Los Angeles Lakers centre Pau Gasol (right) is pressured by Miami Heat center Chris Bosh during the second half at American Airlines Arena on Thursday. (Agencies)
Chris Bosh dropped in a game-high 31 points, LeBron James had 27 with 13 rebounds, and the Miami Heat held off the visiting LA Lakers 109-102 on Thursday.
Playing a fourth consecutive game without sore-kneed All-Star guard Dwyane Wade, the two-time defending NBA Champions never trailed but had to fight down the stretch to pick up its fourth win in the last five outings following a season-high three-game slide.
After leading by 16 early, Miami’s lead was sliced to four twice, the last time at 103-99 on Jodie Meeks’ fourth triple of the game. But James countered with a 3-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 3-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.
‘’We know what he’s capable of doing,’’ James said. ‘‘When he’s got his midrange working like that he’s pretty dangerous. And that rim looked mighty big for him tonight.’’
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 6.5 minutes to go along with 13 rebounds, carrying the Portland Trail Blazers to a 110-105 victory over the visiting 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.
Meanwhile, San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard and Atlanta Hawks forward Pedro Antic could each be sidelined for up to a month after injuries announced by their respective NBA clubs Thursday.
Leonard will miss three to four weeks with a broken right finger suffered in the first half of the Spurs’ 111-105 loss Wednesday to Oklahoma City.
The Spurs, second to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference at 32-10, are also without injured center Tiago Splitter and guard Danny Green.
Splitter is expected to be sidelined until February with a sprained right shoulder while Green broke his left index finger earlier this month and will be sidelined until mid-February.
Leonard has started 40 games for the Southwest Division-leading Spurs, averaging 11.6 points and 6.1 rebounds.
Antic suffered a stress fracture in his right ankle and will miss two to four weeks, the Hawks said after a Thursday MRI revealed the break.
Antic suffered a mild right ankle sprain in Atlanta’s loss to Brooklyn in London last week but played in the next two games after X-rays taken following the game showed no fracture.
A protective boot will help the healing process for Antic, who is averaging 5.8 points and 3.4 rebounds this season.