LeBron James scored 35 points, reigning NBA most valuable player Derrick Rose wasted two chances in the final 23 seconds and the Miami Heat escaped with a 97-93 win Sunday over the Chicago Bulls in Miami.
Chris Bosh had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat, which never trailed in a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference finals. Dwyane Wade scored 15 points for Miami.
Rose scored 34 points for the Bulls but missed a pair of foul shots that would have given Chicago the lead with 22.7 seconds left. He had made all 28 of his free throws in the fourth quarter this season.
After James missed two free throws for Miami, Rose had a shot to tie it in the final seconds, but his short jumper bounced off the rim.
Bosh secured the win with two free throws with 0.1 of a second left for Miami, which has won five straight over the Bulls — counting the last four games of last season's Eastern title series.
at Dallas 101, San Antonio 100: Jason Terry scored a season-high 34 points, including four in the last 42 seconds of overtime, and the Mavericks rebounded after blowing an 18-point lead. Terry put Dallas back in the lead to stay when he took a pass from Dirk Nowitzki for a 12-foot baseline jumper with 42 seconds left, then hit two free throws with 17 seconds left to make it 101-98. Nowitzki, playing for the first time after a four-game hiatus to strengthen his sore right knee and do conditioning work, had 10 points on five-for-14 shooting with 13 rebounds. Vince Carter scored 21 for Dallas.
Cleveland 88, at Boston 87: Kyrie Irving scored 23 points, including the winning layup with 2.6 seconds left for the Cavaliers, who scored the last 12 points of the game. Ray Allen returned from an ankle injury and scored 22 points, but he missed a jump shot from the left corner when Boston still held a one-point lead on its second-to-last possession.
Indiana 106, at Orlando 85: Danny Granger scored 24 points, David West and George Hill each had 16, and the surprising Pacers (13-6) ended a six-game losing streak against the Magic and avoided losing consecutive games for the first time this season. Dwight Howard had 24 points and 13 rebounds but missed 11 of 15 free throws for Orlando, which lost its third in a row.
Atlanta 94, at New Orleans 72: Jeff Teague tied a career high with 24 points despite playing on a sore left ankle, and the Hawks won for the fourth time in five games while handing the struggling Hornets their most lopsided loss of the season.
Toronto 94, at New Jersey 73: DeMar DeRozan scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half, when the Raptors pulled away.