Heat Check: LeBron, Wade lead the way for another Miami home victory
MIAMI -- The Miami Heat produced a strong effort Monday night to improve to 20-4 this season at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Now the bad news: They won't return home for nearly three weeks.
Dwyane Wade scored 30 points and LeBron James fell two rebounds shy of a triple-double to lead the Heat past the Detroit Pistons 102-96. It was Miami's last home game until Feb. 23 against Chicago.
James finished with 24 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. Wade had 10 rebounds and shot 13 of 19 for the Heat (34-13).
Greg Oden played an encouraging 11 minutes, scoring four points and grabbing three offensive rebounds.
Miami won despite committing 20 turnovers that led to 30 Detroit points.
Brandon Jennings had 26 points to lead five double-figure scorers for the Pistons (19-28).
Ray Allen' 3-pointer from the right corner -- sound familiar? -- at the third-quarter buzzer gave Miami an 84-80 edge.
The Heat then scored the first five points of the fourth quarter and were on their way.
Oden scored his first points, on a dunk and a tip in, in a 5-minute-, 20-second stint in the third. He also was stuffed by Andre Drummond on a dunk attempt in the waning seconds of the period.
Wade scored 18 points, Bosh 15 and James 14 to help the Heat build a 63-57 halftime lead.
Miami had opened up a 12-point lead in the half's final minutes with a unit of the Big Three, Mario Chalmers and Oden.
Oden entered with the score tied 6:24 before intermission. When he exited with 44.1 seconds remaining, Miami led 61-51.
The 7-footer had no points and no rebounds in his 5:40, but had an impact at both ends. On one play, he closed off Jennings' baseline drive that led to the guard making a bad pass. The result was Chalmers' steal and James' alley-oop dunk from Wade.
The visitors won in the teams' first two meetings. The Pistons took a 107-97 decision in Miami on Dec. 3. The Heat then prevailed 110-95 at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Dec. 8.
THE TURNING POINT
After his trey at the end of the third, Allen sank anther with 10:56 left in the fourth and Wade hit 17-foot at 8:45 opened a nine-point cushion. Detroit never got closer than six points after that.
THE DIFFERENCE MAKER
Wade. His scoring and rebounding gave the Heat what they hope they'll see during the playoffs. He had six turnovers, but so what? D-Wade was active and Miami won.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Heat had 24 assists on 39 field goals, but only six assists in the second half.
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WHAT'S NEXT
The Heat begin a string of six straight road games -- with the All-Star break before the final two games -- by playing the Clippers at Los Angeles 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
You can follow Charlie McCarthy on Twitter @mccarthy_chas or email him at mac1763@bellsouth.net.
