It’d probably be a struggle for Malik Beasley to recall a 45-second stretch on the hardwood as eventful as he experienced Monday night.
First, with the Detroit Pistons trailing the Miami Heat 119-116, Beasley knocked down a clutch 3-pointer as he faded to his right to even the score with 40.9 remaining in overtime. Terry Rozier stepped out of bounds on the ensuing possession and gave the Pistons an opportunity to take the lead with 28 seconds left.
Cade Cunningham got tied up for a jump ball with Bam Adebayo and Adebayo got away with using Cunningham for a boost to win the jump. Tyler Herro scored his 40th point to give the Heat a 121-119 lead just before J.B. Bickerstaff drew up a masterful after timeout play that led to Cunningham throwing a lob to Jalen Duren to tie the game at 121 with 1.1 on the clock.
we need to have a conversation about this play pic.twitter.com/wdm35NycgH
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) November 13, 2024
Then the game found a way to become even more hectic.
Erik Spoelstra, a two-time NBA champion as Miami’s head coach, stomped onto the court, visibly upset with his team and called a timeout. It seemed like the appropriate move given the situation. But unfortunately for Spoelstra and the Heat, they had no timeouts left.
Beasley stepped to the free-throw line to shoot the technical in typical confident fashion, despite entering the game shooting 66.7 percent from the line. He sunk the free throw to give Detroit a 122-121 advantage with 1.1 seconds remaining. The Pistons retained possession and Beasley was fouled again with 0.1 seconds. Beasley made one of the two and iced the game for a 123-121 Detroit win.
“That’s on me. I feel horrible about it. There’s really no excuse for that. I’m 17 years in. We had talked about it in the huddle. I knew that we didn’t have anything,” Spoelstra said after the game. “I just got emotional and reactive on that. I just made a horrendous mistake there at the end. It’s a shame because we really fought back.”
Allowing offensive rebounds and turning the ball over nearly resulted in another Pistons loss, but they’ll take the wins how they can get them at this point.
Beasley and Cunningham were the high scorers for the Pistons with 21 points apiece. Beasley shot 5 of 11 from behind the arc while Cunningham added nine assists and seven rebounds. It was a balanced scoring night all around for Detroit with seven double-figure scorers.
It was a fitting end to the Pistons’ first NBA Cup game of the season. Detroit improves to 5-7 overall, 1-0 in East Group B play and has won five of its last seven games.
Required reading
- Pistons’ Ausar Thompson cleared to play after blood clot issue: Source
- Pistons plagued by self-inflicted wounds in otherwise promising start to season
- Pistons’ Cade Cunningham caps off historic triple-double with game-winning layup, block
(Photo: Manuel Velasquez / Getty Images)
