On the first night of the New Year, the Miami Heat took care of business against the Detroit Pistons, 118-112, inside Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich.
Miami’s victory extended its win streak to four games, including two against two of the league’s best in Denver and Detroit. It didn’t come without some tension, however.
The Pistons cut the a once-22-point Heat advantage to five with 1:06 left, courtesy of Cade Cunningham’s 3-pointer and an Ausar Thompson’s transition slam. After Javonte Green made it a one-possession game, Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s picture-perfect fadeaway made it 116-112 with 28.9 seconds left.
The icing on the cake, however, was Davion Mitchell’s steal on the ensuing inbound. Norman Powell drained a pair of free throws thereafter, and that was all she wrote.
Powell led the Heat with a game-high 36 points, two away from tying his season high. He went 7-of-14 from 3-point range, one away from tying his season high in made threes, too.
Mitchell had one of his best all around the games of the season. He tallied eight points, dishing out a team-high 11 assists with a pair of steals and one block.
Bam Adebayo finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Andrew Wiggins tallied 17 points and seven boards on 7-of-18 from the floor.
Pistons star guard Cade Cunningham had 31 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists, adding two steals and two blocks on 6-of-16 shooting (he went 17-for-18 from the free-throw line). Marcus Sasser had 18 points on 4-of-6 from deep off the bench while Jalen Duren, who exited after 18 minutes, had just 12 points and five rebounds.
Thursday’s win bumped the Heat to 19-15 in the East, tied wth the Orlando Magic for the No. 5 seed. It was a great win to start the New Year.
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Giannis on the importance of the month of January for teams:
“We gotta grow, man,” Antetokounmpo said. “We gotta understand what position we are right now, and I feel like a lot of people don’t understand it. Tomorrow’s gonna be January 1st, right?
“We’re 11th in the East. My whole career, when I’ve had winning seasons, like January to February before the break, you gotta stack up wins, and we have a tough schedule. I don’t think people understand this can make us or break us. And I don’t want to break. I want to be made.”
Bucks down 38-24 vs CHA at end of Q1. CHA should beat them based on talent. Just not sure how long this is tenable for MIL
Glad to get a revenge w back against a tough pistons team, whose currently number 1 in the east . Norman Powell was a beast and we needed all his points, especially his 3s. He gonna be an all star this year. Jaquez came through big in the 4th hitting a clutch turnaround jumper, I love the development from him. If he keeps this up he will win 6moty, also has a shot at most improved. Lastly the rebounding between bam,ware was another reason we won, even wiggy was killing them on the boards. Great way to start the new year with a win on the pistons who only lost 2 games at home before this. Let’s go heat! And let’s go canes!
Right after getting revenge against Ohio State! Great 2 days!
who the f thought jjj would be this good.who the f thought we would just be given an all star for nothing.we are way better than last year.i always like 2 bigs on the floor just looks nice to the eyes.bam ware should both avg 10 plus rebounds dont think were quite their for a parade yet but if pat can pull off a trade greek i might meet rc and 30 on bisc blvd in july
It was just a week or so ago when you kept saying that we are the same as last season and I kept disagreeing. Where were you when we lost 8 of 9? Yup, the sky was falling. As I’ve mentioned, there will be more ups and downs as the season progresses. I am still hoping for at least a 6 seed. I have remained steady on my 45-37 prediction. The team is one of the youngest we’ve had. We have developed players and not squandered draft picks which gives us the ability to put together good trade offers. A major trade like Giannis will definitely have to include Ware and I hope we don’t trade him. As amazing as Jaquez has been, if I were to start this team from scratch, I would start with Ware for several reasons. I do like the idea of getting Murray here and it may be possible with Herro plus maybe Kas and/or Jovic or Mitchell. We have about 4 weeks to make a deal. I don’t like waiting for Giannis and ending up holding you know what in our hands.
Waiting for a “potential” pie in the sky trade sucks. There is no guarantee Miami will get Giannis and no telling what the Heat would need to give up to do so. The team has been left at the alter more than once.
So true what you and RC say here. It’s kind of a little exciting lately as it is a rare time when it’s more likely something will happen in the way of a trade than that nothing will transpire. And with the team pretty close to contending, any move could have a big impact.
My best case scenario preference would be to not wait for Giannis and to make a move with Ty at the center of it, and to get another nice piece back. And my preference for what we get back is a solid big, 6-10” or taller, who can score some and play defense. And he has to be a far better player than Thomas Bryant.
There are too many variables in waiting for Giannis, including whether he is moved at all, and what we have to give up, which is sure to be a lot in players and picks.
Big month coming up- January schedules from John Schuhmann at NBA.com:
“The Heat are one of three teams with a league-high four rest-disadvantage games this month, and they’re all against Western Conference opponents. Their second (and final) stretch of five games in seven days is a five-game trip out West from Jan. 19-25”
January is a key month in the NBA season. Last year the Pacers started to gel and go on their run in January. They started the year 10-15 but went 40-17 after January 1.
For teams the regular season is a series of runs and lulls, up and down stretches and the Heat have experienced both so far. The ability of a team to pace itself and finish strong/be playing its best basketball in April is the critical thing. Last year the Heat did well to fight to make it in to the playoffs but after expending all that physical/mental/emotional energy proving they would not give up after the Butler trade, they had nothing left vs Cavs.
Depth should be an advantage going forward for the Heat like it was for the Pacers last year. Other teams with shorter rotations have to play their starters heavier minutes to stay afloat in the standings. But the Heat have a 12 man rotation – bench last night was Jaquez, Jovic, Dru Smith, Jakucionas, Simone – with Herro and Larsson both out. Even Keshad Johnson and Myron Gardner have given the Heat valuable minutes in the 13-14th spots.
The main observation from this game:
Our new Dunc (Powell) is way better then our old Dunc (Dunc).
our new dunc is fonzi and he suks to
Good one.
That game was an indicator of how close this team is to making a real deep playoff run. And that is where it gets tough as a blogger. Do you express your satisfaction with our improvement since last year? I think you should at least acknowledge that. But, do you point to the areas that do still need improvement to get to another level? Yes, maybe, but it can often spill into hyper-criticality and even putting down of certain individual players, which can be unpleasant.
I have addressed all of the challenges this team faces, even talking about controversial things because I didn’t think they should be avoided or swept under the rug. But, with the New Year, I don’t feel anymore need or desire to criticize the players or the management. I prefer to just root these guys on, be more like Manilla, who tends to find the silver lining.
Do I think we can improve to be more competitive? Yes, but we are close. One resolution I will make is that I won’t expect each player to be good every game as even the best players have off nights. Every one of our top ten in our rotation is often a contributor, so I am going to try to just enjoy their efforts.
At least this is how I feel today. I could revert back to my old habits anytime.
Go Heat!
Great game. Dodged a couple of bullets, but they didn’t fall completely apart like they did countless times last year. No doubt this team is much better than last year’s.
Observations:
I sure like your ideas, as they make sense and are realistic and doable. I can live with Davion, but Murray would be a significant upgrade. I especially like the idea of another big man as I think a quality one on the Reed level would be the best way to make us better, other than acquiring a superstar, which we would have to be lucky to get.
Herro-Ware-Wiggins plus picks for Giannis would be something the Bucks might have to consider if Giannis asks out.
It would hurt to lose Wiggins when he’s playing so well and looking like a cornerstone of this team, but MIL would want him because they’d be able to reroute him for a 1st. Trading Herro for Giannis would seem to be consistent with what the Heat have communicated, that they will not trade Herro unless they get a HOF player in return. Herro is just 25 (about to be 26) and an All-star level talent, he’s still underrated league-wide. And Ware would give MIL a prospect with star-level upside.
The Heat don’t have to do that, they have optionality and don’t need to be desperate. But Zach Lowe said yesterday he expects the Heat to be active in any potential Giannis talks
Herro and Wiggins OK. Ware not so much. It took Miami decades to have a legit two big line-up. I would hate to lose it now. Herro, Rozier, Fontecchio and Johnson ($68M) are expendable…today. Throw in Wiggins $28,2M and it goes up to $96M+.
I hear you but I think Ware would have to be included. If I was Milwaukee I would demand Herro-Ware-Wiggins-Jakucionas and all available picks. A MVP candidate won’t come cheap in a trade. I think the Heat have as solid an offer to make as anyone if the possibility opens up
That’s a prescription for disaster.
Davion/Norm/Pelle/Giannis/Bam, with Jaquez/Jovic/Dru off the bench is undersized, but will run teams off the court. Just add as much 3&D shooting/wing defense/size as possible around that. If was the Heat I would try to keep Jakuncionas out of a trade but otherwise I would do it. The Heat would be sacrificing shooting but adding a MVP and HOF talent in the biggest trade in years
This team plays so much better without Herro in the lineup… Hope they can make a trade before the deadline and send him out for something useful.
That’s Pat’s unofficial son/stepson he sees himself in herro which is why after some fans and some media members having been clamoring for Mia to trade him he’s still here going strong.
It’s all about timing. Buy low and sell high. Hard to trade someone for equal value who is injured. When he returns, Spo should have him play with Jaquez and second unit. If he plays well it will help the team and also increase his trade value.
u a crypto stock guy?
Nope. Not a gambler. I’m retired. Can’t allow greed to control my life now. Happy as is.
There’s been a huge infusion of talent on this team from last year to now with the additions of Wiggins, Mitchell and Powell that didn’t really get talked about or recognized in the offseason by NBA media. The upgrade from Haywood Highsmith as the starting wing/small ball 4 to Wiggins who can create his own offense stands out every game. He’s also had 4 or more OREBs in three of the past 4 games – he had 6 tonight (!) against the No. 2 ranked defense in the league. The Davion, Wiggins, Bam trio is just an awesome foundation of two way players to have.
They passed this test vs a very good team. 4 game win streak. Wins their first game of the year. Go Heat!