Pistons vs. Heat recap: Bench helps Pistons overcome Tyler Herro’s big night

Detroit Bad Boys

Whenever Tyler Herro faces the Detroit Pistons, he looks like more like a superhero.

The Miami Heat guard has grown from savvy scorer to elite bench scorer into one of the best backcourt scorers, period, in the NBA. His production is always amplified when Heat star Jimmy Butler is out, as he was Tuesday against Detroit.

And boy does Herro love playing the Pistons.

After averaging 29 points per game against Detroit last season, Herro kept it up in his first crack at them this season, scoring 21 of his 34 points in the first half — hitting all seven of his shots in the opening half — but couldn’t save the Heat, who fell 116-96 to the Pistons.

As good as Herro was for Miami, the Pistons, collectively, were just the better team tonight.

Sure, Miami was playing their second game in as many nights — losing in Memphis on Monday — but they looked good early, jumping out to an 11-point lead in the first half.

It was the bench trio of Saddiq Bey (14 points, 4 assists), Alec Burks (18 points, 9 rebounds), and Cory Joseph (11 points, 5 assists) who picked up struggling starters early. With Butler and Gabe Vincent shelved, the Heat bench allowed Detroit to weather the storm.

It’s crazy. The bench was once the Pistons’ biggest weakness, now, it has grown into their biggest strength and came up huge tonight by outscoring Miami’s reserves 54-19.

And when the second half rolled around, Bojan Bogdanovic took care of the rest.

Bogey scored 28 of his 31 points in the second half, knocking down 7 triples and dishing 5 assists. It was one of his most complete games, similar to the kind of production he showed alongside Cade Cunningham early in the season.

I don’t think they’d be good, but it still bothers me that we’ll never get to see what this team looks like at full strength with Cade.

Alas.

Isaiah Stewart had another game where he looks good but his numbers look even better, scoring 11 points while pulling down 11 boards. Miami didn’t respect his 3-point shooting early, but after splashing home a wide-open shot from the corner, one where Bam Adebayo didn’t even bother to move, the Heat adjusted their defense to combat it.

Stew being a shooter doesn’t mean he hits 2-3 of those a night, it means the defense has to play the Pistons differently because he can.

Killian Hayes also continued his nice stretch shooting the ball, hitting a pair of threes while handing out six assists. Even Jaden Ivey, who shot the ball poorly, had a solid floor game. He made better decisions than he did against Memphis and moved the ball really well.

Shorthanded or not, the Heat got their ass kicked by the Pistons in the second half. It’s nice to see Detroit put it all together against good teams on the road sometimes. They’re getting better on the road, too, winning their third of the season.

Let us know what y’all thought of tonight’s win in the comments!

Articles You May Like

2024 NBA Draft Profile: Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht complements the Pistons offense
The Pindown: Ivey & Duren’s Future in Detroit
Final: Jaden Ivey and whatever’s left of the Pistons dismantled by the Knicks in NYC

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *