DENVER - The Miami Heats decade-long drought in Denver is history. LeBron James had 27 points and 12 assists, and the short-handed Heat beat the Nuggets 98-93 Thursday night, holding on despite having played four games in five nights and missing two starters. "We came out to play," James said. "We played great for three quarters and we knew they were going to make a run and we came too far to let that game slip away from us." Shane Battier added 18 points — all on 3-pointers — in the Heats first win at Denver since Jan. 29, 2002, a streak of 10 straight losses. Every other NBA team has won at the Pepsi Center during that span. "This is a tough building to play in, especially when you get in at 5 in the morning because this altitude is nothing to play with," James said. "So, I just tried to go to another level, I just tried to find a little bit of energy to help our team win the ballgame and fortunately I was able to do that." The Heat nearly blew a 19-point second-half lead but held on despite being without Dwyane Wade (foot) and Mario Chalmers, who went to the bench after just 7 1/2 minutes with a strained right triceps. Even James had an ice pack on his right shoulder after the game. "Yeah, its a little sore," he said. Andre Miller had 19 points and Kenneth Faried led the Nuggets with 16 points and a career-high 20 rebounds as Denver outrebounded Miami 48-29 and outscored the Heat 50-24 in the paint. But the Heat kept their turnovers down and hit 13 3-pointers. Battier and Mike Miller combined for 10 of them. "Youve got Wade out and you surround LeBron James with 3-point shooters and they knock them down," lamented Andre Miller. Ty Lawson, who is averaging 13.5 points, didnt score. Lawson would have given Denver its first lead of the night with 5:35 remaining, but his breakaway basket was waived off when he was whistled for an offensive foul for running over Battier. "Thats demoralizing," Miamis Ray Allen said, "because you make a great defensive play when they had numbers offensively. Its just those intangible plays that at the end of the year its got you five or six wins." Coming off a loss to the Clippers 24 hours earlier, the Heat looked primed for a letdown at altitude but instead never trailed in beating Denver for the second time in two weeks even though the Nuggets outrebounded them 48-29 and outscored them in the paint 50-24. "It just seems like when you come here, based on the geographical location, that the team is always catching us," Allen said. "You come out from the East Coast to the West Coast. You never play this game first, you play this on the back-to-back night. You lose an hour and you come in late, so this game always gets you. And this was a setup game for us. But we just managed it from the beginning. We didnt let ourselves get behind." Allen, who had the go-ahead four-point play with 6.7 seconds left in a 119-116 win over Denver in Miami on Nov. 3, sank a 3-pointer just before halftime that gave the Heat a 54-42 lead at the break. The Heat went up 70-51 on back-to-back 3s by Mike Miller and Battier and still led 79-66 heading into the fourth quarter, when the Nuggets cut the Heats lead to one point on a couple of occasions — but kept blowing chances to go ahead. JaVale McGee had 18 points, including a hook shot after getting the inbounds with just 0.4 seconds left on the shot clock that made it 79-74, and the Nuggets chipped away until Andre Millers three-point play pulled Denver to 85-84. Thats when Lawson had a breakaway as the crowd cheered what it thought was Denvers first lead of the night. After missing two free throws, Faried made two, pulling Denver to 92-89. Andre Iguodalas two foul shots at 1:37 made it a one-point game again. Allen missed a 3, but Danilo Gallinari rushed a long-range 3-pointer with about 15 seconds left on the shot clock that missed the basket by several feet. "At that moment we were wearing them out a little bit, the momentum was on our side, keep attacking, that would be my choice," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "The hustle, the energy was on our side, so dont go out of character. That was somewhat out of personality. We dont pull quick 3s." James fed Norris Cole, who made the Nuggets pay for Gallinaris gaffe with a 3-pointer at the other end for a 95-91 lead. Gallinari then mistakenly let the ball go out of bounds at midcourt, giving possession back to Miami, and James sank two free throws with 23 seconds left to ice it. Notes: Wade was held out because of a sprained left foot a night after scoring just six points — well below his 18.4-point average — in Miamis 107-100 loss to the Clippers. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the move was cautionary, emphasizing, "Its not anything major. He has a bunch of little, minor, nagging injuries, so well continue to take it day by day." ... Farieds previous best was 17 rebounds. Cheap NFL Jerseys from china . Scrivens made 24 saves as the Toronto Marlies blanked the Abbotsford Heat 5-0 in American Hockey League action. Cheap Jerseys From China . Saffiedine earned a convincing unanimous decision against defending champ Nate Marquardt in the final event for the UFCs sister promotion Saturday. http://www.cheapchinajerseys.us.com/[/... .S. Open. The second-seeded former world No. 1 Djokovic drubbed No. 31 Julien Benneteau of France 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in 97 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The Serbian has reached the round of 16 here for the sixth straight year. [url=http://www.cheapchinajerseys.us.com/]Wholesale Jerseys . Among the list of his many achievements is no mention of his 21st NHL season, the one that was never played because of the 2004-05 lockout. With the sport back in another dark period brought on by another labour dispute, Sakic reflected on the year that never was on the day he took his place among hockeys greats. Wholesale Jerseys China . With Chris Young starting his first major league game in more than a year, and a short bullpen, the New York Mets manager had few options.VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Canucks dug themselves a hole that neither goaltending nor a revived power play could dig them out of. And just a year removed from Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final versus Boston, this years early exit doesnt seem to hurt any less than the loss to the Bruins. "To be honest, it doesnt matter if you lose the seventh game of the finals or you lose in five in the first round, its devastating," said Daniel Sedin after a 2-1 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 on Sunday. "We have the mindset to win every year. When you end up on the losing side its tough." Vancouver fell behind 3-0 in the series, including the first two on home ice, before stealing one back Wednesday in Los Angeles to give the team a glimmer of hope. "In the first game we took way too many penalties," said Henrik Sedin. "In the second the power play cost us the game. If you do that in a seven-game series, you give away two games, youve got to win four out of five and thats tough when they dont give you an inch out there." The loss is especially disappointing following Vancouvers dominant run during the regular season. The Canucks won a second consecutive Presidents Trophy for leading the league in points, and seemed to be on track for another deep playoff run. "We had expectations and hopes to go far in this playoff," said goaltender Cory Schneider. "It sseems like around the league, parity is running wild.dddddddddddd. Look at Pittsburgh, ourselves, Detroit, San Jose. New Yorks facing elimination, Boston held it off today. We cant take anything for granted. Anyone is capable of winning in this league." While Vancouver had expected a deep Cup run, the Los Angeles Kings dont see this series victory as anything more than the first step for them. "It probably means a lot more to other people being a big upset and them being the Presidents Trophy winner," said Kings captain Dustin Brown. "For this team it was what we were going for the whole time." The Canucks will head into the off-season with many questions, including the future of their goaltender situation with Schneider earning the final three starts over incumbent number one Roberto Luongo. "I only won one game," said Schneider. "Even if I played the first of the series, wed still be down 2-1 right now so it doesnt really matter. Its nice to get some playoff experience and get comfortable in these situations but at the end of the day its about results and playing well doesnt cut it this time of year." But Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault was quick to downplay speculation about the team so soon after the loss. "Were all very disappointed with how things turned out right now, and (were) just going to step back and figure things out," he said. ' ' '