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Heat win seventh straight with victory over Bucks

Jan 5, 2011 - 4:47 AM Miami, FL (Sports Network) - Dwyane Wade led all scorers with 34 points and LeBron James went for 25 points and nine assists, as the Miami Heat earned their seventh straight victory after defeating the Milwaukee Bucks, 101-89, at American Airlines Arena.

Chris Bosh turned in a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds for Miami, which has now won 19 of its last 20 games overall, with the only loss coming to Dallas on December 20.

John Salmons had a team-high 18 points, while Andrew Bogut donated 16 points and eight boards for the Bucks, who have lost three of four. Keyon Dooling finished with 14 points in defeat.

"We played pretty hard tonight," Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said. "Whenever we were trying to keep contact with them in the second half, it got away from us."

James and Wade each netted eight points in the opening quarter to give the Heat a 26-20 lead after 12 minutes.

Miami played the front-runner until the late stages of the second quarter. James' free throw with 2:48 remaining put his squad ahead by four, 45-41, but Milwaukee took over from there.

Salmons' layup and four free throws keyed a 10-0 run for a 51-45 game in favor of the Bucks. James' two at the stripe closed the scoring to get the Heat within four at the break.

Miami trailed 68-67 with 2:24 left in the third before James Jones' technical free throw and triple combined with two makes at the line by James put Miami up 73-68 with 38.3 seconds to play in the quarter. Earl Boykins' jumper got the Bucks within three heading into the fourth.

Wade's three at the stripe and an Erick Dampier layup to open the final quarter stretched the hosts lead to 78-70 before a Wade three-pointer with 6:51 on the clock stretched the margin to 85-74.

"The Milwaukee Bucks have a frustrating style of play," Wade said. "It's difficult to get separation. It's easy to settle for jump shots, but we kept attacking."

Miami never let the Bucks get closer than seven the rest of the way and even pushed the lead to 20 with 2:20 to play.

Game Notes

Miami was now won the last three meetings over Milwaukee...Forward Drew Gooden (plantar fasciitis) and guards Brandon Jennings (left foot surgery) and Carlos Delfino (strained neck) remained out for the Bucks...The Heat shot 44.6 percent from the field, but made only 4-of-12 from three-point range. Milwaukee made 39.7 percent of its shots.