Miami Heat guard Davion Mitchell (45) and guard Norman Powell (24) walk together on the court in the first half against the Milwaukee Bucks during their NBA basketball game at Kaseya Center at Miami, FL, on Wednesday, November 26, 2025. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 138-135 loss to the Detroit Pistons (16-4) on Saturday night at Kaseya Center to fall to 2-1 on its four-game homestand. The Heat (13-7) closes the homestand on Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers:
The Heat and Pistons have been two of the Eastern Conference’s best teams through the first month-plus of the season. But despite a big late-game push by Miami, the Pistons were the better team on Saturday and snapped the Heat’s six-game winning streak.
The Pistons entered with the NBA’s second-best record and top record in the East, and the Heat entered with the East’s third-best record. It set up for what turned out to be a game that came down to the final seconds despite the Pistons pulling ahead by as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter.
There were six lead changes and six ties in the first half, but the Pistons took control of the game by closing the first quarter on a 13-0 run to enter the second quarter with a 13-point advantage. Detroit led by as many as 15 points in the first half before entering halftime ahead 71-59.
Even with the Pistons playing on the second night of a back-to-back set after falling to the Orlando Magic in Detroit on Friday, they were able to build on their lead in the second half and ultimately hold on for the victory.
“Detroit showed us why they’ve been No. 1 in the East so far,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve been an up-and-coming team. But that was a different level for big parts of the game.”
The Pistons, playing without starting center Jalen Duren, pulled ahead by as many as 22 points in the second half.
The Heat, which was coming off a two-day break, trailed by double digits for most of the second half and found itself in a 20-point hole with 6:01 left in the fourth quarter.
But the Heat went on an improbable 19-5 run down the stretch to cut the deficit to just five with 1:25 to play.
Heat guard Norman Powell was then fouled while shooting a three-pointer, and he went on to make all three free throws to pull Miami within two points with 55.5 seconds remaining.
However, Daniss Jenkins was able to get to the rim for a layup to put the Pistons back ahead by four points with 40.5 seconds remaining.
The Heat kept pushing, though, as Bam Adebayo scored on a put-back to again cut the deficit to two with 34.2 seconds left.
The Pistons again answered, with Cade Cunningham making a clutch six-foot floater to make it a two-possession game and extend the lead to four with 20.2 seconds to play.
The Heat didn’t have a response this time. Powell’s layup attempt was blocked by Cunningham and the Pistons regained possession with 15.6 seconds left.
After Tyler Herro made two free throws to pull the Heat within three points with 6.5 seconds remaining, Miami was forced to foul Jenkins to preserve the clock. But Jenkins made both free throws to put the Pistons ahead by five points and seal the win.
The Heat closed the game on a 28-11 run, but it wasn’t enough to dig itself out of the big hole it found itself in midway through the fourth quarter.
“I just think that last stretch that we had, probably eight minutes or whatever, maybe a little less than, was our identity and how we want to play defensively,” Powell said. “I think that’s what got us back into the game, gave us a chance. Fighting, being scrappy, being slightly reckless as coach likes to use. That’s the identity that we got to have early on in the game.”
Andrew Wiggins led the Heat with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field, 2-of-4 shooting on threes and 9-of-9 shooting from the foul line.
Powell added 28 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field, 3-of-6 shooting on threes and 7-of-8 shooting from the foul line for the Heat.
The Heat’s defense entered as one of the top-ranked units in the league. But the Pistons shredded the Heat’s defense on Saturday.
The Heat entered with the NBA’s second-best defensive rating (allowing 110.2 points per 100 possessions), but it didn’t look like an elite defense against the Pistons.
Detroit exploded for 138 points on 59.1 percent shooting from the field and 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) shooting from three-point range despite committing 22 turnovers. It’s the third-most points that Miami has allowed in a game this season.
“Defensively for us, it just felt like we were on our heels and passive for the majority of the night,” Spoelstra said.
The Heat allowed a season-high 76 paint points on Saturday. The Pistons also scored 28 points off the Heat’s 18 turnovers.
The duo of Cunningham (29 points) and Tobias Harris (26 points) combined for 55 points to lead the Pistons.
In the end, the Heat posted its second-worst single-game defensive rating of the season. Miami allowed Detroit to score at a pace of 124.3 points per 100 possessions on Saturday.
“I think we just had to adjust because they’re an aggressive paint-touch team that’s trying to get into the paint,” Adebayo said. “We’ve been playing teams that are trying to shoot threes. So it was definitely a different feel to start the game. But once we got settled in, you see we came back in the second half.”
The Heat is now just 1-4 when allowing more than 120 points per 100 possessions this season.
“Defensively, it just took us a long time to be aggressive,” Spoelstra said. “That might not have done enough to secure the win, but you just want to see more minutes of the game where you’re playing closer to your identity.”
After leading the Heat in scoring in each of his first two games back from ankle surgery, it was a bit of a shooting struggle for Herro on Saturday.
In Herro’s third game back from offseason ankle surgery, he totaled 24 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field. But he did shoot 6 of 11 on threes and 6 of 6 from the foul line.
This comes after Herro scored a team-high 24 points in his season debut in Monday’s win over the Dallas Mavericks and a team-high 29 points in Wednesday’s victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
But on Saturday, Herro started cold. He shot just 2 of 11 from the field and 2 of 6 on threes in the first half.
With Jaime Jaquez Jr. missing his first game of the season, the Heat was missing its ultra-effective sixth man. That void opened an opportunity for Nikola Jovic to re-enter the mix, but he didn’t take advantage of it.
Jaquez, who has established himself as one of the early favorites for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, didn’t play Saturday because of a strained right groin. He’s averaging 16.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 53% from the field this season.
That’s a lot of bench production the Heat was missing on Saturday.
But Jaquez’s absence created an opening for Jovic to re-enter the Heat’s bench rotation after Jovic received his first DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) of the season last game in Wednesday’s win over the Bucks.
Without Jaquez, the Heat used Jovic, Kel’el Ware, Pelle Larsson and Dru Smith off the bench on Saturday.
Jovic struggled in his minutes, though. He committed five turnovers in 10 minutes off the bench and posted a plus/minus of minus 15.
“Look, he needs to get in better rhythm. He needs to put in some work. He’ll be just fine,” Spoelstra said, downplaying Jovic’s rough night.
Along with missing Jaquez for the first time this season, the Heat was also without Myron Gardner (G League), Vlad Goldin (G League), Kasparas Jakucionis (G League) and Terry Rozier (not with team) on Saturday.
On the second night of a challenging back-to-back, the Pistons were missing Duren (left lower leg contusion), Isaac Jones (G League), Bobi Klintman (left ankle sprain), Caris LeVert (right knee soreness), Wendell Moore Jr. (G League), Marcus Sasser (right hip impingement) and Tolu Smith (G League) against the Heat.
In his first game back in Miami since leaving the Heat, Duncan Robinson helped the Pistons get the win.
Robinson, who spent the first seven seasons of his NBA career with the Heat before leaving to join the Pistons this past offseason, recorded 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and 3-of-9 shooting from three-point range, five rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block in 32 minutes in a starting role for Detroit.
“Duncan had a good night tonight,” Adebayo said. “I feel like we let him off the hook a lot on the defensive end. But we got to see him again. So, I feel like we’ll bounce back.”
The Heat celebrated Robinson’s return with a tribute video minutes before tipoff on Saturday, which was met by a loud ovation from the Miami crowd. While the Heat usually reserves tribute videos for former players who were named an NBA All-Star or won an NBA championship while with the organization, Robinson got one because he’s the franchise’s all-time leader in three-point makes.
Robinson, 31, is also one of the Heat’s greatest undrafted success stories.
Robinson became the franchise leader for the most three-pointers made after beginning his college career at Division III Williams College before transferring to the University of Michigan and then initially signing a two-way contract with the Heat in 2018 as an undrafted free agent.
Robinson’s Heat career included two appearances in the NBA Finals and three appearances in the Eastern Conference finals, but he was never able to win an NBA championship in Miami.
“Duncan is such an uncommon story,” Spoelstra said before Saturday’s game. ”I said it yesterday that I’ll always root for him because of how many things he’s had to overcome. So many parents of high school students or basketball players always ask me like, ‘How can my son take the path of Duncan Robinson?’ I’m like, well, you have to have an absolute superpower of grit and fortitude. Duncan has probably been told no and has had doors closed on him more often than he’s had yeses. And it just strengthens him, and I’ve always admired that about him.”
Robinson, who signed a three-year contract worth $48 million to join the Pistons this past summer, was greeted by former Heat teammates and coaches during pregame warmups on Saturday.
“It’s so improbable, what he’s done,” Spoelstra continued on Robinson. “All you have to do is look at his junior year stats when he was in high school. He didn’t even start. And then as a senior, he was a decent player for that league. But he had to take an uncommon path of going to prep school and then going to Division III, and then eventually going to Michigan as a sixth man. And then just grinding through some brutal player development sessions with [Heat assistant coach Chris Quinn] over the years, when he first joined us as a two-way player. But he’s one of the great all-time Miami Heat success stories.”
The Heat helped facilitate Robinson’s move to Detroit by agreeing to a sign-and-trade transaction that brought three-point shooting forward Simone Fontecchio to Miami in July. Fontecchio is on a cheaper expiring contract that comes with an $8.3 million salary this upcoming season, creating some salary-cap flexibility for the Heat.
Fontecchio was a healthy scratch on Saturday.