MIAMI — The Miami Heat were without their leading men. The Detroit Pistons were without healthy bodies. The difference was the Heat had big-shot Tyler Herro and bigger-shot Max Strus.
Ultimately, Thursday night’s battle of attrition favored the Heat in a 115-112 victory at FTX Arena.
Playing in the absences of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, P.J. Tucker, Markieff Morris, Victor Oladipo and Caleb Martin — all of whom watched from the bench — the Heat eventually chipped away at a Pistons roster decimated by NBA health-and-safety protocols.
Instead of their typical share-the-wealth approach, the Heat loaded up on plenty of Herro and Strus, with Herro scoring 29 and Strus 26, each with a critical 3-pointer in the closing seconds.
Factor in 21 points, six assists and four rebounds from Kyle Lowry and 12 rebounds from Omer Yurtseven, and the Heat found a way on a night they lost replacement starting center Dewayne Dedmon for the game in the first quarter with a knee strain.
The victory extended the Heat’s home winning streak to four and made it six victories in the last eight games overall.
The Heat’s challenge was compounded with Duncan Robinson limited to three points, missing all six of his shots from the field.
Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday night’s game:
1: Closing time: The Pistons tied their previous season high of 16 3-pointers with three minutes left in the third period, at one stage up 14 points, before the Heat took an 88-87 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Heat’s comeback was fueled by seven third-quarter points from Udonis Haslem, who was forced into action after Dedmon’s injury.
The Heat then went up five early in the fourth, before the Pistons moved back up, at a point the game got so heated that Butler was assessed a technical foul on the bench.
Eventually, the Pistons moved to a 107-102 lead with 3:34, on a sequence that left Lowry with his fifth foul.
Lowry replied with a 3-point play with 2:54 to go that brought the Heat within 107-105.
Later, off a wild sequence that included a near turnover by Lowry, Herro converted a floating 3-pointer with 1:12 left for a 112-110 Heat lead.
After Detroit tied it on a Saddiq Bey jumper with 59 second to play, Strus converted a 3-pointer with 40.4 seconds to go for a 115-112 advantage, with the Heat getting a pair of stops and holding on from there.
2. Dedmon down: Dedmon limped to the locker room with 6:41 left in the first half after missing a layup and falling awkwardly to the court while favoring his left knee.
The initial diagnosis was a sprain, with Dedmon out for the remainder of the game.
Dedmon let out a scream audible throughout the area and pounded the court, before limping to the locker room tunnel.
KZ Okpala entered in his place, with the Pistons playing with an undersized roster.
Yurtseven eventually took over the minutes in the middle.
With Dedmon out, it basically let the Heat without their top four options in the power rotation, when factoring in sidelined Adebayo, Tucker and Dedmon.
Yurtseven started the second half in place of Dedmon.
3. Strus, Herro ball: Herro kept the Heat afloat by scoring 20 of their 55 first-half points.
Again thriving as sixth man, Herro was 7 of 10 from the field over the opening two periods, 2 of 4 on 3-pointers, with the Heat still down 61-55 at the intermission.
Before that, Strus scored seven of the Heat’s first eight points, making his first three shots while the rest of the roster was missing its first four.
Strus played the entire opening period, finishing the first quarter with 10 points. It was his second career start, having made his NBA starting debut in Tuesday night’s victory over the visiting Indiana Pacers.
4. Martin watches: Martin sat behind the Heat bench, his first appearance since entering NBA health-and-safety protocols on Dec. 11.
It means Martin has cleared the quarantine portion of his mandated absence, now needing only to clear the league’s return-to-play procedures.
A return Sunday against the visiting Orlando Magic is possible.
5. Detroit Miss-tons: The Pistons had only nine available players: Saddiq Bey, Cheick Diallo, Hamidou Diallo, Luka Garza, Frank Jackson, Josh Jackson, Cory Joseph, Trey Lyles and Jamorko Pickett.
Out for the Pistons either due to protocols, illness, injury or G League assignment were: Cade Cunningham, Jerami Grant, Killian Hayes, Saben Lee, Isaiah Livers, Rodney McGruder, Kelly Olynyk, Chris Smith and Isaiah Stewart.
