Heat keep rolling, hand East-leading Pistons fourth straight loss
Tyler Herro scored 25 points as the host Miami Heat won their fifth straight game, defeating the Detroit Pistons 121-110 on Sunday afternoon.
Miami, on its hottest streak since winning six in a row in November, also got 24 points and nine rebounds from Bam Adebayo. Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 19 points, seven assists and five rebounds off the bench.
Cade Cunningham scored 26 points and dished 10 assists for Detroit, which has lost four straight games. Prior to this skid, the Pistons had not lost more than two consecutive contests this season.
Jalen Duren, Detroit's other All-Star, scored 24 points on 10-for-12 shooting.
Cunningham rebounded after missing Detroit's previous game due to a left quadriceps contusion. But the Pistons played their second straight game without starting forward Ausar Thompson (sprained right ankle).
Duncan Robinson, who played his first seven NBA seasons with Miami before landing in Detroit this season, finished with just three points on 1-for-7 shooting.
The Pistons, whose lead in the Eastern Conference is down to just 2 1/2 games over Boston, got outscored 22-6 on the fast break.
The Heat, who improved to 21-11 at home, played without leading scorer Norman Powell (groin), starter Andrew Wiggins (toe) and role players Nikola Jovic (back) and Simone Fontecchio (groin).
Miami won the first quarter, leading 34-19 as the Heat had a 20-10 edge in paint points. The Heat shot 56.5% from the floor while Detroit shot just 27.3%, including 1 for 9 on 3-pointers.
The Heat extended their lead to 25 points in the second quarter before settling for a 67-48 advantage at the half.
Cunningham led all first-half scorers with 18 points, but his teammates combined to score just 30. Cunningham made 4 of 5 3-pointers while the rest of the Pistons made just 1 of 13.
Miami got 16 points from Herro and 14 from Adebayo, and the Heat dominated most every first-half statistic. The Heat stretched their lead to 103-80 after three quarters, and Miami rolled in the fourth.