Winderman’s view: Heat prosper with peskiness, now need to do it again

MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Friday night’s 108-95  victory over the Detroit Pistons:

– Hands were in the passing lane, bodies were moving, seemingly a Pistons turnover at every turn.

– From the start.

– To the finish.

– This is what the Heat needed after carrying a four-game losing streak into the night.

– Some feistiness.

– And the ability to frustrate.

–  Granted, the opposition was the Pistons.

– Who, at 12-54 certainly have shown the ability to get in their own way.

–  But these two games against Detroit, in the set that concludes Sunday, are opportunities to get back in a rhythm.

– Back in attack mode.

– Before the real tests of this trip, in Philadelphia and Cleveland.

– So one down.

– But still one more needed to go in Motown.

– Because without backing it up, this ultimately would be meaningless.

– The Heat opened for the ninth consecutive game with a starting lineup of Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jovic, Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson and Terry Rozier.

– That unit is now 4-5 as a starting group.

– The Heat remained without Tyler Herro (foot), Kevin Love (heel) and Josh Richardson (shoulder), with none of the three on the trip.

– Jaime Jaquez Jr. played as the Heat’s first reserve, filling the boxscore.

– Caleb Martin followed, energizing off the bench.

– With it then another Thomas Bryant night as backup center.

– .And Patty Mills then making it nine deep.

–  Again ahead of Delon Wright.

– And also leaving Haywood Highsmith on the outside of the mix.

– Even without a fully healthy roster, with  Herro and Love still out, and with Richardson out for the season following shoulder surgery, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said tough decisions remain.

– Spoelstra was first asked pregame about the decision to play Jovic at times at backup center in Love’s absence and at other times go with Bryant or Orlando Robinson.

– “There’s a lot of factors to it,” he said. “Everybody that’s available, that’s healthy, they’re on the table. The rotation is the rotation right now. Anybody that can help us get a win, we’ll use our depth, our versatility. Everybody understands that. Everybody is pouring into it.”

– Spoelstra added, “Both Niko and Thomas have provided really good minutes. Thomas I thought was good in his minutes the other night. Niko was really good on the road trip. And Orlando is ready, as well. It’s all hands on deck.”

– Bryant wound up providing quality minutes in relief of Adebayo.

– Similarly, Spoelstra was asked about Wright seemingly being squeezed out with the arrival of Mills.

– “At any time, he’s always on my mind. And everybody is,” Spoelstra said. “That’s the thing when you have depth. We saw what Delon could do on our previous road trip, where he really impacted in particular that Sacramento win. He’s a winning player. You know, Pat’s been giving us some life and some offensive punch in the collaboration with Jimmy. But it could be either guy.”

– Spoelstra added, “And that’s the whole point – all hands on deck, whatever we have to do to get the win. We have the depth for a reason. And we’ll utilize however we have to, to get some wins.”

– With the teams to meet again Sunday, Spoelstra was asked how much the scouting report might differ.

– “We’re trying to get consistency on who we are and an ability especially to be able to sustain,” he said. “Now, who knows? After this game, there may have to be some adjustments. But I certainly would rather focus on our sustainability of competing and executing on both ends of the floor at a high level.”

– Of the Heat entering 2-0 against his team, Pistons coach Monty Williams said pregame, “They’ve been more consistent throughout the games than us.”

– That again was the case.