NBA: Heat hang on to send Nuggets below .500

The Miami Heat avoided back-to-back road losses, hanging on for a 98-93 win over the Denver Nuggets, Thursday (Friday, PHL time) at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

The Heat were coming off a 107-100 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time), with their other two defeats coming as the visiting team too, against Memphis last November 11 (Nov. 12, PHL time) and versus New York on November 2 (Nov. 3, PHL time). Winning however, put the defending NBA champs at 7-3, while Denver slipped to 4-5.

Miami had held a commanding 79-66 lead with a quarter to play, but an 11-2 run by the Nuggets' JaVale McGee and Andre Miller had the home team within four points, 81-77, still with 9:06 left in the game.

Several plays later, an and-one basket by Miller, off a Shane Battier foul, had the Nuggets knocking at the Heat's door, down by just a point, 85-84, with 6:06 left, but a jumper by LeBron James and a triple by Shane Battier padded their advantage back to six, 90-84.

Charities by Kenneth Faried and Andre Iguodala put Denver within a point's reach again, 92-91, 1:37 remaining on the clock. The Nuggets then caught a break after Ray Allen missed a triple, but Danilo Gallinari's own triple was short and then James found Norris Cole for a huge triple that made it a two-possession game, 51 ticks until the final buzzer.

Denver called for time to set up a play, but Miller and Faried missed a combined four times on that one possession, before Miami finally brought down the carom. Forced to foul, the Nuggets sent James to the line where he dutifully made both charities. Iguodala countered with a dunk to keep it as a four-point game with 18.5 seconds left, but Ray Allen closed the game out with a charity to arrive at the final score.

The Heat played without Dwyane Wade, who sat out to rest a left foot sprain, which he aggravated by playing in their loss against the Clippers. Miami also were denied the services of starting point guard Mario Chalmers, following a triceps strain early on in the game, but they had enough to eke out the victory.

Denver actually never tasted the lead in this game, as the Heat were up by as much as 19, on a Shane Battier triple that made it 70-51 with 6:17 left in the third, prior to their near-collapse late.  

The Heat were led by the 27 points of reigning MVP LeBron James, who added seven rebounds, 12 assists, a steal and three blocks. Shane Battier poured in 18 more markers, all from beyond the arc, while Mike Miller added 12, also scoring all of that from downtown.

Miami in fact closed with a 13-of-27 clip, or 48.1 percent, from the three-point arc.

The veteran Miller scored 19 to pace Denver, in addition to five rebounds and seven assists off the bench. JaVale McGee and Jordan Hamilton combined for 29, also in reserve roles, while Kenneth Faried's 16 points and 20 rebounds helped Denver come back late.

The one disappointment however was point guard Ty Lawson, who finished scoreless in 36 minutes of play, missing all seven of his shots, though he did dish out eight dimes.

Denver lost despite a huge advantage in rebounding, 48 to 29, 21 to 5 on the offensive glass. - AMD, GMA News