Heat blow 15-point 4th quarter lead to Pistons, drop 3rd in a row
The Miami Heat are digging their own grave.
Entangled in a five-team race for the remaining two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, Miami is fluttering at the worst possible time and coughed up a bad loss Saturday to the Detroit Pistons.
The Heat blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead, dropping their third in a row after Detroit closed out the game with a 23-5 run to win 99-98.
Reggie Jackson hit a layup with five seconds remaining, and Heat All-Star Dwyane Wade was unable to respond. Wade got the ball out of a timeout, but missed a pull-up 3-pointer to end the contest, guaranteeing the Heat their first losing season since the 2007-08 campaign.
Jackson scored 15 of his game-high 29 points in the final quarter. He added 11 assists, while shooting 11-of-18 from the field. Andre Drummond chipped in with 11 points and 17 rebounds.
Wade showed no signs of trouble playing through a sore knee early on, but was held scoreless in the fourth. He was dominant for much of the game, hitting tough fadeaway jumpers and shooting 11-of-14 through three quarters before missing all four of his field goal attempts in the fourth.
The loss dropped the Heat - losers of six of their last eight - to ninth in the East after the Boston Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors in overtime at the buzzer.
Miami gets an Indiana Pacers team Sunday that's 1.5 games behind Boston for eighth.