Chris Bosh scored 31 points and LeBron James had 27 with 13 rebounds to help Miami Heat see off the visiting LA Lakers 109-102 at the American Airlines Arena on Thursday.
Playing a fourth consecutive game without injured All-Star guard Dwyane Wade, the two-time defending NBA Champions never trailed but had to fight down the stretch to pick up a fourth win in their last five outings following a three-game losing streak.
After leading by 16 points early in the game Miami's lead was sliced to four twice, the last time at 103-99 following Jodie Meeks' fourth triple of the game.
But James countered with a three-pointer of his own out of a timeout, pushing it to 106-99 with 2:20 to go.
The Lakers drew to within 106-101 on Kendall Marshall's driving layup at the two-minute mark, but Nick Young missed a three-pointer that would have made it a two-point game.
Instead, Bosh nailed the game-sealing jumper with 54.4 seconds left, and the Heat (31-12) had its eighth win in the last nine meetings in the series.
Spaniard Pau Gasol had 22 points with 11 rebounds, Meeks also scored 22, while Young netted 19 for the Lakers (16-7), who dropped to 2-3 on their seven-game road trip.
Elsewhere: LaMarcus Aldridge erupted for a career-high 44 points, including his team's final 15 in the final seven minutes to go along with 13 rebounds, to carry the Portland Trail Blazers to a 110-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
Wesley Matthews added 24 points for the Blazers (32-11), who stormed from 15 down late in the third quarter to avoid their first three-game slide of the season.
Wilson Chandler scored 18, Randy Foye had 14, while Ty Lawson finished with 13 and 11 assists for the Nuggets (20-21) who committed 22 turnovers resulting in 28 points en route to their fourth loss in the last five outings.
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