Pistons Defeat Heat in Old-Fashioned, Gritty Game

The Miami Heat were in Detroit Sunday evening to take on Saddiq Bey and the struggling Detroit Pistons, who came in with 14 straight losses. Miami looked to build on their two previous wins to continue on this Eastern Conference road-trip. On the opposition, Detroit is currently sitting as the bottom team in the entire NBA, so anything they can get going would be needed right now.

The Heat were without three key players in this one: Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, and Tyler Herro. The short-handed Heat definitely struggled in this one and the lack of spark and tenacity that these three bring was clear. Miami looked sluggish without their star-power and overall, the Pistons just played better basketball.

Miami kept a steady lead in the first half in what looked to be an old-fashioned gritty Heat basketball game. Holding the Pistons to just 46 first-half points usually is a successful catalyst to win basketball games. Unfortunately in this one, that just wasn’t the case. The third quarter came around and the Heat looked startled. Giving up 33 points and only scoring 19 of their own was the deciding factor in this one and led to Detroit’s fifth win of the season. 

On a positive note, Max Strus looked fantastic. Scoring 24 points in 33 minutes on 7/16 from the field was the biggest reason the Heat were able to stick around in this one. Strus stepped up in the absence of Miami’s best players and proved why he is a name to be feared.

Saddiq Bey lit it up in this contest; shooting 7/13 from the field and dropping 26 points for a Detroit team that is desperate for a spark. Detroit played an all-around good basketball game from every aspect which led them to taking down one of the better teams in the league in Miami. 

Next Up

Takeaways from Heat's loss to Pistons, as Tucker injures knee | Miami Herald

The Heat will travel back to Miami to take on Chris Duarte and the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night.

(Featured image by Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports)

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