Miami Heat hold on vs. Detroit Pistons for fourth in a row

As he exited Kaseya Center on Monday night, Bam Adebayo said there is no better way to end a year than with a win. Apparently, the Miami Heat believe there is no better way to also start the year.

So make it a four-game winning streak, this time with a 118-112 New Year’s victory Thursday night over the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena.

Against the best team in the Eastern Conference, an opponent that had lost only twice previously at home this season, the Heat got off to the races with their running game and opened their 2026 schedule with arguably their most impressive victory of the season.

“This is a good start to 2026,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ll take it.”

With Tyler Herro and Pelle Larsson sidelined for the Heat, Norman Powell again took charge of the Heat offense, closing with 36 points, enough to offset the 31 of Detroit’s Cade Cunningham.

Up 22 earlier, the Heat saw the lead trimmed to two in the final minute, before holding on, in more of a grind-out win than the previous outbursts during this winning streak.

“I think this was an important one for us to get because this wasn’t a game where we put 140 on the board,” Spoelstra said.

It was yet another night of across-the-board contributions from Spoelstra’s team. Beyond Powell’s scoring, the Heat got 19 points from Jaime Jaquez Jr. and 17 from Andrew Wiggins. There also were 14 rebounds from Adebayo and 13 from Kel’el Ware, as well as 11 assists from Davion Mitchell.

So another win, finding a way, even if a bit less fluid.

“Guys are making plays,” Wiggins said. “That’s what it comes down to.”

And, so, onward, with Jaquez already a step toward his New Year’s resolution, “to win a lot of games.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday night’s game:

1. Game flow: Aided by a 14-0 run late in the first period, the Heat went into the second quarter up 33-26. After the Pistons regained the lead in the second period, the Heat pushed back for a 63-54 halftime lead.

The Heat then string together a 15-0 run early in the third period and went up 22 in the quarter, before taking a 94-81 lead into the fourth.

The Pistons trimmed their deficit to 98-92 early in the fourth and within 114-109 with 1:06 to play on an Ausar Thompson transition basket, capping a 10-2 Detroit run.

A Javonte Green 3-pointer later would make it a 114-112 game, before Jaquez responded with a jumper for a 116-112 Heat lead with 28.9 seconds left.

“Just trying to, you know, win a game,” Jaquez said of his baseline basket.

A steal by Mitchell followed on the ensuing Pistons inbounds pass, with Powell converting a pair of free throws on the other end to close the scoring.

“We were able to snap back into how we needed to be defensively,” Powell said, “and buckle down and get the stops we needed.”

2. Powell play: Powell was up to 19 points by halftime, matching Cunningham’s first-half output for the Pistons.

Powell scored 11 of the Heat’s final 13 points of the second quarter, following up with 15 points in the third.

He closed 12 of 23 from the field, including 7 of 14 in 3-pointers.

Spoelstra credited Powell with doing plenty on his own against a team committed to halfcourt defense.

“Norm through three quarters was getting so many of his points in random situations, and you need to against a good defense,” Spoelstra said. “You can’t just always run a play call.”

Powell extended his streak of games scoring in double figures to 32, dating to last season with the Los Angeles Clippers, three games off the longest such run of his career.

“I really had to hunt in transition to get some good looks,” Powell said. “I was able to do that throughout the course of the game.”

3. Big things: With Herro and Larsson out for the Heat, and with Tobias Harris and Caris LeVert out for the Pistons, both teams opened big.

That had Detroit bulk of Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart matched at the outset against the Heat’s length of Ware and Adebayo.

The Heat’s opening unit was rounded out by Powell, Wiggins and Mitchell.

The Pistons size then was downsized when Duren was lost for the night with a sprained right ankle initially sustained in the second period.

The Heat closed with a 47-41 rebounding advantage, including a 14-6 edge on the offensive glass.

“Bam and Kel’el were just terrific and physical on the glass,” Spoelstra said. “We knew we’d have to bring a physical edge.”

Adebayo finished with 15 points, Ware with four.

“Trying to shift the mindset when you’re not necessarily shooting well,” Adebayo said of the collective Heat board work that also included eight from Wiggins.

4. Hail Jaime: A game after going for 11 assists, it was eyes back on the rim for Jaquez, who was up to 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting by halftime.

Jaquez has now scored at least 16 in each of his last four games, one point shy of his fifth 20-point game in the last six.

He finished 9 of 13 from the field, with five rebounds, and that final Heat basket.

5. A Cunningham rerun: In the teams’ previous meeting, a 138-135 Pistons victory on Nov. 29 in Miami, Cunningham closed with 29 points, eight assists, four rebounds and eight turnovers.

This time, in addition to his 31 points, Cunningham had 11 assists, eight rebounds and seven turnovers.

The difference is Cunningham also shot 17 of 18 from the line this time, after going 0 for 1 from the line in the teams’ previous meeting. Until Thursday, Cunningham had never had more than seven free throws against the Heat.

But he also was just 6 of 16 from the field, with Adebayo praising the Heat’s ability to mix and mask coverages.

“That’s the thing,” Adebayo said. “Make it difficult. Switch the coverage up, even if it’s still pick and roll. Blitz him sometimes. Sometimes you send a double. Make him keep thinking throughout the game where it’s unpredictable.”