Heat pulls away from Pistons in second half to end four-game skid
DETROIT
It wasn’t always pretty, but the Miami Heat got exactly what it needed.
With one month left in the regular season and still fighting to avoid the NBA’s play-in tournament, the Heat (36-30) snapped its late-season four-game skid by opening an important four-game trip with a 108-95 victory over the struggling Detroit Pistons on Friday night at Little Caesars Arena.
The Pistons (12-54), which entered with the NBA’s secondworst record, kept it close throughout the first half and even led by five points late in the first quarter. But the Heat managed to enter halftime with a narrow 56-54 despite shooting just 3 of 16 (18.8 percent) from three-point range in the first half.
The Heat finally took control of the game with a big third quarter that included a 13-0 run to push its lead up to 18 points. Duncan Robinson hit three straight threes for the Heat during that spurt.
The Heat ended up outscoring the Pistons 28-18 in the third quarter to enter the final period with a 12-point lead.
The Heat continued to build on its lead in the fourth quarter, pulling ahead by as many as 21 points in the period on its way to the double-digit win.
Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo led the way on both ends of the court, closing the win with 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, two rebounds, five assists, three steals and one block.
Adebayo’s Heat co-star Jimmy Butler was relatively quiet, finishing with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
The Heat won despite shooting just 7 of 34 (20.6 percent) from three-point range in part because it outscored the Pistons 64-38 from inside the paint.
Simone Fontecchio scored a game-high 24 points on 5-of-8 shooting from behind the arc for the Pistons.
The Heat remains in Detroit for another game against the Pistons on Sunday before traveling to face the 76ers in Philadelphia on Monday.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s win Friday:
The Heat’s defense is at its best when it’s forcing turnovers.
The Heat was able to overcome an inefficient three-point performance by scoring 33 points on 18 Pistons turnovers on Friday.
The 33 points totaled off of the Pistons’ mistakes tie for the second-most points the Heat has scored off of turnovers in a game this season.
As a team, the Heat recorded 14 steals in Friday’s win.
The Heat improved to 11-2 this season when scoring more than 20 points off its opponent’s turnovers.
Adebayo has made one three-pointer in each of the last two games.
Before this two-game stretch, Adebayo was just 1 of 14 (7.1 percent) from three-point range this season.
But Adebayo sank one from the top of the arc when Nuggets center Nikola Jokic sagged off of him on Wednesday.
And Adebayo hit another one on Friday. Jaime Jaquez Jr. flipped the ball to Adebayo and Adebayo quickly rose up to make another above-the-break threepointer as part of his 16point second quarter. That’s tied for the fourth-highest scoring quarter of Adebayo’s NBA career.
With those two makes in the last two games, Adebayo is now 3 of 16 (13.3 percent) on threes this season.
The three three-point makes match Adebayo’s career-high for a season, as he also hit three threes during the 2018-19 season.
The 16 three-point attempts are a new careerhigh for Adebayo, surpassing his previous career-high of 15 set during the 2018-19 season.
During Adebayo’s seven NBA seasons, he has shot 11 of 78 (14.1 percent) from three-point range.
The Heat’s most-used starting lineup opened another game together.
With usual starter Tyler Herro missing his 10th straight game because of a foot injury, the Heat used the same starting lineup for the ninth consecutive game on Friday.
The Heat opened the game with a starting lineup of Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic and Bam Adebayo.
This is the only Heat lineup that has logged more than 100 minutes together this season and they’ve also opened more games together than any other Heat starting group this season.
But just because this lineup has been used the most doesn’t mean it has produced positive minutes. In fact, the Rozier-Robinson-Butler-Jovic-Adebayo combination entered Friday as a negative, with opponents outscoring this group by 6.7 points per 100 possessions in 102 minutes together this season.
The results were positive on Friday, though, as this lineup began Friday’s game by building a 16-13 lead before the Heat turned to its bench.
The Heat’s starting lineup then outscored the Pistons 12-11 to begin the third quarter before the first substitution was made.
Jovic, who started his 12th straight appearance, finished Friday’s win with seven points and five rebounds. Foul trouble helped to limit him to just 15 minutes.
Along with missing Herro, the Heat was also without Kevin Love (bruised right heel), Josh Richardson (right shoulder surgery) and Alondes Williams (G League) against the Pistons.
With Love missing his eighth straight game, Thomas Bryant was the backup center.
The Heat has rotated through different backup center options in Love’s absence, playing Orlando Robinson, Jovic and Bryant in that spot.
Bryant got those minutes against the Pistons, contributing 11 points and five rebounds in 17 minutes.
The Heat went with a primary bench rotation of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Caleb Martin, Patty Mills and Bryant.
Martin was a force off Miami’s bench on Friday, finishing with 18 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals.
The only available Heat players who did not play on Friday were Delon Wright, Cole Swider and Orlando Robinson.
Next up for the Heat: Another matchup against the Pistons in Detroit.
Following Friday’s win, the Heat remains in Detroit to take on the Pistons at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday afternoon. It marks the fifth of six times this season that the Heat will play the same opponent in consecutive games — three coming at home, two happening on the road and one split between home and away.
The Heat has only swept one of those series so far this season, winning backto-back games against the Hornets in Charlotte on Dec. 11 and 13. The Heat can do it for the second time this season with another road victory over the Pistons on Sunday.
The Heat’s final set of consecutive games against the same opponent this regular season comes when it faces the Toronto Raptors in Miami on April 12 and April 14. Those are also the Heat’s final two regularseason games.