MIAMI: LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to score 30 points and shoot at least 60 percent in six straight games, Chris Bosh scored 32 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and the Miami Heat held off the Portland Trail Blazers 117-104 on Tuesday night.
James scored 30 points on 11 for 15 shooting and Dwyane Wade added 24 points for Miami, which wasted a pair of 14-point leads — then put the game away with a 14-0 run in the final minutes. Ray Allen added 14 for Miami.
Damian Lillard had a game-high 33 points for Portland, which got 29 from LaMarcus Aldridge and 20 from Wesley Matthews.
It was the 1,000th regular-season win in Heat history. But on this night, the only history anyone will remember was what James accomplished.
Lakers 91 Suns 85: In Los Angeles, Dwight Howard had 19 points and 18 rebounds, Antawn Jamison added 19 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers survived Kobe Bryant’s bizarre four-point performance for their eighth win in 11 games over the Phoenix Suns.
Bryant didn’t attempt a shot in the first half and scored his first basket with 2:13 to play, finishing 1 for 8 with eight turnovers in one of the oddest games of his 17-year career.
Yet the Lakers survived against the Suns, getting 17 points from Metta World Peace and maintaining a small lead down the stretch of their 12th win in Phoenix’s last 13 visits to Staples Center.
Michael Beasley scored 18 points and Luis Scola had 15 for the Suns, who have lost eight of 10. Phoenix is 5-23 on the road.
Rockets 116 Warriors 107: In Oakland, California, James Harden had 27 points and seven rebounds on a nagging left knee, Chandler Parsons added 21 points and nine assists and the Houston Rockets beat the slumping Golden State Warriors.
Jeremy Lin finished with 14 points and 10 assists to help the Rockets past his former team for the second time in eight days.
A week after Houston tied the NBA record with 23 made 3-pointers in a testy 140-109 rout of the Warriors, the Bay Area rematch took a little longer to decide.
Stephen Curry had 27 points and six assists and Jarrett Jack scored 22 points after missing the past three games with a right shoulder injury for the Warriors, who head into the All-Star break on a season-long five-game losing streak. The first four losses for Golden State had come on the road.
Jazz 109 Thunder 94: In Salt Lake City, Al Jefferson scored 23 points, Paul Millsap had 18 and the Utah Jazz beat Oklahoma City to break the Thunder’s four-game winning streak.
Utah’s bench outscored Oklahoma City’s 49-25, and the Jazz bigs dominated the boards, holding a 16-7 edge on offensive rebounds.
The Thunder also committed 20 turnovers. The game was scrappy from the start, with Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Durant both called for flagrant fouls, and Perkins whistled for a technical.
The Jazz led by seven entering the fourth but quickly put the game away, opening on a 6-0 run.
The Thunder were already down 17 when Durant bumped a driving Alec Burks out of bounds, then exchanged words with DeMarre Carroll after drawing the flagrant.
Durant finished with 33 points on 11-of-16 shooting, and Russell Westbrook added 22 points.
Grizzlies 108 Kings 101: In Memphis, Tennessee, Marc Gasol had 24 points and 12 rebounds, Mike Conley scored 22 points and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Sacramento Kings.
Tony Allen added a season-high 19 points to help the Grizzlies win their sixth straight over the Kings at home. Memphis entered the All-Star break with a three-game win streak, their longest in more than a month.
DeMarcus Cousins scored 23 points and Tyreke Evans had 20 for the Kings, who were attempting to win three straight for the first time in more than two months.
Jerryd Bayless made a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the third quarter to give Memphis an 84-73 lead. The Grizzlies boosted their advantage to 13 on several occasions early in the fourth and withstood a late comeback try by the Kings, who pulled to 99-93 with 4:19 to go on a layup by Evans.
Raptors 109 Nuggets 108: In Toronto, Rudy Gay hit a pull-up jump shot with less than five seconds remaining and the Toronto Raptors beat the short-handed Denver Nuggets.
DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points, Gay had 17 and John Lucas scored 12 of his 14 points in the final quarter as the Raptors won their third straight.
It was the second game-winner in three games for Gay, who beat Indiana with an overtime jumper last Friday.
Bulls’ Rose says he’s ‘far away’ from
returning
Meantime, Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose says he’s “far away” from returning from knee surgery.
Sidelined all season, Rose has been practicing and traveling with the team. But in an interview with USA Today posted on Tuesday, he says he has no specific timetable for a return.
Rose says he’s not coming back until he’s “110 percent” and adds, “Who knows when that will be?” He says it could be any day, within a few weeks or even next year.
Asked how close he is to 110 percent, he responded “probably in the high 80s. Far away. Far away.”
Rose tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during last year’s playoff-opening win over Philadelphia, and the top-seeded Bulls wound up losing to the 76ers.
Kyle Lowry had 11 points and 10 assists and Alan Anderson had 10 for Toronto, which made seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Ty Lawson led Denver with 29 points, Kenneth Faried had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Anthony Randolph scored 16.
Andre Miller scored 12 points for the Nuggets, who came in having won nine of their past 10 overall and 15 of their past 17 meetings with Toronto.
