The Detroit Pistons suffered a painful loss in the final possession to the Miami Heat 104-101. With the score tied at 101, center Bam Adebayo knocked down a game-winning triple to propel Miami to victory. Pistons’ head coach Monty Williams expressed his emotion about coming up just short in an intense matchup during his postgame press conference, via Bally Sports Detroit.
“I was just proud of the way we stayed in it. We just didn’t have the energy necessary to compete against a team that’s missing so many guys,” Williams explained. “We talked about that at halftime and really didn’t get it back until midway through the third. Once we got it back, you started to see the team we know we can be.”
The Pistons battled back from a deficit as large as 17 points in the third quarter. After rallying back to tie the score in the second half, Detroit came up short in an attempt to take the lead back from Miami. Williams shared how the Pistons should be pleased with how they played.
“When you lose a game like that, it’s hard to come down on the guys about anything. We battled when it didn’t look great. We executed some situations well defensively holding them to 25 points (in the fourth quarter),” Williams said. “The point total in the second half speaks for itself. We had a chance to win a big-time game at home.”
Pistons come up just short vs. Heat
Heat guard Duncan Robinson led all scorers with 30 points after hitting 10 of 15 shots from the field and seven of 12 shots from three. Adebayo added a double-double to his game-winner finishing with 20 points and 16 rebounds.
Six different Pistons scored in double-digits in the contest. Veteran Evan Fournier led the Pistons in scoring off the bench with 18 points. Point guard Cade Cunningham finished right behind in points with 17 along with nine assists.
Cunningham had a look from three to give the Pistons the lead with about 10 seconds left. The missed triple allowed Miami just enough time for one final possession to finish the game. Williams defended his point guard from the criticism of Cunningham’s three.
“That stuff happens, I’m not going to put that out there. We had a chance down the stretch to win a game. Maybe there was too much time on the clock, but if he had made the shot nobody would’ve said a word,” Williams stated. “We would have gotten a stop and that would’ve been it so I’m not going to come down on anybody for that kind of possession.”
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