NBA: Heat beat Pistons for 25th straight win

Miami Heat’s LeBron James (6) reacts after being hit in the head during the first half of a NBA basketball game in Miami, Friday, March 22, 2013 by a Detroit Pistons’ foul. AP

MIAMI – The Miami Heat stretched their dynamic win streak to 25 games as they rallied in the second half to beat the Detroit Pistons 103-89 behind a game-high 29-point effort from LeBron James.

James shot 12-of-15 from the field and finished with eight rebounds and eight assists for the Heat, who own the second-longest streak in National Basketball Association history.

“They got us on our heels to start the game but once we got our rhythm we started to play Miami Heat basketball,” James said.

Miami now trails the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers — who hold the NBA record — by eight games for the longest winning streak ever.

Miami got off to another slow start and trailed the Pistons 54-51 at halftime on Friday in front of a crowd of 20,350 at American Airlines Arena.

The Heat had to battle back from two big deficits in their previous two games before facing Detroit.

James said he’s not worried about the slow starts because they know they can always grind teams down in the fourth quarter.

“I would rather come out the way we’ve been coming out and finish strong rather than finish weak,” James said.

Dwyane Wade had 19 points and Shane Battier scored eight of his 11 points in a dominant second half by the Heat.

“We just picked it up to another level in the fourth,” James said.

The Pistons are headed in another direction. They lost for the 10th consecutive game despite a 23-point, 15-rebound performance from Greg Monroe.

Jose Calderon and Kyle Singler each finished with 18 points in the loss.

On Wednesday, the Heat were down by 27 points in the third quarter to James’ former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, before storming back to pull out a 97-85 win.

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting stops in the first quarter but we are a team that just wears the other team down,” James said.

The Heat play Sunday at home against Charlotte before going on the road to face Orlando, Chicago, New Orleans and San Antonio.