James Guides Heat Past Nets

LeBron James scored 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as the Miami Heat eased past the Brooklyn Nets 105-85 to win their second straight game.

Dwyane Wade added 21 points, while Chris Bosh finished with 16 for the Heat, who outshined the Nets 56-36 in the second half.

"When we're playing at a high level, that's what we're capable of doing," the Associated Press quoted James as saying. "So we showed tonight what we're capable of, both defensively and offensively. The whole package, everything, we had it going tonight."

For the Nets, Brook Lopez top scored with 21 points and chipped in seven rebounds, while Joe Johnson added 16 points and six assists. Andray Blatche finished with 12 points and six rebounds as Brooklyn lost at home for the first time in eight games.

The Heat outshined the Nets 30-20 in the first quarter to take a 10-point lead. Brooklyn answered back by outscoring them 29-19 to tie the scores at 49 at the end of the first half.

Johnson helped the Nets take a 55-53 lead with a jumper with 9:18 remaining in the third period. Wade and James, however, answered with a jumper and a 3-pointer to start a 26-5 run. Miami outscored the Nets 36-14 to take a big 22-point lead in the third quarter.

"It's the third time we've played them and we turn it over 19 times in all three games," Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "I thought our guys really played an excellent first half and then we dug a big hole doing the same things that we did in the third quarter."

Brooklyn defense seemed under a lot of pressure because of Miami's attacks and could not stop the Heat offense.

"They turned up the defense and we just got flustered and couldn't really get anything going, and because we couldn't get anything going, I think our defense suffered because of that," Deron Williams said.

Miami made 43 out of 83 attempts from the field, while the Nets had 31-of 69. Brooklyn shot five 3-pointers, whereas the Heat made 11. Miami also out-rebounded the Nets 38-34.

"We just knew we could play better," Wade said. "That's all we talked about in the locker room was 'Listen, we can't turn the ball over,' and to play that well to start the game off and to give the lead back and it's tied coming into halftime, that's not what we want to do.

"Our job, we want to get better on the road, not get worse, so I thought we took a step forward."

Miami outscored the Nets 22-20 in the fourth quarter but lost the game by 20 points. It was the Heat's 13th straight victory over the Nets.

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