By Zachary McMahon-
The Miami Heat started their NBA Cup East Group B play against the Detroit Pistons at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, MI on Tuesday night. The Heat snapped a three-game skid, as they edged the Minnesota Timberwolves 95-94 on Sunday. The Pistons came in after losing two out of the last three games.
Early in the second quarter, the Pistons had a 39-21 lead, but the combination of Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and Duncan Robinson helped produce a 23-4 run, they scored 21 of the 23, with Pelle Larsson scoring the other two on a floating jump shot.
The Pistons ended the first half with a 57-51 lead, after scoring 10 of the last 14 points after the game was tied at 47, with a three-pointer from Haywood Highsmith of the Heat tying the game initially.
The Pistons led by 14 early in the fourth quarter, and then Herro went off making 6/8 three-pointers, including three straight to tie the game at 111, and to go into overtime after Herro missed a two-pointer with a second left in regulation.
Near the end of the overtime period, Cade Cunningham made an alley-oop pass to Jalen Duren with a second left, and then Heat head coach Erik Spolestra who had used all of the Heat’s available timeouts at the point, caused a technical foul for an excessive time out, which made Mailk Beasley make the technical free throw, and then also made just another free throw, as the Pistons won 123-121 over the Heat in overtime.
Herro finished with 40 points, which is the second time in his career scoring 40 or more, and was one shy of his career-high of 41 points on December 15, 2022 against the Houston Rockets. Adebayo finished with a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Cunningham and Beasley both scored 21 for the Pistons, while Bealey had a double-double with 10 rebounds. Duren however, led the Pistons with 11 rebounds and Cunningham led with nine assists.
The Pistons will spend their next three games on the road against Milwaukee, Toronto (NBA Cup), and Washington, while the Heat will finish up their six-game road trip in Indianapolis for the next two games as they will face the Indiana Pacers for a NBA Cup match at 7 pm on Friday, and then also on Sunday at 5 pm.
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