Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 116-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons (39-31) on Wednesday night at Kaseya Center to open a five-game homestand and drop its ninth straight game. The Heat (29-40) continues the homestand on Friday against the Houston Rockets:
The Heat’s misery continues, suffering a heart-breaking loss on a buzzer-beating game-winner from Pistons guard Cade Cunningham.
The Heat has now lost nine straight games for just the 10th time in the franchise’s 37 seasons. This nine-game skid is the Heat’s longest losing streak since dropping 11 consecutive games in January 2008.
The Heat led by as many as 12 points in the first half and even led by eight points early in the fourth quarter.
But the Heat continued to give up leads, as the Pistons went on a 22-13 run to take their first lead of the fourth quarter at 110-109 with 2:24 to play.
The Heat regained a one-point advantage when Tyler Herro hit a 19-foot baseline jumper with 1:16 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Pistons continued to make their late-game push, though, as Jalen Duren grabbed an offensive rebound and found Cade Cunningham for a clutch three-pointer. That put Detroit ahead by two points with 56.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
After Bam Adebayo missed a midrange jumper for the Heat, the Pistons had a chance to put the game away. But Detroit committed a 24-second shot-clock violation, giving the Heat possession of the ball in a two-point game with 18.1 seconds to play.
Tyler Herro took advantage drawing a foul and making both free throws to tie the score at 113 with five seconds left.
Following a Pistons timeout, Cunningham caught the inbounds pass and took a quick three-pointer over Adebayo that hit off the backboard and rattled in the game-winner as the final buzzer sounded to deliver another painful loss to the Heat.
After Wednesday’s defeat, the Heat has now blown a double-digit lead in an NBA-high 19 losses this season.
Cunningham led the Pistons with a triple-double stat line that included 25 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and the dramatic game-winning three.
The Heat wasted standout performances from its leading duo of Adebayo and Herro in the loss.
Adebayo ended the night with 30 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Herro closed with 29 points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Heat lost the game on a game-winning three from Cunningham, but it also lost the game in the paint.
The Heat’s defense could not contain the Pistons dribble penetration, allowing 70 paint points on Wednesday.
For context, the Heat entered the loss allowing the 15th-most paint points in the NBA this season at 48.9 per game.
The Pistons exceeded that number by midway through Wednesday’s third quarter.
Along with making the game-winning three-pointer, Cunningham also scored 14 paint points.
This comes after the Heat allowed a season-high 72 paint points in Saturday’s loss to the Grizzlies in Memphis.
Unfortunately for the Heat, the centerpiece of the trade package that it accepted in the Butler trade last month missed another game.
Heat starting forward Andrew Wiggins missed his second straight game because of a left lower leg contusion on Wednesday.
Wiggins has played in 11 games but has now missed eight games because of injury or illness since the Warriors dealt him to the Heat in the Butler trade on Feb. 6.
Wiggins, 30, has averaged 18.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, one steal and one block per game while shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 30.9 percent on threes in 11 games with the Heat. The Heat has posted a 2-9 record in those games.
“Good enough, for sure,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Wednesday’s game when asked if he’s been able to get a feel for what Wiggins can provide amid his limited availability. “He’s had some really good moments already. You can see the firepower he brings and the versatility that he brings to us defensively. And we have who we have tonight. He’s not available, but we definitely could use him.”
The Heat also also remained without Josh Christopher (G League), Keshad Johnson (G League), Nikola Jovic (broken right hand), Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League) against the Pistons.
The only Pistons rotation player unavailable against the Heat was Jaden Ivey, who is out for the rest of the season after fracturing his fibula in January.
As the Heat continues to search for solutions amid its recent struggles, it used yet another different starting lineup.
The Heat opened Wednesday’s game with a starting group of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware. It’s the first time that this lineup has started a game, with the Heat now using 22 different starting lineups this season.
The Heat continues to rotate through different starting groups because of injuries and poor play, using five different starting lineups in the last five games and 11 different starting lineups in the last 12 games.
The starting lineup of Herro, Robinson, Jaquez, Adebayo and Ware had also yet to play together at any point in any game this season before starting Wednesday’s contest against the Pistons.
The Heat did get a player back from injury on Wednesday, with guard Alec Burks returning from a back issue. That pushed guard Terry Rozier out of the rotation.
After missing seven straight games with a lower back strain, Burks returned to log 14 minutes off the Heat’s bench in Wednesday’s defeat. He totaled four points, three rebounds and two assists.
Burks was part of a four-man bench rotation that also included Davion Mitchell, Haywood Highsmith and Pelle Larsson.
Rozier was those in uniform for the Heat who did not get into Wednesday’s game, as the struggling guard received his fourth DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) of the season. All four of Rozier’s DNP-CDs have come in the last month.
Not only is Rozier shooting just 39.6 percent from the field and 30 percent on threes this season, but the Heat has also been outscored by 5.6 points per 100 possessions with him on the court.
Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson also didn’t play Wednesday despite being available for the Heat.
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Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.