Detroit @ Miami preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 3, 2018 ) Miami 107, Detroit 111

The race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference intensifies a bit when the Detroit Pistons visit the eighth-place Miami Heat on Saturday. The Heat are 2-1 on their current five-game homestand and enter this matchup holding a three-game lead over the ninth-place Pistons, who fell for the seventh time in nine games Friday night in Orlando.

Miami will want to tighten things up on the defensive end following an ugly 131-113 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, setting a season high for points allowed. "They ran us out of the gym," guard Goran Dragic told reporters. "We cannot allow a team to score 130-something." The Pistons will be hard-pressed to match Miami's energy after going to overtime in the 115-106 loss to the Magic. James Ennis III was the bright spot in the loss with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting - including 4-of-4 from long distance - in his second straight start for Detroit, which fell to 9-20 on the road.

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Detroit, FS Sun (Miami)

ABOUT THE PISTONS (29-33): Detroit is 6-7 since acquiring power forward Blake Griffin and coach Stan Van Gundy was forced to answer questions about his job security early Friday before railing against his team's inability to make up ground in the playoff race after the painful loss. "I don’t care about that. I’ve said that -- you guys keep asking me," he told reporters. "What matters is that we play well and win games. We have no control over the rest of it. I don’t give a [expletive] about that." Griffin fell an assist shy of a triple-double against Orlando but he is averaging 17.8 points - nearly five below his average with the Los Angeles Clippers - on 39.3 percent shooting since joining the Pistons.

ABOUT THE HEAT (32-30): Dwyane Wade was the standout in the loss to the Lakers, as the veteran star followed up his game-winning shot in a 27-point effort against Philadelphia on Tuesday with 25 more points. The 36-year-old is 21-for-34 from the floor during the hot stretch, and his effort on Thursday was even more important for a team that was missing fellow shooting guards Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington, both of whom were out with thigh contusions. "I thought he took great shots," coach Erik Spoelstra said of Wade. "Everything came within the flow. That's the shame. In 20, 25 minutes, he has a night like that and it's a blowout. To me that feels like a wasted night from him."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Griffin is 0-for-11 from 3-point range over a four-game stretch.

2. Heat SF Justise Winslow, who averages 6.5 points, has scored exactly 17 in two of his last three games.

3. Detroit took two of the first three meetings, including a 111-107 triumph on Feb. 3 at home.

PREDICTION: Heat 107, Pistons 99