DETROIT_This was the type of game the Miami Heat had been waiting for.
A grind. Able to load up defensively against specific players. A double-digit lead midway through the fourth quarter.
But this season, apparently nothing will come easy. It didn't Monday night at Little Caesars Arena.
Surviving some shaky foul shooting and the power play of Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin while playing in the injury absence of Hassan Whiteside, the Heat survived the Detroit Pistons 120-115 in overtime, snapping their three-game losing streak.
With Goran Dragic back from a one-game injury absence and scoring 21, the Heat achieved collectively what Drummond and Griffin could not for Detroit.
Drummond, working mostly against Bam Adebayo, closed with 25 points and 24 rebounds. Griffin, who fouled out late in the fourth quarter, added 24 points and 15 rebounds.
But with the Heat getting 27 points from Josh Richardson, 18 from Dwyane Wade and 13 from Kelly Olynyk, they return for a four-game homestand in a better frame of mind.
The Heat pushed to a 12-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. But with Dragic missing a free throw and an open 3-pointer late in regulation, with Wade missing both free throws on a trip to the line in the final minute of the fourth quarter, the Heat had to go the extra five minutes.
The Pistons forced the extra period on a Drummond tip-in with five-tenths of a second to play in regulation.
A Richardson 3-pointer with 65 seconds left put the Heat up 116-115, with the Heat holding on from there, with Adebayo adding a pair of free throws with 2.1 seconds to play on a clear-path foul.
