Detroit Pistons get burned by Miami Heat, lose 105-96

Another subpar performance from the Detroit Pistons has seen them suffer a 105-96 loss to the Miami Heat in what could be the final nail in this season’s coffin.

The Detroit Pistons now find themselves with a 29-34 record while the eight seed Miami Heat improve to 33-30 and are starting to put a stranglehold on the final playoff spot.

More from PistonPowered

• Which Detroit Pistons could save Team USA in the Olympics?
• Detroit Pistons could have major roster churn after 2023-24 season
• The best Detroit Pistons to wear each uniform number
• Full Detroit Pistons NBA 2K24 ratings
• Detroit Pistons: Who will sign the remaining NBA free agents?

Now five games under .500, the Pistons have slumped to their worst record of the season.

At this point, it would take nothing short of a miracle for them to make up the ground and somehow sneak their way into the postseason.

The Heat didn’t have any breakout or dominant players on the night but instead received an even contribution that the Pistons just couldn’t compete with.

Kelly Olynyk continued to prove his status as a bonafide Pistons-killer with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, while Josh Richardson contributed a little bit of everything on his way to 17 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks while shooting 53.8 percent.

James Johnson (14 points), Goran Dragic (13 points), Justise Winslow (13 points) and Dwyane Wade (11 points) all reached double-digits in scoring.

Despite being thoroughly dominated by Andre Drummond, Hassan Whiteside still managed to have a big night on the boards, pulling down 19 rebounds.

It has been well documented that the Pistons are one of the very worst teams in the league at giving up uncontested jump shots and their outing against the Heat was no different.

They knocked down 12 triples for the night, with almost every single player in the rotation having a three-pointer fall outside of Whiteside and Wade.

The Pistons were the antithesis of the Heat.

Drummond and Blake Griffin were the only major contributors to the team and the result reflected that.

Drummond had his usual monster performance against the Heat with 22 points, 18 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks.

11 of Drummond’s rebounds came on the offensive glass.

He also kept Whiteside to 2 of 10 shooting from the field.

Blake Griffin powered his way to his best performance in a Pistons jersey, finishing the night with 31 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 of 6 shooting from the three-point line.

It was by far the most comfortable Griffin had looked in his 13 games with the team and hopefully there is more of this to come.

Griffin and Drummond combined for 53 points, while the eight other players in the rotation combined for just 43 points.

The signs early on were extremely positive for the Pistons as they skipped out to an early, dominant lead over the Heat and looked nothing like a team playing the night after an overtime loss.

Griffin’s jumper was falling and in general, it seemed like the offence was clicking.

The entire team was playing one of their best stretches of defence too, which was leading to some incredibly easy looks on the other end.

The warning signs of Drummond having a huge rebounding game were there as well, as his energy was evident with him fighting, and winning, battles for loose balls while outnumbered three to one.

Unfortunately, things regressed back to normality and the lead was squandered as the Heat bullied their way back into the game.

Things fell apart especially when the Heat were able to get out in transition, usually on the back of a silly mistake resulting in a turnover for the Pistons.

However, the Pistons saved their absolute worst basketball for the second period.

They were outscored 32-18 and yet another blowout appeared to be on the cards.

Fortunately, in the third quarter, it was the Heat’s turn to fall apart and the Pistons put together a 24-15 performance that cut the deficit to just 4 points at the final break.

As has been the case in many games this season the Pistons were sloppy down the stretch and saw the lead balloon out multiple times, making a come from behind victory far too big of a task to complete.

The loss leaves the Pistons in no man’s land.

The franchise gambled on their future by giving away their 2018 first-round pick in the Blake Griffin trade in the hope that it would lead to them making the playoffs.

But at 29-34 it looks unlikely that they’ll sniff the postseason, while also having far too good of a record to end up with a top-four pick, which would prevent their selection from ending up in the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Coach Stan Van Gundy will have a lot of soulsearching to do for this team before they face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.