James' 33 Points Fuels Heat to Victory Over Nuggets

LeBron James helped lead the Heat to a 103-98 victory. (Marc Serota/Getty Images)

The Miami Heat were finally clicking in this game, as they never trailed, beating the Denver Nuggets in a 103-98 finish. The Heat improve to 48-22 and get rid of the losing-woes they had just about a week ago. Mike Bibby finally gave some leadership to the squad, having 14 points.

LeBron James had 33 points and six rebounds while Dwyane Wade had 32 points. Chris Bosh would add 18 points, eleven rebounds, and six assists. It was the fourth time this season that the duo of James and Wade would have 30 points or more. They trail just the Corey Maggette-Monta Ellis duo and the Carmelo Anthony-Allen Iverson duo, who each had seven games where both had 30 points or more.

James had 33 points, fueling the Heat to a victory. (AP

Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Mario Chalmers would get injured into the game and had to be carted off the floor. He finished with two points. The injuries have been hurting the Heat, which had led to some of the lost games.

“Injuries have just figured out a way to bite us, seems at the wrong times,” James said. “And it happened again tonight. Hopefully it’s not a huge thing.”

J.R. Smith led the Nuggets with 27 points while Danilo Gallinari had 23. Denver also had injuries, as they were without star point guard, Raymond Felton.

“I felt we were trying to search for our personality rather than knowing our personality,” Nuggets coach George Karl said. “When you are playing a team and their best players are having great games, you are just searching for too many answers.”

Fill-in, Ty Lawson, would have 16 points while Wilson Chandler had twelve. Nene had ten points, but disappointingly had only two rebounds.

Bibby played very well filling in for Chalmers.

“I think Mike fits right in,” Wade said. “He’s a guy who’s great when he gets the ball … a very good shooter and most importantly, he’s a veteran guy who’s very smart. He’s going to be big for us in the playoffs.”

A solid game by the Heat. They will face Detroit next.