3 Observations from the Heat's win over the Pistons, including getting open 3s

Here are three observations from the Miami Heat’s 106-98 win over the Detroit Pistons on Monday night at Kaseya Center.

They got a ton of good looks

Of Miami’s 47 3-point attempts, an astounding 41 were considered open or wide open, according to NBA.com’s tracking data. But the Heat converted on just 13 of them, or 31.7%. 

It could be easy to get bogged down in the misses, especially after the Heat scored just 14 points and briefly lost the lead in a third quarter that saw them miss 10 of their 12 3-point attempts.

But the process was good. Chances are that if the Heat could get a do-over of that third period, this game would have burst open and turned into a blowout. Tyler Herro, in particular, would like a few of these back. He missed four straight 3s in the first five minutes of the second half, all of them open, catch-and-shoot looks.

Despite going 3 for 12 on 3s, this was Herro’s ideal game. He was quick to shoot off the catch and attacked closeouts appropriately, using those opportunities to create plays for others.

“You guys are probably thinking about all the missed shots,” coach Erik Spoelstra told the team after the game. “I’m thinking, that was a game of beauty.”

Creating live-ball turnovers

The Pistons turned the ball over 18 times. Of those, 15 of them were steals by the Heat. That means 14 live-ball turnovers that the Heat could score off of (they scored 21 points off turnovers in the game).

This is fundamental to the Heat’s winning formula. The Heat led the preseason with about 15 steals per game but recorded just 13 combined steals in the first two games of the regular season before getting back to living in the passing lanes on Monday night.

“We know what it looks like when we’re at our best defensively, and we saw a lot of that tonight,” Spoelstra said.

Butler recorded four steals. He was key to setting the tone on that end and choosing his spots to swing the game, like this possession in the fourth quarter when he decided to surprise Cade Cunningham with a trap that resulted in a steal and score.

“Gamble,” Butler said. “You just got to get like four out of six. Spo will probably get mad, but if you get four out of six, he can’t be too mad. I want all the gambling in the world. That’s what I do and I want everybody else to follow suit.”

Butler’s protegé, Jaime Jaquez Jr., certainly is. He recorded three steals in the game, timing his deflections like a free safety closing in for an interception. 

Terry Rozier throwing lobs

If there’s one thing that changed overnight since the Heat acquired Rozier in January, it’s the amount of lobs thrown to Adebayo. It became an instant part of the offense after the deal last season and has been a featured player this season.

What hasn’t been there as much are the hail mary lobs that Kyle Lowry routinely threw to Butler. If Lowry was a pocket quarterback waiting for Butler to run his vertical route, Rozier is a dual-threat quarterback, keeping his eyes downfield as he scrambles.

“Just trying to read the defense,” Rozier said. “Just trying to throw it up, especially by the rim with Jimmy.”