Heat Beat Bulls 88-65 In Game 4: LeBron Scores 27 As Miami Takes 3-1 Series Lead (VIDEO)

Chicago Bulls point guard Marquis Teague (25) watches Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) celebrate during the second half in Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, Monday May 13, 2013. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images)

CHICAGO -- LeBron James scored 27 points and the Miami Heat nearly matched a franchise record for points allowed in a playoff game, pounding the listless and short-handed Chicago Bulls 88-65 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The 65 points allowed were only two more than the all-time postseason low for a Miami opponent, and it was easily the worst offensive performance by a Chicago team.

Never before had the Bulls scored fewer than 69 in a playoff game nor 10 or less in a quarter during the postseason, but both those marks fell on a night when they were dominated on both ends of the floor.

Miami led by 11 at the half and put this one away in the third quarter, outscoring Chicago 17-9 in the period.

Now the Heat will try to wrap up the series at home on Wednesday night, taking what they hope will be the next step toward a second straight championship.

It's hard to believe the Bulls won the series opener the way the past three games have gone.

Miami pounded Chicago in Game 2, coming away with its most lopsided playoff victory while handing the Bulls their worst ever postseason loss, and the Heat continued to roll from there.

James had his usual complete game with eight assists and seven rebounds Monday.

Chris Bosh finished with 14 points after scoring 20 and grabbing 19 rebounds in Game 3, and the Heat won again despite another quiet night from Dwyane Wade, who finished with six points. Norris Cole also struggled with seven points after back-to-back 18-point performances, but the Heat had more than enough in this one.

They shot about 49 percent while the Bulls set a franchise playoff low at 25.7 percent. They were particularly bad from the outside, going 2 for 17 from 3-point range.

The Bulls again were missing ailing Luol Deng and injured Kirk Hinrich (calf), and a team that kept finding ways to win despite being short-handed all season simply appeared to run out of steam.

Carlos Boozer had 14 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double in the postseason but was just 3 of 14 from the field. Jimmy Butler scored 12 and Joakim Noah grabbed nine rebounds, but it was a miserable night for Chicago – particularly Nate Robinson, who missed all 12 shots and did not score.

James scored 15 points and Bosh added 12 in the first half to help the Heat take a 44-33 lead at the break, but that doesn't even come close to telling the complete story.

Consider this.

Miami shot just under 53 percent, with the Bulls at about 27 percent. Chicago was also 1 of 11 on 3-pointers, and the only conversion from long range came from Richard Hamilton.

Remember him?

After playing a grand total of 10 minutes over two playoff appearances, coach Tom Thibodeau turned to him early in the second quarter with Miami threatening to put the game away.

The veteran guard entered to loud cheers with the Bulls trailing 30-17 after back-to-back 3-pointers by Shane Battier and Ray Allen, and the crowd was roaring after Hamilton nailed a wide open 3 from up top and Taj Gibson converted a three-point play.

That made it a seven-point game, but the Bulls couldn't sustain any momentum. The Heat suffocated them on both ends, squeezing a little harder every time Chicago made a push.

There was no energy from the Bulls, none of the resourcefulness that carried them to 45 wins during the regular season and to the second round in the playoffs.

They were trailing 44-31 with about 40 seconds left after James made a neat spin move on the break and got fouled by Nate Robinson for a three-point play.

Notes: The Heat and Bulls were well represented on the NBA's all-defensive first team, with James and Noah being selected. ... Thibodeau had nothing to say about the $35,000 fine from the league for comments he made about the officiating in Game 3. Asked if he was surprised by the amount, he said, "I've got no comment on that. We're just getting ready for Game 4." ... Deng was listed as active after initially being ruled out for Chicago. Hinrich and Rose were inactive.

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Heat Win Franchise Record 15th Straight Game: Wade, LeBron Lead Miami Past Minnesota, 97-81 (VIDEO)

Miami Heat's LeBron James is shown in the first half of an NBA basketball game against Minnesota Timberwolves' Minnesota Timberwolves' Mikael Gelabale of France Monday, March 4, 2013, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

MINNEAPOLIS -- Alonzo Mourning never did it. Shaquille O'Neal didn't, either. Even Dwyane Wade had never won 15 games in a row as a member of the Miami Heat.

The Heat have had their fair share of stars come through South Beach over the last 25 years, none of them as bright as LeBron James.

Wade had 32 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, James shrugged off a sore left knee to score 20 points and grab 10 rebounds, and the Heat earned their franchise-record 15th straight victory with a 97-81 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

"Any time you get an opportunity set a record, it's great for the organization and the guys involved," James said. "But we want to keep going. We want to keep winning each game by itself. We don't talk about the streak, we just go to the next game and play it out. We look forward to the next one."

Chris Bosh added 11 points and nine rebounds, and James played 35 minutes despite being listed as a game-time decision with a twisted left knee.

Derrick Williams had 25 points and 10 rebounds and Ricky Rubio had 14 points, eight assists, six steals and five rebounds for the Timberwolves. J.J. Barea had four points on 1-for-11 shooting and was ejected in the fourth quarter after getting a Flagrant-2 foul for a hit on Heat guard Ray Allen.

Minnesota was down six points with eight minutes to play when Barea was ejected. The Heat then went on a 17-5 run to put away the game.

Officials initially ruled it a Flagrant 1, but changed the call upon reviewing it, eliciting strong protests from Barea and Wolves coach Rick Adelman, who also picked up a technical foul. Adelman was furious after the game, alluding to an incident two weeks ago against Golden State in which Wolves center Greg Stiemsma was hit in the chest by a forearm shiver from Jarrett Jack, but was given a Flagrant-1 and allowed to keep playing.

"I just have one question I want to ask the league," Adelman said. "Why is that a Flagrant-2 foul tonight and the other night Jarrett Jack hit Stiemsma in the stomach with a forearm that that was a Flagrant 1? I would just like to know the difference. That changed the whole game."

Allen immediately got up from the foul and rushed at Barea, but players from both sides stepped in and broke up the confrontation.

"It just came out of nowhere," Allen said. "I was dribbling down the floor, it was a play where he kind of chucked me a little bit and knocked the ball away. I got it back and drove and he just leveled me. I thought it was uncalled for. There's no place for that in this game."

Barea was jawing at Allen as he left the court and said he expected the league to change the call on Tuesday.

"I've been playing in the NBA for seven years," Barea said. "I get hit harder than that every night. I don't get up crying and want to fight."

The Heat outscored Minnesota 58-32 in the paint, amassing 24 dunks or layups out of 38 total field goals.

The Heat had every reason to sit James down in this one, and the runaway favorite for MVP wouldn't have been blamed. The Heat were playing the second game of a road back-to-back, coming off a stirring victory over New York and playing an undermanned opponent that had lost 21 of its last 25 games.

Maybe in the past, James would have. But not this year. He's reached a different level, one that no one has been able to compete with, whether he is completely healthy or not. He knows more is expected of him, and he is delivering every single night.

"His leg would probably have to fall off for him to miss a game," Bosh said.

James tweaked his knee in the third quarter against New York on Sunday when he landed awkwardly while chasing down a lob pass. That didn't stop him from scoring 12 points and swatting Tyson Chandler in the fourth quarter to lead the Heat to their first win of the season over the Knicks, an important victory for the defending champions to assert themselves in the Eastern Conference.

His knee was examined once the team arrived in Minnesota and no serious damage was found. The Timberwolves had a faint glimmer of hope when James was nowhere to be found when the Heat took the floor about 15 minutes before tipoff. But he came jogging out a few minutes later, then continued his recent pregame routine of throwing down monster dunks to get that knee loosened up and ready to roll.

"My knee responded well from that fall yesterday," James said. "I'm blessed. It's nothing really, a little jam when I landed on the floor."

The dunking display kept right on going after the opening tip. Without big Nikola Pekovic (abdominal strain) roaming the paint, the Heat relentlessly attacked the rim. Their first seven field goals came on dunks or layups, as did 15 of their 20 buckets in the first half.

The Wolves made a mini-run, pulling to 76-70 before the Barea-Allen confrontation, and the Heat pulled away after that.

It's not as if the Heat have been feasting on cupcakes during their record streak. They've taken down the Clippers, Lakers, Rockets, Thunder, Bulls, Grizzlies and Knicks, almost all of them in convincing fashion.

The message is being delivered. This is their time. This is LeBron's league.

You want the title? Come and get it.

NOTES: The Timberwolves were also missing F Andrei Kirilenko (calf) for the third straight game. ... The Heat turned the ball over 24 times and were just 5 for 21 from 3-point range. ... Heat C Chris Andersen sparked the team in the second quarter and finished with six points and seven boards. ... Heat F Shane Battier played under Adelman in Houston. "One of my favorite players I've ever had," Adelman said. ... Baltimore Ravens LB Terrell Suggs, who started high school in St. Paul, sat courtside for the game wearing a Heat cap.

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Heat Beat Lakers, 99-90: LeBron James' 39 Points Hold Off Kobe Bryant (VIDEO/PHOTO)

LOS ANGELES — For a few exciting minutes in the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers resembled the championship-caliber dynamo everybody expected this season, making a big run and surging past the Miami Heat.

And then LeBron James calmly demonstrated why the Heat are the defending NBA champions and the Lakers are in 11th place in the Western Conference.

James had 39 points and eight assists, Dwyane Wade added 27 points on his 31st birthday and the Heat held off the Lakers 99-90 Thursday night, scoring the final nine points to finish their six-game road trip in style.

"We closed out the trip the right way, and we want to build from it," James said. "We wanted to do much better, of course, after the way we started, losing to Indiana and Portland."

They finished up just fine at Staples Center, getting their second win in their last eight games here against the Lakers.

Ray Allen scored seven of his nine points in the final 5 minutes as the Heat repelled a late charge by the Lakers, who lost for the seventh time in nine games. The Lakers challenged the champs, but James closed out the Heat's sixth road game in 10 days with a flurry of clutch baskets and solid defensive play, often against Bryant.

"I thought we played well enough to beat them," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said. "That's a championship team. They turned on all the juices, so it's a good measuring stick. That's what they do, and we have to get better. We've got to get smoother."

Bryant scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter for Los Angeles, but later lamented his lack of aggression in the first three quarters. Dwight Howard had 13 points and 16 rebounds, but missed two key free throws with 1:51 left while Miami pulled away, capping the All-Star starting center's 5-for-13 effort at the line.

Miami held a narrow lead for most of the first three quarters until Bryant hit two 3-pointers and two jumpers during a 14-3 Lakers run to an 84-81 lead in the fourth quarter.

Allen put the Heat back ahead with a 3-pointer with 4:55 to play, but Bryant tied it with his third 3-pointer of the quarter with 2:33 left. After Wade hit a jumper, Howard missed two free throws – airballing the first – and Allen hit a high-arching jumper in the paint before James iced it with a short bank shot with 49 seconds left.

"On the road, when things don't always go your way, you don't have your momentum and you don't have the confidence of your home crowd, you have to just find different ways to grind," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "This is a perfect example of that. We never really got into a great flow offensively until late in the fourth quarter."

Metta World Peace scored 16 points for the Lakers, who committed 20 turnovers and didn't score in the final 2 1/2 minutes. Yet they largely saw a solid effort against the mighty Heat is cause for optimism in Hollywood.

"It's not much of a setback," Bryant said. "They played very well. They obviously have a familiarity, been playing together, and they know where they want to be in their spots. They executed down the stretch. LeBron made some tough shots."

Pau Gasol had 12 points and four rebounds in his return from a five-game absence with a concussion for the Lakers, who had hoped to build on consecutive victories following a six-game losing streak that knocked them well out of the West playoff picture.

James and Wade got little help until Allen's late flurry, but they didn't need it. Chris Bosh had just seven points and six rebounds in 35 minutes for Miami.

"LeBron is going to get his points, but if we control Dwyane and Chris Bosh, we have a better chance of winning," Howard said. "Tonight, D-Wade, he had it going on the offensive end."

Bryant scored at least 20 points in his 23rd consecutive game, but the NBA's leading scorer missed 14 of his first 17 shots.

The game featured four of the 10 starters in next month's All-Star game, with Bryant edging James by roughly 7,800 votes as the top vote-getter in the final results announced earlier in the day. Wade and Howard also will start in Houston.

Bryant is headed to his 15th All-Star game in 17 NBA seasons, starting a record 15 consecutive times, while Howard will be a seven-time All-Star.

Earl Clark stayed in the Lakers' starting lineup on his 25th birthday, but Gasol played well off the bench in his first game since Denver's JaVale McGee elbowed him in the face Jan. 6.

NOTES: The Lakers visit Miami on Feb. 10 in the final stop of their seven-game road trip while the Grammy Awards take over Staples Center. Los Angeles hasn't won at American Airlines Arena since Feb. 10, 2008. ... Bryant scored at least 20 points in 62 straight games from December 2005 to April 2006. ... Mark Wahlberg, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Queen Latifah, Ellen Pompeo, director Ron Howard and Los Angeles Kings players Dustin Penner, Drew Doughty and Trevor Lewis watched from courtside.

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NBA All-Star Rosters 2013: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant Make Starting Lineups

NEW YORK (AP) — Kobe Bryant has been voted to his NBA-record 15th consecutive All-Star start, leading four Los Angeles players into next month's game.

Lakers teammate Dwight Howard and the Clippers' Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will join Bryant in the Western Conference lineup for the Feb. 17 game in Houston. Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, the MVP of last year's game, rounds out the five.

Kevin Garnett held off Chris Bosh in fan balloting, giving the East two Boston Celtics and two Miami Heat players. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade will represent the defending champions and receive passes from Rajon Rondo. New York's Carmelo Anthony is the other starter.

Bryant finished with 1,591,437 votes, edging James by about 7,800 to finish as the leading vote-getter and break a tie with Shaquille O'Neal, Jerry West and Karl Malone for the most consecutive starting nods.

The NBA's leading scorer is a four-time MVP of the All-Star game and last year became its career scoring leader.

Garnett beat Bosh, who took to Twitter to stump for votes in the final days of balloting, by about 25,000 votes. He tied Bryant and O'Neal for second all-time with his 15th selection behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was elected to 19 games.

It's the second straight year that Los Angeles teams will make up four players. Last year it was Bryant, Paul, Griffin and Andrew Bynum, who was dealt to Philadelphia in part of the deal that sent Howard from Orlando to Los Angeles.

The ballot changed this year, eliminating the center position. Fans were required to vote for three frontcourt players and two guards.

They picked an interesting mix in the East. Anthony and Garnett exchanged words during a game on Jan. 7 and Anthony was suspended a game by the NBA when he tried to confront Garnett afterward in the tunnel area and by the team bus.

Rondo was injured in the playoffs two years ago after getting tangled up with Wade and landing awkwardly on his arm, part of what's become a tense rivalry between the Celtics and Heat.

Reserves will be announced next Thursday. Coaches will vote for seven players in their conferences: two guards, three frontcourt players and two players regardless of position, and can't vote for a player on their own team.

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