The Miami Heat have been living a certain way over their last few games. They have dropped into a zone defense quite a bit and they have chucked their fair share of threes up at the goal.
That was also the case on Sunday evening. The difference between Sunday and the last several contests though was this.
They didn’t fall. Where the Miami Heat could seemingly do no wrong from range over their last several games, shooting and sinking the long ball with ease, they couldn’t do that on Sunday.
It’s not like the Detroit Pistons were setting the world on fire either, shooting 10.5 percent from range themselves in the first half of play, it’s just that the Miami Heat couldn’t even get themselves going in the second half.
Well, that and a few more things. The Pistons made up for their lack of outside shooting by absolutely bludgeoning the Miami Heat the cup.
The Miami Heat couldn’t drop shots on Sunday evening and that killed them. That goes, both, from range and the charity stripe, the easiest shot in the game.
The final tally finished at 28-48 for the Pistons, as far as Points In The Paint were concerned. Why would you care about the threes you are missing when you can get what you want inside and to the point of outscoring your opponents by 20?
You wouldn’t and the Pistons played like it. You saw that carefree-ness as Saddiq Bey proceeded to knock down two back-to-back clutch threes at the end of the game to help seal it.
One of them was after the Miami Heat got three looks from deep off of two offensive boards, only to miss all of them. Gabe Vincent missed one, Kyle Lowry missed one, Duncan Robinson missed one, and at that point, the writing was on the wall.
Well, that and the fact that after he had hit two from deep himself, Bey went on to set up Killian Hayes for another backbreaker of three after that. That was the game.
Again, it came down to not being able to make the shots. The Heat went cold from range at a terrible time and in fact, it was reflective in their free-throw shooting as well.
They were defeated by 10, 100-90, but they went 21-33 from the charity stripe. That’s 12 points they left on the table in a 10-point defeat.
That’s simple math and there are no further details required. They’ll need to be better Tuesday against Indiana, a game that has been moved to National TV with all the postponements.
Hopefully, they’ll be healthier, but also better with the shot. That goes a long way when you are as banged up as they are.