Heat coach Erik Spoelstra's embarrassing blunder vs. Pistons has fans going wild
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The Miami Heat were just one second away from stealing its NBA Cup opener against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night. After trailing for nearly the entire game, the Heat stormed back in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
Near the end of the overtime, Tyler Herro banked in a tough jumper from just outside the right block, his 40th point of the night, to give the Heat a 121-119 lead with just one second to go, and everything looked like it was going to work in the Heat’s favor. However, the ensuing inbounds play was a disaster.
After nearly getting caught with six players on the floor, Jalen Duren spun free for an alley-oop dunk to tie the game. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was so upset with the defensive breakdown that he stormed off the bench and called a timeout. There was just one problem: the Heat were out of timeouts.
That results in a technical foul, giving the Pistons a free throw to essentially win the game. Malik Beasley knocked it down, and that was the game.
CADE CUNNINGHAM WITH THE LOB TO JALEN DUREN
Erik Spoelstra tried calling a timeout, but they had none left and it resulted in a technical foul.
Malik Beasley hit the go-ahead free throw to give the Pistons the victory over the Heat in OT!pic.twitter.com/lkGRlykKNe
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 13, 2024
After the game, fans were shocked that one of the most esteemed coaches in the NBA could make such a simple mistake.
“He was so sick watching that out of bounds defense he lost all composure lol,” one fan posted on X, formerly Twitter. A Pistons fan added, “I’ve seen this type of loss play out 100 times for my Pistons how did we actually win one of these?”
Former University of Michigan star Jalen Rose was sitting courtside for the mistake, and he appeared to be having some Chris Webber 1993 flashbacks.
Jalen Rose watching Erik Spoelstra call a timeout he didn't have and giving the Pistons the win over the Heat pic.twitter.com/RvCKtjV094
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 13, 2024
This could be a very costly loss for the Heat in the NBA Cup picture, as the Pistons now have a game advantage with just three contests left to play in the group stage. Thankfully for Miami, they only ended up losing by two points, so they didn’t take a huge hit in the point differential category if tiebreakers were to get involved down the line.
For the season, this loss drops the Heat to just 4-6, as they fall into an early hole in the Eastern Conference race. However, nearly every team out East is below .500, so the Heat are still in a decent spot. The Pistons improved to 5-7 on the young season with the win.
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