Heat at Full Throttle to End Thunder Home Streak

Miami finally had its Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh reunited, and Oklahoma City's top trio was at its best, too.

Yet none of those stars came away with the biggest shot of the game.

Eddie House hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 22.2 seconds left, then added two free throws to seal the Miami Heat's 108-103 victory in a Sunday showcase in which their All-Star triumvirate played together for the first time in nearly three weeks.

"Any time Eddie raises and shoots, you think it's going in," Wade said. "He's one of those guys that look for the moment."

Wade scored 32 points, James added 23 points and 13 rebounds and Bosh had 20 points -- and coach Erik Spoelstra pulled the right string by putting House into the lineup during a timeout after Kevin Durant's jumper had put the Thunder up 103-102 with 34.3 seconds left.

Wade missed a jumper from the left wing, Mike Miller snagged the rebound and kicked it out to James, who passed it over to House for a 3 on the right sideline that made it 105-103.

"He's a unique player because he's ready and ignitable without rhythm minutes. Not many players in this league, you can do that," Spoelstra said. "You throw him in, he hasn't played, if he's been sitting for a while, he feels like he's hot."

Durant scored 33 points but missed a contested jumper along the left baseline with 15 seconds left that would've put the Thunder back on top. Jeff Green had 23 points and 11 rebounds, and Russell Westbrook added 21 points and 10 assists as Oklahoma City's top three scorers all reached 20 points for just the third time this season.

It still wasn't enough to match a similar performance from Miami's Big 3, who all eclipsed 20 points in the same game for the 11th time. The Heat are 9-2 when that happens.

"I don't look at it as the 'big three.' They may look at it like that over there, but over here we're a whole group," Durant said.

After House's go-ahead 3, James contested Durant's attempt to tie it at the other end and Nick Collison swatted the rebound toward midcourt. Wade tracked it down and got fouled, hit his first free throw before missing the second, and that rebound was initially awarded to the Thunder after it went out of bounds under the basket with 6.9 seconds left.

James walked back to the huddle saying confidently, "It's our ball" -- and a replay proved him right. The ball deflected off Collison, and House hit two free throws to close it out.

"We don't take moral victories here. We wanted to win that game," Durant said. "We had the game won and we just didn't. Moral victories have been out the door for two years now."

Bosh had been sidelined four games with a sprained left ankle and Wade had missed two of those game due to migraine headaches and a wrist injury. Before that, James missed two games, also with a sprained left ankle. It had been since Jan. 12 since all three played together.

"It felt good to have guys back. It threw us off a little bit early. We hadn't played with each other for a while. But with Chris coming back early, to try to gut it out and go tonight, we needed just to get wins," Wade said. "Hopefully, we can build on it."

The Heat had been scuffling, losing five of six before beating Detroit by a point Friday night on James Jones' disputed block of Austin Daye's dunk at the buzzer. Oklahoma City, meeanwhile, had lost three of four and then needed overtime to beat Minnesota and Washington -- both in last place -- in their last two games.

Wade staked the Heat to their largest lead by spinning away from Westbrook for a jumper along the left baseline that made it 98-90 with 5:51 to play and finished a 13-2 run.

But Wade was still upset after Serge Ibaka blocked his layup attempt on Miami's next possession and drew a technical foul after Green got a fast-break layup at the other end that would start a 13-4 comeback for Oklahoma City.

Westbrook and Durant each hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to one, and the Thunder got a chance to go ahead after Bosh's missed jumper on a failed attempt to draw a foul against Durant -- with the same rip move Durant uses frequently to catch opponents reaching in against him.

Durant came around a screen and connected on a jumper from the top of the key with 34.3 seconds left to put Oklahoma City up 103-102. It was one of only two shots Durant made in 10 second-half attempts, with most of his damage coming from foul line. He was 11 for 13 in the second half and finished 16 for 19.

"We had the game won," Durant said. "We played good defense on Wade, he missed the shot and we just couldn't rebound. Eddie House is a big-time, big-game player. He hit a big shot, and that's the game."

Notes

• Bosh and Durant received a double technical foul in the first quarter after Bosh hacked Harden to prevent a fast-break basket. Westbrook got one for swinging his fist in the air after being whistled for a personal foul in the final minute of the first half.
• James' eight first-quarter assists were the most in period by a Heat player this season.
• The Thunder were seeking their longest home winning streak since leaving Seattle.

Avalanche Snap Wings’ Win Streak at Three

The Colorado Avalanche chased one of the top goaltenders from the game early and still had to hang on at the end.

Nothing comes easy for them these days.

Matt Duchene scored twice in Colorado's four-goal first period and Peter Budaj turned back a late flurry of shots, helping the Avalanche halt the Detroit Red Wings' three-game winning streak with a 5-4 victory on Monday night.

"We got some opportunities and we jumped on them," Duchene said. "When you are able to do that, things go very well."

Things also got a little dicey before the Avalanche snapped their two-game skid.

Colorado got off to a roaring start, sending goalie Jimmy Howard to the bench 14:15 in after he surrendered four goals on 10 shots.

Comfortably up 5-2 late in the second period, the Avs watched as the Red Wings stormed back, making it a 5-4 game midway through the third period when Tomas Holmstrom deflected in a shot.

But that would be as close as the Red Wings would get as Budaj thwarted one scoring chance after another, especially late when Detroit relentlessly pressured the Avalanche.

"They're a team that has great skill and they're a team that is really hard to shut down," said Duchene, who turns 20 on Sunday. "But we were able to do it."

Paul Stastny, Kevin Porter and David Jones added goals for the Avalanche in a game that featured two of the NHL's highest-scoring teams.

Jan Mursak netted his first NHL goal. Brian Rafalski and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for the Red Wings, 3-1 on a five-game road swing that ends Friday at Columbus.

"We let Howie down big time," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said of his goalie. "We had every opportunity to win this game. We were unable to get it done."

That was due in part to Duchene, who was all over the ice. He also set up Jones' backhanded goal in the second period, which gave the Avs a 5-2 lead and turned out to be the game-winner.

"Duchene is obviously comfortable against us," Babcock said. "I didn't think it was an issue in the past. Obviously, it is."

Duchene's first goal came when he corralled a loose puck between the blue lines, skated in on Howard and put a shot between his pads.

He knocked in another on a give-and-go play with Tomas Fleischmann, who assisted on both of Duchene's goals.

That would be the end of Howard's night as he gave way to Joey MacDonald, who allowed only one goal the rest of the way on 16 shots.

"I don't want to get pulled," said Howard, who leads the league with 22 wins. "But I'm just going to put it behind me and move on. It's the only thing you can do."

Duchene nearly added a third, but his backhanded shot with 32.4 seconds remaining in the first period clanged off the right post.

That was about the only blemish on his stellar night.

"Matty's line had some good jump. They skated very well," Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. "He had some good speed and he was difficult to contain at times."

Stastny started the scoring when he knocked in a shot after the puck squirted out to him near the left circle. The goal moved Stastny to within one of becoming the eighth Avalanche player to score 100.

Porter also got into the act when he bounced in a puck off the stick of Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson.

The dinged-up Red Wings have done a remarkable job of weathering a string of injuries. They are second in the Western Conference despite missing Mike Modano (wrist), Pavel Datsyuk (wrist/hand) and Dan Cleary (ankle) for chunks of time.

Detroit will be without defenseman Brad Stuart (broken jaw) for six-to-eight weeks, and backup goalie Chris Osgood is out because of a lingering groin injury.

Notes:

• Avs rookie D Kevin Shattenkirk missed the game because of a foot injury sustained Saturday while blocking a shot.
• Detroit F Valtteri Filppula returned after missing two games with a groin injury, logging nearly 13 minutes of ice time.
• Duchene and Jones tied career highs with three points each.
• Zetterberg's goal ran his point streak to 11 games. He has six goals and 10 assists over that span.