Bosh, who had complained about his limited role in the team's offense during their slump, led Miami with 24 points and nine rebounds as the Southeast Division-leading Heat secured a playoffs berth.

"I was aggressive coming to the ball, but they were unselfish dumping it to me," Bosh told reporters. "I wasn't playing around. I was just going to focus on going hard."

With the game tied at 88-88, Miami's Dwyane Wade stole the ball from Kobe Bryant and sent LeBron James clear for an uncontested dunk with 1:27 remaining, putting the Heat ahead for good.

"This was an opportunity to really just keep our composure and execute down the stretch, get stops when the pressure was on, make plays when the pressure was on," Bosh added.

"It was there the entire last three minutes. I think for our mind and our psyche, it was very important."

Wade added another field goal and James secured the win with two free throws with 19 seconds remaining to end the Lakers' eight-game winning streak.

"We've got to keep on moving forward," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

"The important thing of going through a stretch like that, the guys did not collapse. The guys want to make this work. The more we're in this, the more confident we'll get.

"But this is one game, we're not over the hump. We still need to improve and get better."

In a very low scoring third quarter the Lakers threatened to take command of the game with a 9-0 run to establish a game-high lead of six points, but the Heat stalled their momentum and shaved the lead to two points heading into the final quarter.

"I think they (Miami) can play better than they did," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I hope to see them again sometime this year."

Dwyane Wade finished with 20 points for  Miami which clinched a postseason berth earlier than at any time in its history.

Kobe Bryant scored 24 points for the Lakers.

In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points to lead Dallas over New York.

Shawn Marion had 22 for Dallas, which responded to coach Rick Carlisle calling his Mavericks «soft» after they blew a seven-point lead in the final minute in New Orleans the night before. With something to prove, Dallas sprang out to a season-best 72 points in the first half on their way to their highest total for a game all season.

Amare Stoudemire scored 36 points for the Knicks, who had won three straight. Stoudemire also picked up his 16th technical foul, which would trigger an automatic one-game suspension if it's upheld. It was a marginal call and could be rescinded; he's already had two wiped out this season.

Nuggets 116  Suns 97: In Phoenix, Denver beat Phoenix for the first time in 13 tries.

Coach George Karl ended an even longer drought. The Nuggets coach had not won in Phoenix since 1997 when he was with the Seattle SuperSonics.

Nene scored 22 points in 26 minutes for the Nuggets, who converted the Suns' 20 turnovers into 32 points and shot 52 percent to Phoenix's 41.

Ty Lawson added 20 points and 11 assists for the Nuggets, who led by 24 after three quarters.