The Detroit Pistons are playing better basketball recently, and the Miami Heat offer them a chance to prove the progress is real
The end of an NBA season can often be fool’s gold for bad teams. The grind of an 82-game season wears down just about everyone, and sometimes teams just don’t bring it. Other times, franchise’s have assessed the lottery odds and decided it’d probably be best to project those lottery balls. Relatedly, the Detroit Pistons have won three of their past four games. Are they playing better? Definitely. Are they actually an improving basketball team? Tough to say. But you can’t ask for a much better litmus test than the Miami Heat. Yes, they have lost four straight games, including, shockingly, to the Washington Wizards . But they are the Heat. They don’t know how to pack it in. If the Pistons want to show this spurt of improved play is for real, they can prove it both tonight and Sunday in back-to-back contests against the Heat.
One thing that might make that endeavor much more difficult — Cade Cunningham could sit out. He is currently listed as questionable due to left knee injury management. Quentin Grimes and Ausar Thompson are also out tonight. The Miami Heat are without Tyler Herro, Josh Richardson and Kevin Love.
Game Vitals
When: 7 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Watch: Bally Sports Detroit
Odds: Pistons +8
Projected Lineups
Detroit Pistons
(12-53)
Jaden Ivey, Evan Fournier, Simone Fontecchio, Isaiah Stewart, Jalen Duren
Miami Heat (35-30)
Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic, Bam Adebayo