MIAMI – A strong two-way effort by the Detroit Pistons allowed them to kick off a three-game road trip with a dominant win over a fellow contender.
The Pistons defeated the Miami Heat, 128-111, on Friday, Oct. 23, at Kaseya Center to improve to 2-0 on the 2026-27 NBA season. They won despite losing Jalen Duren (four points, six rebounds) to a right thigh injury midway through the second quarter, and Ausar Thompson (four points, four assists) midway through the third quarter after tweaking his right ankle.
It was a group effort led by John Collins, who led the team with 23 points (9-for-15 shooting, 5-for-6 from 3) and seven rebounds. Duncan Robinson (17 points, 5-for-9 from 3) and Cade Cunningham (16 points, eight assists, three blocks, seven turnovers) also reached double digits among the starters.
With Duren out, Paul Reed delivered a big night with 19 points and 11 rebounds on 8-for-11 shooting, including 2-for-2 shooting from 3.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 36 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in his second game with the Heat (0-2), but Bam Adebayo fouled out in 23 minutes with four points on 2-for-6 shooting.
The Pistons went 18-38 (47.4%) from 3 and shot 53% overall while holding the Heat to 38.2%. Miami was 15-for-51 on 3s (29.4%).
The Pistons were red hot from the jump, opening the game with an 11-0 run in the first two minutes and 10 seconds. At the 7:33 mark of the first quarter they led the Heat by 17 points, 22-5, on 8-for-9 shooting. Collins got going immediately, ending the first period with 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting from deep.
They led by double-digits for most of the night, including the entire second half. A 3-pointer from Robinson capped a 13-4 Pistons run to open the third quarter, extending the lead to 78-57. As good as the Pistons were offensively, they were equally strong on defense. Through the first three quarters they held the Heat to 36.4% overall shooting and 23.1% (9-for-39) from 3.
Injuries forced the Pistons to lean on their deep roster depth. Reed started the third quarter for Duren and stepped up by scoring nine of his 19 points, on 4-for-5 shooting. Ron Holland (eight points, five rebounds, four assists), Kevin Huerter (five points, six rebounds), Daniss Jenkins (15 points, five rebounds, five assists), Isaiah Joe (12 points, three rebounds) all contributed off of the bench to keep the momentum going.
Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson injury update
With 6:45 remaining in the first half, Duren drove downhill against Antetokounmpo, appeared to tweak something and started grabbing the area behind his right knee. Duren immediately exited the game with a right thigh injury and walked to the locker room, and didn't re-enter the game.
Roughly 12 minutes later, Thompson followed him to the locker room. With 6:37 on the clock in the third quarter, he rolled his right ankle after accidentally stepping on Heat forward Andrew Wiggins' heel, who scored and was fouled by the Pistons. Thompson was down for several seconds before finally limping back to the locker room with the Pistons up 16.
Though the Pistons handily won without the duo, they will miss them if they're forced to miss time. Duren was off to a terrific two-way start, holding Antetokounmpo to 2-for-8 overall shooting prior to exiting the game. Duren blocked his shot at the rim moments before the injury. Thompson's taken on more ball-handling responsibilities and picked up the Antetokounmpo defensive assignment after Duren went down, stealing the ball from him and throwing an alley-oop to Cunningham shortly before the ankle injury.
Duren signed a five-year, $200 million contract this summer. Thompson also re-upped for five years at $155 million.
Pistons' 3-point investments paying off
The Pistons' season-high in made 3-pointers last season was 18, and they made at least 15 on 15 occasions. Two games into the 2026-27 season, they've already matched last year's season-high and are 2-for-2 on knocking down at least 15 3s, after going 15-for-40 on Tuesday against the Boston Celtics.
Several players got in on the fun on Friday. Collins and Robinson knocked down five each, but Reed (2-for-2) and Cunningham (2-for-3) each hit two and Joe, Huerter, Jenkins and Green knocked down one each.
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pistons scorch Heat but Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson suffer injuries