Both the Pistons and the Heat enter this game on opposite-outcomes on Opening Night. For the Pistons, they overcame a 22-point second half deficit against the Boston Celtics to pull off a thrilling win. For the Heat, it was a 25-point loss against the Timberwolves in which they were pretty much only in the game in the first quarter.
The Timberwolves seem like a very bad matchup for the Heat with their high-level guard play that the Heat have to counter with a couple of star bigs, but not necessarily the perimeter playmakers that they need. The Pistons are seemingly a little bit better of a matchup for them with a lot more inside play.
The thing about Opening Night is that is can cause a lot of over-the-top reactions over one game. You are already hearing it for the Heat about how their bold acquisition of Giannis Antetokounmpo is destined to fail and they are just last year’s Milwaukee Bucks team.
This game should be a very good matchup between two teams that many expect to be near the top of the standings in the East.
Where: Kaseya Center in Miami, FL
When: Friday, October 23 at 8 pm EST
Watch: TV 20 Detroit or DAZN Streaming
Odds: Pistons (-1.5)
In case you were living under a rock during the offseason, the Miami Heat now have Giannis Antetokounmpo and with it the task of assembling a competitive roster around one of the best players in the league. In the process of acquiring Giannis, the Heat were forced to part with a slew of depth players that kept them in the Play-In Tournament range the last couple of seasons, but obviously their goal is to rise above that now.
The only problem is that they are forced to fill out their roster with a bit of bargain bin shopping, which means they are overly reliant on players like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Klay Thompson to provide a lot of the spacing Giannis and Bam Adebayo need to work. I am not too concerned about the fit with Giannis and Bam, but it is the depth players around that that leave a little bit to be desired.
On paper, this is a pretty even matchup for the Pistons on defense since they have defenders to throw at Giannis Antetokounmpo, but it will depend on Ausar Thompson’s ability to handle a bigger player, which is probably his only weakness on defense. John Collins has the size to deal with Giannis, but he struggled to keep up with Paul George and Jayson Tatum on Opening Day and likely has the same struggles trying to keep up with Giannis. He is at least less of a threat from the perimeter, so that helps a little bit.
Bam Adebayo having the ability to stretch the floor a bit could cause problems for Jalen Duren, who does struggle to guard the perimeter. But, I wouldn’t call Bam a full-blown stretch big, as he is still going to do a lot of his damage attacking the basket. That means this is still a matchup that Jalen Duren should be able to handle.
Outside of those two, there really are not a ton of players on the Heat that I view as problematic for the Pistons. Players like Davion Mitchell and Andrew Wiggins are solid, but as long as they don’t get hot from the perimeter, the Pistons shouldn’t have too many issues handling them. Klay Thompson can still shoot it from outside, but he is now a shell of his former self and not nearly as big of a threat to get hot and hit 9 or 10 threes like he was at his peak.
One player I would watch for just because he always seemed to have really good games against the Pistons is Bobby Portis. He has made his way to Miami in the Giannis trade and provides a solid backup big option for their Big Two, but he was also a huge Piston-killer when he was on the Bucks.
The Pistons shot 40 threes against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, which they only did seven times total last season. It will be interesting to see if that is a trend for this season or something that just happened because guys like Duncan Robinson and Javonte Green got hot from the perimeter. The Pistons’ offseason acquisitions point towards an increased emphasis on perimeter shooting, but with so many guys that can dominate the paint on the roster as well, it will be interesting to see if they continue to put up shots from the perimeter if they are not falling.
Both of these teams should be some of the better defensive teams in the league and also have guys that can dominate inside, so this game probably comes down to who can hit more shots from the perimeter.
Detroit Pistons (1-0): Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, John Collins, Jalen Duren
Miami Heat (0-1): Davion Mitchell, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo
Do you think the Pistons will be a more perimeter-oriented team on offense this season with the added shooting?
