With the rigors of the lengthy NBA season working against the Pistons, J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad battled on the second leg of a back-to-back to defeat a dangerous Miami Heat team on Saturday night, 138-135. The Pistons dominated the paint, out-sourcing the Heat by 22 points down low, and the team’s tidy 59% field goal percentage helped carry Detroit to victory. 

In the three-point win, the Pistons were without center Jalen Duren as he recovered from a minor injury, so other members of the Detroit rotation were called upon to step up. On top of that, Detroit had just played a game the night prior, while Miami was entering the contest well rested, so the Pistons had a couple obstacles to overcome before walking away with a victory.

“You think about what these guys did these past four or five days,” Bickerstaff said after the game. “[They] played back-to-back Cup games, get on a plane at midnight, fly three hours, get to the hotel at about four in the morning and then come out here and win a basketball game. That's the most important thing, and that speaks to their character, their fight, their resolve. Sometimes you’ve just got to get the win, and we got the win.”

Of course, Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham contributed the standard 29-point, eight-assist performance that you’d expect from the All-Star playmaker, but it was really the influence of a couple role players that swung the balance in Detroit’s favor. Pistons forward Tobias Harris had an efficient 26-point effort on 10 of 12 attempts, and that shooting performance was a season-high for the 15-year NBA veteran. After the game, Bickerstaff shared just how pleased he was with Harris’ performance. 

“I said it last year,” Bickerstaff began. “I'll say it again. He's the safety blanket, right? When things get a little bumpy, things get up and down, he's a guy who knows how to get to his spot and can create from his spot. So, we know we can depend on him, and he's reliable in those moments for us.”

As Bickerstaff referenced, Harris was dependable with the ball in his hands against the Heat, both from beyond the three-point line or in the mid-range. Harris mixed in a bevy of turn-around jumpers to go with his 4-of-6 long-distance shooting to eventually log 26 crucial points for the Pistons with more shots to go around since Duren was out injured. 

Cade Cunningham Scores 29, Pistons Dominate Paint In 3-Point Win Over Miami Heat The Detroit Pistons controlled the paint in Saturday night’s road win over the Heat

Along the same line, Pistons forward Duncan Robinson had more volume to work with, and he made good use of the opportunity. Robinson posted 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting in his return to Miami, the very place that he spent the first seven years of his NBA career. 

“It's not just his ability to shoot the ball that impacts winning or losing,” Bickerstaff said of Robinson. “It’s his ability to keep offenses ticking, force teams to continue to have to guard multiple actions that makes everybody else's job easy around him and he's just extremely heady. He knows how to make the play, and he out-thinks his opponent most nights.”

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Bickerstaff has seen a lot of basketball in his 20 years around the NBA, so his words carry a bit of weight when praising Robinson’s efforts against his former squad. With Duren, who is averaging over 20 points per game this season, out of the lineup against the Heat, Robinson had a chance to boost the Pistons over the top in a tightly-contested Eastern Conference showdown. 

The Pistons will have a day off before hosting the Atlanta Hawks at 7 pm on Monday, Dec. 1.

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