DETROIT — For weeks, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has acknowledged that little has been easy about this season.
Tuesday night, the Heat had an opportunity that’s about as easy as it gets these days in the NBA and still had trouble gaining their footing, blowing all of an early 17-point lead, then all of a 12-point third-quarter lead and even falling behind in the fourth quarter before finishing off the Detroit Pistons, 118-105, at Little Caesars Arena.
Ultimately, it took far more than should have been expected or expended by Jimmy Butler, who seized control in the fourth quarter to finish with 27 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
At 42-37, the Heat assured themselves of their sixth consecutive winning season, which also stood as the minimal goal for this season.
With the victory the Heat kept alive their minimal hopes of moving up to No. 6 in the Eastern Conference, while also strengthening their hold on No. 7.
To put into perspective what the Heat were facing, the Pistons entered having lost 20 of their previous 21, with Tuesday night’s loss guaranteeing no worse than a tie for the league’s worst record. In addition, the Pistons were without seven players, including Bojan Bogdanovic, Cade Cunningham, Marvin Bagley III and Isaiah Stewart.
Still, it again wound up being done the hard way by the Heat, who got 22 points from Gabe Vincent, 18 from Bam Adebayo and 18 from Tyler Herro.
The Heat have three remaining games in the regular season, Thursday night in Philadelphia, Friday night in Washington and Sunday at home against Orlando.
Five Degrees of Heat from Tuesday’s game:
— 1. Closing time: The Heat led 31-27 after the first period, despite Butler playing his first 10 minutes without attempting a shot. Butler, in fact, took only one shot, a missed layup, and Adebayo did not have a rebound in a first half that ended with the Heat up 59-52.
Then, after going up 12 in the third period, the Heat took an 80-79 lead into the fourth.
From there, the Pistons moved to a 97-94 lead with 6:42 to play.
Eventually, four Adebayo free throws put the Heat up three, with a Butler driving layup giving the Heat a 104-99 lead with 3:09 left.
Butler followed with three free throws to make it 107-99 with 2:47 to play and a 3-point play to make it 110-101 with 2:13 left.
— 2. Playoff race: With the victory, the Heat kept alive their faint hopes for the No. 6 Eastern Conference playoff seed, the final direct seed into the best-of-seven opening round that opens April 15. The Brooklyn Nets, however, continue to control the fate of that seed, having clinched the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Heat.
The victory also solidified the Heat’s No. 7 standing in the East. The No. 7 seed hosts an opening-round play-in game next Tuesday, with the winner of that game advancing to the best-of-seven first round against the conference’s No. 2 seed, which currently is the Boston Celtics.
— 3. Adebayo back: Adebayo was back after sitting out Saturday night’s home victory over the Dallas Mavericks due to a hip contusion.
“He had three really dedicated days of treatment, getting his body to feel right,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Despite Adebayo’s return, Spoelstra stayed with Kevin Love as a reserve, again starting Max Strus.
That had Love playing backup center over Cody Zeller, who Saturday started in place of Adebayo.
It was the second time this season the Heat started Adebayo, Butler, Strus, Herro and Vincent.
— 4. Loading up: Vincent closed with a season-high six 3-pointers on 11 attempts from beyond the arc.
That had Kyle Lowry continuing to play in reserve, with Lowry struggling with foul trouble, including his fifth with 8:36 to play.
— 5. Cain, Robinson return: With the Heat’s affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, eliminated from the G League playoffs in Sunday’s single-game Western Conference finals, two-way players Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson rejoined the team.
“Yeah, I mean especially what they did as a team. I salute them,” Spoelstra said. “It was a heck of a run and I really wished that was a three-game series in the semifinals. But they grinded. Our player-development program, we take such incredible pride in it.
“And from a player-development standpoint, there’s nothing better than learning how to win and learning how to win in those pressure-packed moments and they got a bunch of ‘em in the playoffs.”
Robinson was inactive, with the Heat having 16 healthy players and only 15 allowed to be in uniform. Also inactive was rookie forward Nikola Jovic, who remains out with back spasms.
