In the middle of their longest losing streak of the Erik Spoelstra era, the Miami Heat return home to face the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.
Miami has lost eight straight games, its worst skid since the 2007-08 season. Spoelstra was hired to replace Pat Riley as the Heat’s coach on April 28, 2008.
The Heat (29-39) also has fallen 10 games below .500 for the first time since Feb. 1, 2017.
“I’m not going to go into a rant,” Spoelstra said. “We’re all getting tested, including myself. There’s nobody absolved from this. I have not come up with enough answers for this team. I have to do a better job. Our group has to do a better job.”
Meanwhile, Detroit (38-31) comes off a 127-81 road win Monday night over the New Orleans Pelicans.
“Our intent was great,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Execution was great. For a majority of the game, we played to our standard.”
Detroit owns seven more wins this season than it managed in the previous two seasons combined.
In addition, the Pistons, who are sixth in the Eastern Conference, are on track to end a streak of five straight years without a playoff berth.
Detroit hasn’t won a playoff series since 2008, but the Pistons could have a shot this season because of the development of Cade Cunningham.
The first overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Cunningham leads the Pistons in scoring (25.6 ppg) and assists (9.3 apg). Both of those are career highs.
New president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon and coach J.B. Bickerstaff added veterans Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. — a Miami native and the son of the NBA Hall of Famer who played five-plus seasons for the Heat.
All three moves have worked out. Harris averages 13.9 points and 6.1 rebounds; Beasley averages 16.2 points and leads the team in 3-pointers (267) and 3-point accuracy (41.8 percent); and Hardaway averages 10.4 points and has made 65 starts — the same as Harris.
Bickerstaff, Detroit’s third coach in the past three years, has managed the team well, including through multiple injuries. Jaden Ivey, Detroit’s starting shooting guard, hasn’t played since Jan. 1 due to a leg injury.
Fortunately for the Pistons, they have other young stars who have stepped up, particularly center Jalen Duren and forward Ausar Thompson, lottery picks in 2022 and 2023.
Combo guard Tyler Herro, who leads the Heat in scoring (23.5 ppg) and assists (5.7 apg), will try to match or exceed Cunningham’s production. But Herro can’t help but have Miami’s losing streak on his mind.
“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us,” Herro said. “We have to dig ourselves out of this hole.”
Heat center Bam Adebayo averages 17.4 points and leads Miami with 9.9 rebounds per game. He’s frustrated by his team’s unusual breakdowns.
“Just being careless with the ball,” Adebayo said. “It’s a momentum shift. We have to hold down turnovers. We’re (also) letting people score. That should never be a Miami Heat team. We have to guard our yard.”
–Field Level Media
