One night after showing some muscle at Minnesota to snap a two-game losing streak, the Miami Heat avenged a loss during the week to Detroit.
Next up for Miami? The Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night in a highly anticipated meeting between the Eastern Conference's top two teams.
Routing the Pistons without Dwyane Wade certainly was a nice way for the Heat to head to Indiana.
LeBron James scored 24 points -- his 10th straight 20-plus scoring effort -- to lead Miami to a 110-95 victory against the Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Sunday night.
Ray Allen, starting for Wade, scored 18 points as the Heat improved to 16-5. Chris Bosh had 16 points and nine rebounds. James added seven rebounds and nine assists.
Backup guard Roger Mason came off the bench to sink 4 of 6 from beyond the arc and finished with 12 points. Reserve forward Chris Andersen had 10 points and five rebounds.
The game was the teams' second meeting in six nights. The Pistons won 107-97 at American Airlines Arena on Tuesday night, when Detroit outrebounded Miami 46-34 and scored more points in the paint, 60-48.
Although it again was outrebounded (44-34) and outscored 56-40 in the paint, Miami had a season-high 26 fastbreak points and shot 55.6 percent (40 of 72).
Wade sat out the game after playing -- and banging his right knee -- in Saturday night's win at Minnesota. The Heat are now 3-3 this season when the guard doesn't play to rest his sore knees.
Miami forward Michael Beasley missed his second straight game with a strained hamstring.
Detroit was without shooting guard Rodney Stuckey, who scored 16 points in the Pistons' win at Miami. He injured his knee in a win at Chicago on Saturday night.
James scored 12 points and Miami shot 64.7 percent (22 of 34) to build a 59-53 halftime lead. Bosh and Allen each at 10 points in the first half.
The Heat continued the improvement off the boards they showed at Minnesota by grabbing 15 rebounds to Detroit's 16 in the first half.
Miami, however, had 10 first-half turnovers and was outscored 32-24 in the paint.
The Heat then used third-quarter domination to open up a 21-point lead heading into the final period. Game, set, match.
Miami outscored Detroit 32-17 in the third quarter to turn a 6-point halftime lead into a 21-point bulge entering the fourth quarter.
Ray Allen had eight of his 18 points in the third quarter, when Miami virtually secured the victory. For the game, Allen hit 6 of 10, including 2 of 5 from long distance.
The Heat had 26 assists on 40 field goals.
The Heat conclude their four-game road trip at Indiana on Tuesday at 7 p.m. It'll be the first meeting between the teams that played in last season's Eastern Conference finals, won by the Miami in seven games.
Charlie McCarthy can be reached at mac1763@bellsouth.net or on Twitter @mccarthy_chas.
