Houston, TX – LeBron James scored 32 points in the second half and the Miami Heat rallied late for a 113-110 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday.
James finished with 38 points for the game. He also hauled in 10 rebounds and dished out six assists. Miami trailed the entire fourth quarter until James scored on a layup with 18 seconds left to play, giving the Heat the lead for good.
Chris Bosh also tallied a double-double, finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Dwyane Wade chipped in with 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds in the victory.
"He is a big player that can go inside and outside," Wade said of Bosh. "It's a luxury having a guy like that. He understands how much he means to this team."
Chandler Parsons led the Rockets with 25 points and James Harden had 22, but he missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the end of the game for Houston, which has lost four of its last five games.
"We have confidence in our guys that next time those shots are available we will hit them," Harden said of his team down the stretch. "Good game we kept our turnovers down tonight, we just couldn't come out with the win."
Omer Asik finished with a double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 14 boards in the defeat for the Rockets, who are still playing without head coach Kevin McHale, who is away from the team for family reasons.
After a strong third quarter, the Rockets took a three point lead into the final period. A 3-pointer by Marcus Morris extended the Rockets' lead to eight with 6:13 to play, but then James began to lead the Heat back.
Scoring 16 of his points in the fourth, James connected on two threes to pull the Heat within one at 107-106. Ray Allen drained a three on the Heat's possession prior but Morris buried another trey to answer his shot.
Parsons answered James' three with one of his own to put the Rockets back on top by four with 1:29 remaining, but James connected on 3-of-4 free throws before scoring the go-ahead layup with 18 ticks to go.
Jeremy Lin air-balled a three on Houston's next touch, forcing the Rockets to foul Wade, who missed both free throws but Bosh grabbed the offensive board. Bosh connected on both from the line to seal the win for Miami.
The Heat, who were on fire early, went ice cold over the final six minutes of the opening quarter.
After connecting on nine of their first 13 shots to open up a 20-5 lead midway through the period, Miami scored just five more points the rest of the quarter.
The Rockets locked down defensively, blocking three shots and forcing three turnovers during the stretch to spark an 11-0 run. Harden, who scored 10 in the quarter, drained a 3-pointer at the end of the first to pull Houston within 25-19.
The Heat built their lead back up to 11 following a pair of free throws by Wade with 8:57 to go in the second, but once again the Rockets cut away and trailed just 56-52 going into halftime.
Houston then outscored the Heat 33-26 in third, grabbing the lead for the rest of the quarter following a pair of Harden free throws.
Game Notes
This was Miami's third game of a six-game road trip ... James scored in double-figures for the 427th straight game and for the 149th consecutive for the Heat, breaking Wade's record of 148 ... The Rockets have lost their last six games to the Heat.
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