LeBron James shines as Heat silence Thunder | Inquirer Sports

LeBron James shines as Heat silence Thunder

/ 11:50 PM April 05, 2012

MIAMI—LeBron James scored 34 points with 10 assists and seven rebounds Wednesday as the Miami Heat held off Oklahoma City 98-93 in a game billed as a possible preview of the NBA finals.

The Heat stretched their NBA home winning streak to 17 games, somewhat making up for a blowout defeat two weeks ago in Oklahoma city.

Dwyane Wade, returning after sitting out Tuesday with a bruised left knee added 19 points for the Heat, who also got 12 from Chris Bosh.

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Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 30 points and Russell Westbrook added 18 points in a game that turned testy at times.

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Thunder center Kendrick Perkins was assessed a technical foul and Westbrook a flagrant foul in two separate second quarter incidents.

Miami led by seven going into the fourth quarter, but Oklahoma City battled back courtesy of an 8-0 scoring run.

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After Miami had regained the advantage, Durant had a chance to give Oklahoma City the lead again with 1:30 remaining, but missed a jump shot attempt.

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Bosh then drained a jump shot to make it 96-93 for Miami.

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Perkins missed two free throws with 43 seconds left — Oklahoma City’s first misses from the foul line in the contest.

After a Thunder timeout with less than 20 seconds to play, Durant was off-target with a three-pointer and Wade made two free throws to give the Heat some breathing room.

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With the victory Miami improved to 39-14 and moved within two games of Chicago (42-13) for the NBA’s best record.

Oklahoma City fell to 40-14 and found themselves just one game in front of San Antonio for the best record in the West after the Spurs’ dramatic 87-86 victory over Boston.

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TAGS: Basketball, Lebron James, Miami Heat, NBA, Sports

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