Heat hold on behind Powell's 36 for signature 118-112 victory over East-leading Pistons

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Jan 1, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

As he exited Kaseya Center on Monday night, Bam Adebayo said there is no better way to end a year than with a win. Apparently, the Miami Heat believe there is no better way to also start the year.

So make it a four-game winning streak, this time with a 118-112 New Year’s victory Thursday night over the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena.

Against the best team in the Eastern Conference, an opponent that had lost only twice previously at home this season, the Heat got off to the races with their running game and opened their 2026 schedule with arguably their most impressive victory over the season.

With Tyler Herro and Pelle Larsson sidelined for the Heat, Norman Powell again took charge of the Heat offense, closing with 36 points, enough to offset the 31 of Detroit’s Cade Cunningham.

Up 22 earlier, the Heat saw the lead trimmed to two in the final minute, before holding on.

It was yet another night of across-the-board contributions from Erik Spoelstra’s team. Beyond Powell’s scoring, the Heat got 19 points from Jaime Jaquez Jr. and 17 from Andrew Wiggins. There also were 14 rebounds from Adebayo and 13 from Kel’el Ware, as well as 11 assists from Davion Mitchell.

Five Degrees of Heat from Thursday night’s game:

1. Game flow: Aided by a 14-0 run late in the first period, the Heat went into the second quarter up 33-26. After the Pistons regained the lead in the second period, the Heat pushed back for a 63-54 halftime lead.

The Heat then string together a 15-0 run early in the third period and went up 22 in the quarter, before taking a 94-81 lead into the fourth.

The Pistons trimmed their deficit to 98-92 early in the fourth and within 114-109 with 1:06 to play on an Ausar Thompson transition basket, capping a 10-2 Detroit run.

A Javonte Green 3-pointer later would make it a 114-112 game, before Jaquez responded with a jumper for a 116-112 Heat lead with 28.9 seconds left.

A steal by Mitchell followed on the ensuing Pistons inbounds pass, with Powell converted a pair of free throws on the other end to close the scoring.

2. Powell play: Powell was up to 19 points by halftime, matching Cunningham’s first-half output for the Pistons.

Powell scored 11 of the Heat’s final 13 points of the second quarter, following up with 15 points in the third.

He closed 12 of 23 from the field, including 7 of 14 in 3-pointers.

Powell extended his streak of games scoring in double figures to 32, dating to last season with the Los Angeles Clippers, three games off the longest such run of his career.

3. Big things: With Herro and Larsson out for the Heat, and with Tobias Harris and Caris LeVert out for the Pistons, both teams opened big.

That had Detroit bulk of Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart matched at the outset against the Heat’s length of Ware and Adebayo.

The Heat’s opening unit was rounded out by Powell, Wiggins and Mitchell.

The Pistons size then was downsized when Duren was lost for the night with a sprained right ankle initially sustained in the second period.

The Heat closed with a 47-41 rebounding advantage, including a 14-6 edge on the offensive glass.

Adebayo finished with 15 points, Ware with four.

4. Hail Jaime: A game after going for 11 assists, it was eyes back on the rim for Jaquez, who was up to 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting by halftime.

Jaquez has now scored at least 16 in each of his last four games, one point shy of his fifth 20-point game in the last six.

He finished 9 of 13 from the field, with five assists, and that final Heat basket.

5. A Cunningham rerun: In the teams’ previous meeting, a 138-135 Pistons victory on Nov. 29 in Miami, Cunningham closed with 29 points, eight assists, four rebounds and eight turnovers.

This time, in addition to his 31 points, Cunningham had 11 assists, eight rebounds and seven turnovers.

The difference is Cunningham also shot 17 of 18 from the line this time, after going 0 for 1 from the line in the teams’ previous meeting. Until Thursday, Cunningham had never had more than seven free throws against the Heat.