Dwyane Wade knew exactly what he wanted to give buddy LeBron James for his birthday: a loss.
Miami’s star guard had 21 points and 12 assists, and the Heat dropped King James’ pro record on birthdays to 0-3 with a 104-95 victory over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.
The Heat handed the Cavs only their fifth defeat in 31 games this season and rebounded from a tough loss to them Sunday.
“We weren’t into a nice birthday present this time around for LeBron,” Wade said. “He got one the other night in Cleveland.”
The Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns also had big nights, winning without their top players. Chris Paul compiled another triple-double, and Dallas pulled off the biggest comeback in club history by rallying from 29 points down to beat Minnesota.
But it was Wade and the Heat who held off James, snapping Cleveland’s six-game winning streak.
“They had us pretty good at halftime, but to our credit we got it down to one,” James said. “We just couldn’t finish it.”
Orleans 97, Washington 85; Milwaukee 100, San Antonio 98; Dallas 107, Minnesota 100; and Sacramento 92, the Los Angeles Clippers 90.
Mario Chalmers scored 21 points for Miami, going 6-for-7 from 3-point range. He added eight assists with no turnovers.
On the day he turned 24, James scored a fitting 24 of his 38 points in the second half. That was almost enough to rally Cleveland out of its biggest deficit of the season, a 16-point hole at halftime.
He hit a 3-pointer with 8:55 remaining to get the Cavs to 78-77, then turned and had something to say to the Miami bench, something he did often Sunday, when Cleveland erased a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Heat.
Only this time, Miami got the last word.
A surprising switch to a zone defense not only stopped Cleveland’s offense in its tracks, it sparked a 16-3 run over a 4-minute stretch of the final quarter.
Daequan Cook scored 17 points – with all five field goals being 3-pointers – and Shawn Marion had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Udonis Haslem added 13 points and 10 boards for Miami.
“We have to give their young cats, Cook and Chalmers, credit,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “They stepped up and hit big shot after big shot.”
Miami, the NBA’s worst team last season, already has beaten two legitimate title contenders – the Lakers and Cavaliers – at home this season.
Trail Blazers 91, Celtics 86
t Portland, Ore., Steve Blake had 21 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 20 and the short-handed Trail Blazers sent the NBA champions to their third loss in four games.
Playing without All-Star guard Brandon Roy, the Blazers snapped a seven-game skid against Boston and moved into a tie atop the Northwest Division with Denver. Reserve forward Travis Outlaw had 17 points and Greg Oden added 13 points and 11 rebounds despite injuring his ankle in practice Monday.
Paul Pierce scored 28 points for the Celtics (28-5), who have more losses since Dec. 25 than in the previous two months of the season.
Suns 101, Grizzlies 89
At Memphis, Tenn., Leandro Barbosa scored 28 points, Shaquille O’Neal added 24 to move into eighth place on the NBA scoring list and Phoenix won without ailing star Steve Nash.
The two-time MVP sat out with back spasms, but Barbosa filled in admirably. He connected on 10 of 18 shots and scored 22 points in the second half.
Phoenix also overcame the loss of big man Amare Stoudemire, ejected in the second quarter after his second technical.
O’Neal had 13 rebounds and three blocks, and his fourth-quarter dunk moved him past Oscar Robertson on the career scoring list with 26,711 points. O’Neal was 8-of-13 from the field and missed only two of his 10 free throws.
Hornets 97, Wizards 85
triple-double of the season.
Rasual Butler scored 21 points and David West 20 for New Orleans, which never trailed by more than a basket in its third straight victory. Paul’s triple-double was the seventh of his career, tying a Hornets record.
Mavericks 107, Timberwolves 100
At Dallas, Jason Terry scored 24 of his 29 points in the second half for the Mavericks, who trailed 70-41 early in the third quarter.
Dirk Nowitzki (24 points) tipped in his own miss to give Dallas a 100-98 lead with 2:15 to go. Josh Howard finished with 23 points, and Jason Kidd had 14 points and a season-high 16 assists for the Mavericks, who saw coach Rick Carlisle get ejected in the second quarter.
Hawks 110, Pacers 104
At Indianapolis, Joe Johnson scored 12 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter for streaking Atlanta.
Josh Smith had 24 points, and Al Horford added 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Hawks, who have won six straight and nine of 10. Atlanta played its first road game since Dec. 12 after a 7-1 homestand.
Bucks 100, Spurs 98
At San Antonio, Michael Redd had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Milwaukee hung on when Tim Duncan missed a layup with 3.8 seconds to go.
Luke Ridnour scored 21 and Andrew Bogut added 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Bucks, who won for the sixth time in eight games and snapped San Antonio’s five-game winning streak.
Knicks 93, Bobcats 89
At Charlotte, N.C., Wilson Chandler scored seven of his 19 points in the final 4 minutes, and New York beat Charlotte to snap a six-game losing streak and improve to 2-0 against former coach Larry Brown.
Kings 92, Clippers 90
At Sacramento, Calif., Kevin Martin returned after missing nearly three weeks with a sore ankle and scored 20 points to help the Kings snap a six-game slide.
Brad Miller (15 points, 13 rebounds) put the Kings ahead 92-90 on two free throws with 45.7 seconds left and Sacramento won for the first time this season when trailing in the fourth quarter. The Kings bounced back from the worst home loss in team history, 108-63 to Boston on Sunday night.
Marcus Camby had 15 points and 24 rebounds for Los Angeles.
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