(The Sports Xchange) ———-Forward LeBron James scored 33 points to lead the Miami Heat to an emphatic 103-81 road victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
James passed the 30-point mark for the fourth consecutive game, despite leaving the court with 5:43 left with a bloody nose after being hit in the face by Oklahoma City forward Serge Ibaka.
Miami led 90-74 at the time, but the Thunder could not make a dent and never threatened the rest of the way as guard Dwayne Wade shouldered the load.
Wade ended the night with 24 points on 11-for-17 shooting to go along with 10 assists. Centre Chris Bosh added 24 points and eight rebounds for the visitors.
Kevin Durant paced the Thunder with 28 points, eight rebounds and five turnovers.
Miami improved to 39-14 while the Thunder fell to 43-13, but still own the best record in the league.
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Nuggets 101, Bucks 90
Forward Kenneth Faried led Denver with 26 points as the Nuggets snapped a five-game losing streak with a road victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Faried went 11-of-15 from the field, pacing a Nuggets offense that shot 51 percent and sank 8-of-18 three-pointers. Center Timofey Mozgov hit 8-of-10 free throws and also finished with 14 points as well as adding nine rebounds for the Nuggets (25-28), whose most recent victory came last Wednesday when they beat the Bucks in Denver.
Milwaukee (10-44) remains the only team in the league to not win back-to-back games this season.
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Warriors 102, Rockets 99 (OT)
Stephen Curry scored the game-tying layup for Golden State with 3.2 seconds left to send the game to overtime before the Warriors pulled away to beat the Houston Rockets at home.
David Lee led the Warriors with 28 points, while Curry added 25, including five 3-pointers, as the Warriors improved to 33-22 for the season.
Guard James Harden had 39 points for the Rockets, whose eight-game winning streak came to an end. They are 37-18 for the season.
