Another game, another letdown loss for the Detroit Pistons on Monday night in Miami.

Once again, the Pistons went through three quarters, putting up a good fight. The veteran forward Tim Hardaway Jr. was shooting efficiently, knocking down five of his eight shots, along with hitting on all four of his free throws to generate 17 points.

Cade Cunningham had a perfect first half in the shooting department and made 70 percent of his shots before the fourth quarter to produce a team-high 20 points. The star guard had five assists to go with that.

But the fourth quarter continues to be the Pistons’ worst enemy this season.

A one-point lead at the end of three quickly vanished. The Heat fired off nearly 30 points in the final quarter of the outing, while the Pistons couldn’t buy a bucket down the stretch. Putting up 22 shots in the fourth quarter, the Pistons made less than 30 percent of their attempts.

Going ice cold down in Miami, the Pistons were defeated 106-98. The Heat advanced to 2-1 on the year. Meanwhile, the Pistons dropped to 0-4.

After a rough season in 2023-2024, the slightly new-look Pistons hoped to find different results in 2024-2025. It’s still early, and there are signs of promise in sight, but Detroit still doesn’t have a win at the start of the second week.

@Pistons__Talk: Pistons start the season 0-4. Cade just looks disappointed in the result tonight.

@PistonsAntonio: Another Pistons 4th quarter collapse

@Kofie: There is not a team that tenses up more in the 4th quarter than the Detroit Pistons

@seanhalfcourt: Took a minute and three seconds for the Pistons to undo their solid work in the third quarter

@MobHoops: Opposing teams seeing the pistons make a fake 3rd quarter comeback:

@DuncanSmithNBA: No reason to think the Pistons should have won any of these games but the fact that they didn’t is really annoying. Somehow they found a way to lose expected losses in deeply discouraging ways