The Detroit Pistons are looking to prevent a three-game losing streak as they face off against the Miami Heat. After winning 13 straight games, the Pistons have dropped two consecutive contests, against the Boston Celtics and the Orlando Magic, respectively. The cause has been consistent in both games — real struggles when Cade Cunningham is on the bench. The Pistons are juggling with two deficits here — the first is a lack of a bona fide self-creator and scorer other than Cade, and the other is trying to integrate healthy players back into the lineup while not disrupting the flow of a team that was in its groove.

On the first, Jalen Duren has been a reliable threat but has cooled off some, and on the second, it is simply hard to plug Jaden Ivey, Tobias Harris, Ausar Thompson and Caris LeVert back into the lineup and not miss a beat. This is particularly true of Ivey. The Pistons want the ball in his hands, and they also know that him on the floor after missing nearly a year is not going to be a bang-on success out of the gate. That means those minutes might be a bit rough now with an eye toward how it can pay off later. That’s easy enough to say, but it becomes harder when bench lineups struggle, the team can’t find minutes for Daniss Jenkins, and close wins are suddenly becoming close losses.

It doesn’t get any easier tonight against the Heat. Miami has won six games in a row and has the second-best defense in the NBA. Detroit is going to have to earn everything on the offensive end tonight, and on defense, they will need to have answers for Tyler Herro and Norm Powell, who have powered Miami’s win streak. To make it even more difficult, Jalen Duren has been ruled out for tonight’s game with a left leg injury. That means Detroit is down one of its best weapons early in the season. But an optimist, I suppose, would say it at least creates steady minutes for Paul Reed, and that is almost always a good thing.

When: 8 p.m. ET
Where: Kiseya Center, Miami, Florida
How: Fan Duel Sports Network Detroit
Odds: Pistons +4.5

Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Isaiah Stewart

Davion Mitchell, Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo