heat in the second half, going 2 of 14 as Miami finished 13 of 37 for the game, equaling its season-high for attempts (three times).
“In the first half, they were much more to our liking inside-out, extra ball move- ment good to great,” Spoelstra said. “The second half they really stepped up and flattened us out, made those 3s tougher at the end of the clock, without any kind of dribble penetration, paint penetration, attack penetration.
“So we were caught with some tough ones and we’ll just have to get better with the details, get better with the execution, better at the screening, better poised. We showed a lot of it on this road trip. We’ve gotten better at it, and we’ll have to continue to get better.”
Battle of the big men: Whiteside and Detroit’s Andre Drummond started slow. They combined for seven points in the first half, although Drummond, the league’s leading rebounder, did have 10 rebounds, twice as many as Whiteside.
But Whiteside came alive in the third quarter, scoring 10 straight points to help the Heat take an 11-point lead.
Whiteside picked up his fifth double-double of the season in eight games while Drummond finished with eight points and 17 rebounds.
“He’s a really good rebounder, man, it’s not a secret,” Whiteside said.
“Just two great rebound- ers going at it.”
Some life from Richardson: Josh Richardson has started every game this season, joining Dragic as the only two players to do so, but his play has been uneven.
Richardson entered Sunday shooting .333 while averaging 3.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.9 turnovers in his last seven games.
But he had his best outing in several weeks and the Heat hope that continues. Richardson finished with 15 points, his most since Nov. 28, five rebounds, four assists and no turnovers. He shot 5 of 11.
“I just told myself I was going to come out and be aggressive,” Richardson said.