Giannis Goes 13 for 17, Klay Returns With 26 and Miami Swats 14 Shots: The Heat Top the Pistons, 137-117, and Climb Above .500

The Miami Heat are rolling. Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 34 points with 14 rebounds and eight assists, Klay Thompson added 26 in his return from a sprained ankle, and Miami beat the Detroit Pistons 137-117 on Saturday night for its fourth straight victory, the Associated Press reported.

The win lifted the Heat to 7-6, putting them above .500 for the first time this season, while Detroit fell to 8-4. Yahoo Sports noted that it was Miami's seventh win in its last nine games, a sharp turnaround for a team that spent the first weeks of the season looking for answers.

Antetokounmpo did his damage without wasting possessions. He made 13 of his 17 shots from the field and added three blocked shots to go with his rebounds and assists, according to ESPN and Yardbarker. ClutchPoints singled out a part of his game that opponents rarely have to worry about, noting that he showed off his range from beyond the arc against Detroit.

Thompson's return mattered just as much. Back after the ankle sprain, the veteran shooter scored 26, and Yardbarker reported that he and Antetokounmpo combined for 60 of Miami's 137 points. Bam Adebayo filled every column of the box score with 20 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks.

When a team's two biggest names are scoring that efficiently and its anchor in the middle is doing everything else, it becomes very hard to beat. That is the version of the Heat that showed up on Saturday.

The number that jumps off the page came on the other end of the floor. Miami blocked 14 shots, the AP reported, and held the Pistons to 40.2% shooting while forcing 14 turnovers. For a Detroit team that arrived with just three losses all season, that was a rough night.

The game was not a blowout from the start. The lead changed hands nine times before Miami took control, and the Heat eventually stretched their advantage to as many as 20 points. Detroit never found a run big enough to get all the way back.

Cade Cunningham did his part for the Pistons, scoring 33 points with eight assists. Kevin Huerter gave Detroit a lift off the bench with 20 points.

Cunningham arrived in Miami on one of the best stretches of his career. Earlier this week he scored a career-high 52 points without a single turnover in a double-overtime win over the Washington Wizards, and Al Jazeera reported that he became the first NBA player since the 1977-78 season to post a 50-point, 10-assist game without committing a turnover. Saturday was another reminder that he can carry a heavy load, and another reminder that one great scorer is not enough when the rest of the offense goes cold against a defense this active.

Thirteen games is still early, but records like these start to shape a season. Detroit remains one of the better teams in the East at 8-4, and the Pistons will get plenty more chances to show that their hot start is real. For Miami, getting over .500 is a milestone in itself after a slow start, and the way the Heat did it, with unselfish passing from their best player and a defense that challenged everything near the basket, is the kind of formula that travels.

There is also something worth appreciating in how this group is winning. Antetokounmpo's eight assists say as much about the night as his 34 points. Thompson came back from an injury and simply did his job. Adebayo did a little bit of everything. Nobody needed to be the hero, and the result was a complete team performance.

Bianca's take: winning streaks are fun, but what stands out here is the effort on defense. Fourteen blocks is not luck. It is a team deciding together that nothing comes easy at the rim, and that kind of commitment usually holds up long after the hot shooting cools off. If Miami keeps defending like this, the climb above .500 will be the start of something, not the peak.