As Heat returns to Detroit, Spoelstra reflects on timeout he shouldn’t have called: ‘I’m human’

The Miami Heat arrives in Detroit for Monday’s matchup against the Pistons on a season-long four-game winning streak. But it’s a mid-November loss that’s in the back of the minds of some the Heat’s coaches and players.

That’s because the Heat is returning to the site of a painful defeat, a 123-121 overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons on Nov. 12 at Little Caesars Arena. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called a timeout that the Heat didn’t have with the score tied at 121 and 1.1 seconds left in overtime, resulting in a technical foul that led to the Pistons scoring the game-winning point.

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“As a coach, you always kind of think back,” Spoelstra said, reflecting on that moment of anguish ahead of Monday’s rematch against the Pistons in Detroit (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun). “That could have been a win. But for players and coaching staff, alike, you just have opportunities to grow and get better constantly in this profession and that was an opportunity for me to check that box.

“All the reminders, protocols, you can’t do those kind of scenarios enough, whether they’re in watching film, walking through stuff with the team, going through my own personal checklist. And this is a game of human error, at times. Hopefully I’ve become better for that.”

Spoelstra wasn’t the only one with the Heat who made a late-game error in that Nov. 12 loss to the Pistons, as Miami actually held a 121-119 lead over Detroit with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime.

After Tyler Herro hit a tough shot in the clutch to give the Heat that two-point lead late in overtime, the Pistons called timeout to draw up a play in hopes of forcing double overtime or walking off with the win. The Pistons ran the side out-of-bounds play to perfection, as inbounds passer Cade Cunningham took advantage of a defensive miscommunication between Bam Adebayo and Terry Rozier to find Jalen Duren for a game-tying alley-oop with 1.1 seconds left in overtime.

An angry Spoelstra then immediately marched onto the court and made the costly mistake of emphatically signaling for a timeout, even though Heat coaches and players were reminded during the timeout huddle just seconds before that they didn’t have one remaining.

“Everybody did remind me [we didn’t have a timeout], like the staff and the players,” Spoelstra said. “I became overly emotional, and that’s something I take pride in, being able to stay present, and I didn’t. And then we paid the price, unfortunately, for that.”

By calling a timeout that the Heat didn’t have, a technical foul was called on Spoelstra and the Pistons also retained possession.

The NBA rule in play (No. 12A, Section 1a): “Requests for a timeout in excess of the authorized number shall be granted and a technical foul shall be assessed. Following the timeout and free throw attempt, the ball will be awarded to the team which shot the free throw and play shall resume with a throw-in nearest the spot where play was interrupted.”

Pistons guard Malik Beasley made the ensuing technical free throw to give the Pistons a one-point lead.

Then with the Pistons also retaining possession and so little time left on the clock, the Heat was forced to commit an intentional foul to keep the game going. Beasley made one of those two free throws to put the Pistons ahead by two points with 0.1 seconds remaining in overtime, not leaving enough time for the Heat to even get a shot off before the final buzzer sounded.

“We talked about things before it happened and [Spoelstra] lost his train of thought at that point,” Adebayo said, looking back at the ending of that brutal loss in Detroit. “We’re all human. It happened, you got to move on.”

But the Heat didn’t move on right away. The Heat learned from the ending of that game — the defensive lapse on the side out-of-bounds play, the botched timeout, all of it.

“I know that’s one because of who Spo is, he won’t forget that,” Heat veteran center Kevin Love said. “So I think we’ll end up being better for it. But there were a lot of scenarios that went through our heads after we watched the film.

“Obviously, seeing Cunningham take out the ball, so their best player took out the ball. Maybe put some size on the ball to deter that play over the top to Duren. And if there’s that much time left, try to push guys out to the three-point line and get a deep contested shot. If they make that, you got to tip your hat. But certainly a lot of learning from that situation.”

There was also a lot of internal support for Spoelstra that came from that situation.

“He’s been coaching for so long and he doesn’t usually make mistakes like that,” Heat guard Terry Rozier said one month after that loss in Detroit. “But it happens, man. People aren’t perfect. But he knows that we got his back and we know that we trust him with our lives on the line. We know he’s going to make up for it. Hopefully when we play Monday, we’re not in a position where we got to call a timeout late in the game.”

That support was nice, but Spoelstra knows he made a game-deciding mistake that November night. Even as the winningest head coach in Heat history who has also nearly swept the coaching categories in the NBA’s annual preseason survey of general managers for three straight seasons, Spoelstra knows he’s not perfect.

“It would have been fine, too, if they said, ‘Hey, you [expletive] up,’” Spoelstra said with a grin. “I like to keep things real. I just hope the guys know I’m doing my best to do my job out there and I’m human, I’ll make mistakes.”

As a team, the Heat has corrected some of its early-season mistakes and hopes to prove that Monday against the Pistons. After falling to 4-6 following last month’s loss to the Pistons, the Heat returns to Detroit with a 13-10 record and in the middle of its best stretch of the season yet.

“It’s obviously in the back of our heads,” Herro said. “We feel like we owe them one on their court. So we just got to get that game back that we felt like we should have won back then.”

THIS AND THAT

▪ The trade between the Heat and Indiana Pacers involving Thomas Bryant became official on Sunday. The Heat dealt Bryant to the Pacers in exchange for a swap of 2031 second-round picks, with the Heat getting the more favorable second-round selection between the two teams that year.

The trade was agreed to on Friday, but the teams needed to wait to finalize the trade because Bryant was not eligible to be dealt until Sunday.

▪ The Heat ruled out Josh Christopher (G League), Nikola Jovic (left ankle sprain), Pelle Larsson (right ankle sprain) and Josh Richardson (right heel inflammation) for Monday’s game against the Pistons. No other Heat players were on the injury report.