The Miami Heat's strong start to the season has been noted across the league, but they now have a perfect opportunity to send an even stronger message to the Eastern Conference's elite: the Detroit Pistons. Beat the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night, and it will be impossible to ignore the Heat as a potential dark horse threat.
In addition to the Heat being better than expected through the first month of the season, the Pistons have also been one of the bigger surprises in the Eastern Conference this year. They sit atop the conference standings at 15-3, and seem to be one of the more complete teams in the East.
Detroit has a top 10 offense, defense, and net rating. Cade Cunningham is a clear-cut superstar, while Jalen Duren has made the big jump to stardom himself. The addition of Duncan Robinson (ironically, from the Heat) has significantly helped this team with perceived shooting woes, and Jaden Ivey is still slowly getting back into a groove after returning from injury.
The sky is the limit for the Pistons this season. In many ways, that's why this is a great measuring stick game for the Heat.
The Heat's frontcourt will be tested
One of the bigger keys from this game, aside from attempting to limit Cunningham, for the Heat will revolve around how well their frontcourt holds up against Duren, Tobias Harris, and Isaiah Stewart.
Bam Adebayo and Kel'el Ware have been one of the best 1-2 frontcourt punches in the league of late, but have had some struggles when going up against more physical bigs. They'll be tested against the Pistons.
If Bam and Ware can hold their own in the paint and limit the offensive rebounds, the Heat will have a great chance to control the pace. And if the Heat can do that, this is a game that could play into Miami's favor.
The Heat have the No. 1-ranked team in pace this season, with the Pistons coming in at a league average. Miami clearly wants to push the tempo.
Interestingly enough, that's another big storyline to watch for the Heat.
Since Tyler Herro's return, the Heat's offense has looked a bit off. They've won both games, but are scoring well under their season-average, and have been playing slightly off pace. It will be interesting to see if Miami continues to struggle on that end of the floor or if the team begins to look more and more comfortable now that they're at full strength.
Either way, the Heat has a great opportunity on their hands as they welcome the Pistons down south. And, win or lose, we're going to learn a lot about this Heat team after Saturday night.