Pistons snap skid with win vs. Heat
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 22 points and Andre Drummond racked up 18 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks and four steals as the Detroit Pistons snapped a four-game losing streak with a 107-84 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday at The Palace.
Tobias Harris tossed in 17 points and Beno Udrih supplied 12 points and five assists for the Pistons (7-9). Jon Leuer grabbed his 1,000th career rebound while chipping in 11 points and four boards.
Tyler Johnson's 18 points, James Johnson's 15 and rookie Rodney McGruder's 12 paced Miami (4-10). Dion Waiters was the only Heat starter in double figures with 11 points despite shooting 3 for 10 from the field.
Miami veteran reserve forward Udonis Haslem got into a heated verbal altercation with a fan during the fourth quarter. Haslem confronted the fan, who was sitting in the front row, after timeout was called with 5:11 remaining. The fan was escorted by security out of the stands.
Heat center Hassan Whiteside, who was badly outplayed by Drummond, had just six points and eight rebounds. Whiteside was averaging a team-high 18.8 points and 15.9 rebounds heading into the game and reached double digits in rebounds in all of Miami's previous games.
The Heat's starting five was held to 32 points on 11 of 35 shooting.
Miami cut Detroit's 14-point halftime lead to nine early in the third but a 23-8 Pistons outburst made it 81-57. Caldwell-Pope and Drummond had dunks during that span, and the lead grew beyond on triples by Leuer and Caldwell-Pope. Drummond's layup off of a Caldwell-Pope feed finished it off.
The Heat, whose only lead was 1-0, never mounted a threat from that point.
The Pistons had a 15-point lead in the first quarter, saw it cut to three, then extended it to 56-40 by halftime. Drummond led the way with 12 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
Detroit shot 52.5 in the opening half, compared to the Heat's 38.9 percent. Miami also committed 10 turnovers and got only 15 points from its starting five.
NOTES: Miami second-year F Justise Winslow missed his fifth straight game with a sore left wrist. G Wayne Ellington (right thigh contusion) and C Willie Reed (hyperextended right knee) were also sidelined. ... The Pistons sent rookie F Henry Ellenson and G Michael Gbinije to their D-League affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich. ... Detroit second-year F Stanley Johnson, a lottery pick in 2015, is averaging just 4.1 points on 38.2 percent shooting from the field. "He's off to a rough start," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "It's hard when perimeter players aren't getting the ball in the basket, no matter what else you're doing." ... Miami C Hassan Whiteside has double-digit rebounds in every game this season. "His numbers are mind-boggling," Van Gundy said. ... The teams play the second game of the four-game series on New Year's Day in Miami.