The Miami Heat hang on to beat the Detroit Pistons Sunday afternoon to take the season series with a clean sweep off a Bam Adebayo made three-point shot. After going on a four-game losing streak, Miami have now won two straight, both against the Pistons.
Bam called game. đ„ pic.twitter.com/m7FMXOngwI
â Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) March 17, 2024
It is utterly ironic that the contest ended with Adebayo sinking a three-point shot as it has been a topic of discussion since including the buzzer-beater, the star big-man now has sunk a deep shot in three straight games. The game was tied at 101 when Heat guard Terry Rozier took the ball up the court after a Pistons miss.
When he was stopped in his tracks and time expiring, Rozier passed the ball to his only option which was Adebayo at the top of the key and had to fire it away. There is no doubt that Adebayo taking the shot wasn't the plan from the get go, but the University of Kentucky product has been working on that shot and showed why he should be a threat from that range.
The Heat's bench rushed to Adebayo after the made shot and celebrated with their captain as it's his first season in that role after the retirement of long-time player Udonis Haslem. He would finish with 20 points, a whopping 17 rebounds, and three assists as the too close win brings the Heat to 37-30 on the season.
With that being said, here are three takeaways from the Heat's close win over the Pistons, albeit in a squeaker:
Duncan Robinson's impact for Miami
Besides Robinson reaching an incredible milestone of being the fastest player in NBA history to hit 1,000 three-point shots, he also had a masterful game on top of that. He finished the game with 30 points off making 10 of his 15 shots from the field, and making seven of 12 from three-point range.
He has been filling in for the injured Heat star in Tyler Herro and has started the past 11 games, but Sunday afternoon showed how much Robinson has improved in a lot of areas besides being one of the elite three-point shooters in the NBA. While Adebayo will be remembered for the buzzer-beater three, Robinson needs to be in that conversation for keeping Miami in the game.
Heat letting lowly teams like Pistons compete
One could argue this has been a constant issue for many, many years now, but this game was a microcosm of how even though the Heat are undoubtedly the better team on paper, they always let inferior teams close in the game. One could point to every game with the Pistons this year or even the most recent loss to the Washington Wizards which was arguably the worst defeat of the season.
The Heat were up by 17 points at one point in this game, but continue to have the bad habit of letting teams come back in the game towards the end. In this case, the Pistons came back and even tied the game at one point late in the fourth quarter.
Granted, Miami was without four key players in Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic, and the continued absences of Tyler Herro and Kevin Love. However, the concern should still be there as Detroit, while being tough with other good teams before, has not found much success this season.
How the Heat faired with injuries, plus schedule ahead
As said before, the Heat were missing four integral players to the rotation, and it showed against the Pistons. On top of Herro and Love having been out for 11 and nine games respectively, Butler and Jovic were late absences as rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Haywood Highsmith filled in the starting lineup.
Jaquez scored 15 points off of making six of 14 attempts from the field and Highsmith had three points, though his focus was exceptional defense up and down the stretch. It remains to be seen if their name will be called for the future, but fans should be knowing pretty soon.
There will be little to no rest as as they now travel to take on the Philadelphia 76ers Monday night on the tail-end of the back-t0-back. After, they end the current four-game road trip and face the Cleveland Cavaliers who are the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Miami entered the game eighth in the tightly packed Eastern Conference as now with 15 games left in the regular season, every game matters. However, they will move up to seventh place where the 76ers was as even though they have the same record, Miami owns the tiebreaker as they lead 2-0 in the season series.
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