Detroit Pistons (2-0) beat Miami Heat (0-2) 128-111 on the road on Friday, October 23, never trailing at a quarter break.
How it unfolded
The Pistons led at every quarter break. The cushion peaked at 23 after the third quarter and the Heat never got back in front at a break.
What decided it
The Pistons shot 62.9% on an effective basis to 45.6% for the Heat. Shot quality is the biggest of the four factors, and it was the clearest gap.
The Heat did win one battle, ball security: TOV% of 11.1 against 18.1. The Pistons made up for it elsewhere.
The game played at about 107 possessions per team. The Pistons scored 120.1 points per 100 possessions and the Heat scored 104.2, a difference of 15.9.
Who made the difference
Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIA) posted the best line of the night by Game Score (30.6): 36 pts, 12 reb, 5 ast on 15-26 shooting. The team was -23 in the minutes Giannis played.
For the Pistons, Paul Reed was the best of the rest at 20.6: 19 pts, 11 reb, 4 ast on 8-11 shooting.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (36 pts, 12 reb, 5 ast) and Paul Reed (19 pts, 11 reb, 4 ast) each recorded a double-double.
Game Score is a single number that weighs points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting efficiency, fouls and turnovers. It is not an official stat, just a quick way to rank lines.
What it means
The pre-game Win Meter had it close to a coin flip, at about 54% for the Pistons.
Across the last 7 meetings in our records, Detroit Pistons lead 4-3.
The Pistons are now 2-0, and the Heat are 0-2. The Pistons last five before this game: L-L-W-L-W.
Written automatically by Tip Off Live software from box score data. Ratings and probabilities are our own model estimates.