Winderman’s view: Cunningham, Pistons make their case against Herro, Heat

DETROIT – Observations and other notes of interest from Monday night’s 125-124 overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons:

– Tyler Herro and Cade Cunningham both stated their cases in this one.

– Each seeking to become a first-time All-Star.

– Each doing what they do best.

– Cunningham filling the boxscore with a triple-double for the Pistons.

– Herro providing late theatrics to force overtime for the Heat.

– The kids are coming.

– As we saw in this one.

– For both Herro and Cunningham, any All-Star berth likely will mean a reserve spot behind the likes of Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Jalen Brunson and Trae Young.

– That could put the two in a backcourt  battle against the likes of LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Suggs, Tyrese Haliburton, Darius Garland, Derek White and Jrue Holiday.

– Cunningham entered the night along with Nikola Jokic and LeBron James as the only players averaging at least 23 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

– Cunningham also entered with 12 turnovers against the Heat in the previous two meetings.

– Which, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, was part and parcel of such responsibilities.

– “If you’re a high-usage guy and you’re making a ton of plays, there’s a cost of doing business,” Spoelstra said. “You look at all the high-usage guys in the league – they make great plays, they score, they set up their teammates, they make the offense look a lot better and there are some turnovers. I don’t even know if we affected him at all.”

– Cunningham certainly had his way in this one.

– The Heat again opened with a lineup of Herro, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Duncan Robinson and Haywood Highsmith.

– Entering 8-2 with that lineup.

– Dru Smith then was an early first substitution for the Heat, entering for Highsmith with 9:13 to play in the opening period.

– Kevin Love and Jaime Jaquez Jr. followed together.

– With Terry Rozier making it nine deep.

– Which was the rotation for the night.

– Herro extended his career-best streak of games scoring in double figures to 54. His previous high was 38 in a row.

– Herro also extended his career best streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 58, 11 games off Robinson’s franchise record.

– Spoelstra entered well aware of how the Pistons had dominated his team 36-12 on second-chance points in the previous two meetings.

– “It’s obviously also a point of emphasis,” Spoelstra said. “And in both games, they were able to get to the glass. In the second game, any one of those could be the deciding factor between the win or the loss. We feel like we’re in a better place, really the last handful of weeks.”

– It wasn’t a factor in this one, with the Pistons beating the Heat over the top with 3-pointers.

– The Heat entered on an upswing on the boards.

– Why? “First, understanding that it was impacting losing,” Spoelstra said. “Sometimes pain can be a great motivator. And we knew that there were some things that we were doing pretty well defensively. But if you’re not finishing your defense, you still pay the price. So all those calories you’re burning throughout the course of a 20-second possession, if you don’t finish it off, that can be deflating.”

– Spoelstra added, “So we took ownership of that and we’ve really worked on it. It’s been a big point of emphasis. But you can never relax. You’re going to face a lot more teams that are emphasizing it. But we also have shown the capability that we can be a great rebounding team.”

– But on this night, not so much.

– With the Pistons entering 10-26, Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff was asked pregame about where his team stands beyond the standings one-third into the Pistons’ season.

– “Third coach in three years, young guys trying to learn the league and figure it out,” said Bickerstaff who this season succeeded Monty Williams, who two seasons ago followed Dwane Casey. “I have been pleased with our progress. As a team we are starting to understand what we’re looking for as a group and individually. We’ve had some of our younger guys take big leaps in their game which has helped us early on. Veteran guys like Malik Beasley have stepped up and he’s having a great season this year.”

– Bickerstaff added, “It’s been a good start for us understanding the process of laying the foundation on how we build something sustainable.”

– The Heat now return to their waiting game, with their third consecutive three-day break over the last two weeks, idle until Friday night’s home game against the Thunder.

– The Thunder, in the interim, will have Tuesday night’s championship game against the Bucks in the NBA Cup and then a Thursday night game in Orlando.