Heat push streak to 25 games

Inside the Detroit locker room, there were answers to the question that has befuddled the NBA for nearly two months now.

How, exactly, would a team beat the Miami Heat?

After Friday night, the Pistons' general response was something along the lines of "good luck".

LeBron James scored 29 points, Dwyane Wade added 19 and the Heat extended their winning streak to 25 games by pulling away in the second half and beating the Pistons 103-89.

"They're one of the greatest teams," Pistons guard Will Bynum said. "That I've ever played against."

Miami trailed by as much as 11 in the first half before moving within eight of tying the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers for the longest winning streak in NBA history. The Heat also won at home for the 16th straight time.

"We don't get caught up in things like that, saying that we're untouchable," said James, who also finished with eight assists and eight rebounds. "We know we can be beat by anybody, any night, if we don't come in with the mindset to play our game."

Maybe they don't always come in with that mindset in perfect order, but the Heat clearly find a way to get there. Just this week alone, they rallied from 17 down to win at Boston, then pulled off the wild 27-point, second-half comeback to prevail at Cleveland.

No real dramatics were needed on Friday, especially after Miami allowed only 35 points after halftime.

"We were a little flat in the first half," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But in the second half, the urgency was much better, created a lot more opportunities off of our defense. I liked the way we finished the game."

Miami's magic number for clinching the No 1 seed in the Eastern Conference is now three. The Heat also remained 1 games up on San Antonio, which needed overtime to beat Utah, for the league's best record.

Greg Monroe finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds for Detroit, which dropped its 10th straight game. Jose Calderon had 18 points and seven assists, most of that coming in the first half for the Pistons, who also got 18 points and eight rebounds from Kyle Singler.

"The effort was there," Calderon said. "I thought we played pretty well for almost the whole game. When they came out for the second half, they looked like a different team out there. ... They tweaked their game plan and it was a bit more difficult to make some baskets. They were more aggressive."

(China Daily 03/24/2013 page7)