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Late in the third quarter, the game was tied and the Miami Heat winning streak seemed to be in jeopardy.
Then LeBron James got mad.
And then the Orlando Magic had no chance.
James finished with 24 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, throwing down a dunk to start a huge, swift run that decided everything and the Heat won their 27th straight game by topping the Magic 108-94 on Monday night.
”We are not taking this team for granted,” James said. ”I continue to always say that in professional sports, wins are hard to come by and teams like this are really rare. To be part of a team like this, we do not take it for granted.”
That dunk – which came one possession after James badly missed a layup and got frustrated – started what became a 20-2 run over merely a 4 1/2-minute portion of the third and fourth quarters, and it put the Heat in control for good.
He left one rebound shy of a triple-double, feigning disappointment. That’s about all the Heat could complain about afterward.
Mario Chalmers scored 17, and Chris Bosh and Ray Allen each added 12 for Miami, giving Heat coach Erik Spoelstra his 250th win and bringing the reigning NBA champions within six games of matching the Lakers for the longest winning streak in league history, a 33-game run.
— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press
