Detroit needed more than an inspirational message against the Heat, who pulled away in the second half for a 103-91 win.

Miami guard Dwyane Wade, who was coming off a career-high 50 points in a losing effort against Orlando on Sunday, turned in another huge performance Tuesday.

Wade had a career-high 16 assists to go along with a game-high 31 points.

"It was an incredible performance he had in Orlando," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But I think he understood that that's not what it's going to take for us to be successful."

While Wade's play certainly hurt the Pistons, his supporting cast ultimately extended Detroit's season long losing streak to seven. It is the first time since 2002 the Pistons have lost so many games in a row. At 27-28, the Pistons have not been below .500 this late in the season since 2001, the last time they finished with a losing record.

"It's disappointing that we're on a streak like this," Pistons coach Michael Curry said. "But like I've been saying, you gotta fight and we have to continue to push them hard and hold them accountable for their performance out on the court."

Early on, the Pistons played the way a team fighting for its playoff life should have. They scored the game's first five points, which turned out to be their biggest lead of the game. A 7-0 Pistons run to end the first gave Detroit a slim 25-24 lead after one quarter.

The teams battled back and forth in the second quarter, which featured 11 lead changes.

Miami's Daequan Cook, the NBA's reigning 3-point shooting champion, had eight of his 16 points off the bench in the second quarter.

Most of Cook's damage came against Detroit's zone defense, which wasn't effective against Miami.

Cook made four of Miami's nine 3-pointers, while the Pistons misfired on 7-of-8

3-point attempts.

Even with Cook scoring, the Pistons managed to keep the game relatively close until Wade scored all six of his second-quarter points in the final 1:13 of the quarter that helped lift the Heat to a 52-51 halftime lead.

Detroit held its own for most of the third quarter, but an 18-6 run to end the quarter gave the Heat an 80-68 lead. From there, Miami's control of the game never was in doubt.

While Curry was disappointed in the game's outcome, he was pleased to see the Pistons compete harder than they did in their previous game, a 99-78 loss at Cleveland on Sunday.

"I though guys came out and fought and had a concentrated effort on the things that we're doing," Curry said. "We just have to get better. We have to play better, 48 minutes.

"We have to come up with loose balls, come up with stops when we need to, and come up with buckets when we need to."