Heat Look For 4th Win In A Row Friday Night
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Miami Heat will look to push their winning streak to four straight Friday night when the upstart Detroit Pistons come to the AmericanAirlines Arena.
The Heat lost to the Pistons last month and looked lethargic while playing without one third of the Big Thre, Dwyane Wade. The guard missed the game in Detroit at the end of December, but may be poised to have a big rebound game against the Pistons Friday night.
Wade went for 35 points against the Toronto Raptors and added five rebounds and seven assists to the effort. Combined with LeBron James' 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists and Chris Bosh's 12 points, 12 rebounds, and one assists and the Big Three went for 78 points, 27 rebounds, and 19 assists.
"I think I have been playing decent," said Wade, who is 24 of 39 (61.5 percent) from the field in the last two games. "I just want to stay focused and hope to have the ability to have more games like this."
Wade has played in only three of Miami's last seven meetings with the Pistons, scoring 24 points in each while shooting 55.3 percent. James, who has averaged 31.8 points on 60.9 percent shooting in his last four games overall, scored 35 while Chris Bosh added 28 as the Heat allowed the Pistons to shoot a season-high 58.1 percent - including 12 of 19 from 3-point range - last month.
Miami's small ball approach will be tested by the Pistons who have the ability to put two quality big men over 6'10" tall on the court at the same time in Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. While the latter is a rookie, he's been improving with each week of the season.
Over his last three games, Drummond has increased his points from 8 to 16 and has 25 rebounds in the same time span. The Monroe-Drummond combined for 16 points and 17 rebounds the last time the Heat and Pistons played. Detroit outrebounded Miami 38-35 in the game and had 6 more assists as well.
