The Detroit Pistons will try to make it two-in-a-row in a rematch against the Miami Heat.
The Detroit Pistons got their third win of the season against the Miami Heat and will have a chance to do it again in an afternoon rematch.
Miami was missing a number of players due to COVID protocol and we won’t know until game time what their roster will actually look like.
Tyler Herro was also out with back spasms and is day-to-day, so the Pistons could be playing a much different team than the one they just beat 120-100.
There were some great signs for the Detroit Pistons in their third win but also some troubling trends that we’d like to see reversed.
Here are three things we’d love to see in the rematch against the Heat.
Detroit Pistons vs. Miami Heat Part II: Things we’d like to see.
More Beef Stew
Rookie Isaiah Stewart had his best game of the season in the win over Miami, logging his first double-double and looking like a force on the boards.
He played energetic defense all night and grabbed seven offensive rebounds in only 19 minutes. I’ve written that Stewart has a bit of Ben Wallace in him and that was on display against the Heat.
It would be great to see him get more minutes but he has to stay out of foul trouble, which has been his big problem early in his career.
Stewart held his own against Bam Adebayo when they went head-to-head and we want more of that matchup.
Josh Jackson back to form
Josh Jackson does not look like the same player since returning from a mild ankle injury.
After starting the season red-hot, his shooting has gone cold, including last game against Miami when he went just 3-of-12 in 22 minutes.
It appears Dwane Casey likes enough of what he’s seen from Jackson defensively to keep giving him minutes during this shooting slump and it would be great to see Jackson get back on track, as he as one of the early positive stories of the season.
Svi out of the doghouse
Mykhailiuk’s minutes have been erratic this season but then again, so has his play. One game he looks like a poor man’s Klay Thompson and the next he can’t make a shot.
But it seems unfair that he gets benched after a couple of bad games when other young players are being given a longer leash to make mistakes and play through them.
Svi Mykhailiuk is on the final year of his deal and the Pistons might have a player who can be a low-cost contributor moving forward, but he needs to play more consistently and have a role so the Pistons know what they have.
There seem to be some favorable matchups against Miami, so hopefully he’ll get more than two minutes of mop-up duty in the rematch.
The Miami Heat hope to back to full strength, and if they are, the Pistons will probably lose, but there are still many interesting subplots to this season and unlike past seasons, the losses at least seem to have a purpose.