ALSO INSIDE
Detroit 111-104 at AmericanAirlines Arena to begin a three-game homestand.
The result pulled the Heat (20-17) within a half-game of the Pistons
(20-16) in the Eastern
Conference standings.
Miami is three games above .500 for the first time since the end of the
2015-16 season.
“We walked into the locker room and somebody said this is the first time in two years we’ve been three games above .500,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “One, that’s sobering. But then also it shows you that we’re grinding, we see progress and guys »
Patience with J. Johnson pays dividends, played with a lot of confidence in the second half and you always like to see that. It seemed like everybody we put out there was playing aggressively with confidence.”
With the score tied at 81 entering the fourth quarter, the Heat outscored the Pistons 30-23 in the final period. Miami shot 11 of 18 (61.1 percent) in the fourth quarter.
The Heat had six players finish with double-digit points. Kelly Olynyk led the way with a team-high 25 points on 11-of15 shooting and 13 rebounds, and Goran Dragic finished with 24 points and 13 assists.
Heat forward Josh Richardson also turned
Heat
in a strong performance with 22 points and five assists.
Tobias Harris scored 19 points for the Pistons.
Here are our takeaways: The power of 3: Miami used the 3-pointer to defeat Detroit, making 17 of 34 shots from behind the 3-point line. The Heat outscored the Pistons 51-27 on threes. It’s been obvious this season that 3-pointers are a big part of Miami’s offense. Miami shat- tered its record for 3-point attempts in a season with 2,213 last year, which easily surpassed the previous mark of 1,865 set in 1996-97.
But the Heat are on their way to setting another record, as they are on pace to attempt 2,570 3-pointers this season.
James Johnson is back: After missing six of the past seven games with right ankle bursitis, Johnson made his return against the Pistons and he was effective. The forward finished with 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting in 24 minutes.
And the good news is that Johnson didn’t aggravate the injury this time.
“You can tell he’s not 100 percent with his timing and fluidity, but he brings us another big layer of versa- tility on both ends of the court,” Spoelstra said of Johnson.
“We become a totally different basketball team when he’s out there. ”
Move the ball: The Heat’s offense always looks better when it’s moving the ball. That’s why Miami looked so crisp offensively against Detroit. The Heat finished with 29 assists on 43 baskets. Dragic led the charge with a season-high 13 assists, the second-most assists he’s had in a game with the Heat.
Dragic looks like himself again: For the second consecutive game, Dragic looked like his healthy self after battling through a sore left shooting elbow for the past few weeks. With the elbow sleeve off, Dragic is averaging 24.5 points on 48.8 percent shooting over the past two games.
That’s a big improvement from his first three games back from the injury, when he averaged 12.7 points on just 31.1 percent shooting.
The Heat stay home: Wednesday’s win was the opener of a t hree-game homestand for Miami. The Heat face the Knicks on Fri- day and the Jazz on Sunday. Considering 11 of the Heat’s next 14 games come on the road after this homestand, they have to take advantage of the schedule this week. But playing in Miami hasn’t translated into a lot of success for the Heat, as they are just 9-9 at home and 11-8 on the road this season.
“We don’t want to stop now. We’ve still got a few games at home,” Dragic said. “We’re three games over .500. That’s a good record, but why not more? We have good, quality players. As long as we’re on the same page, we can win anywhere.”