LeBron James' 3-pointer sinks Warriors

There's an adage that has stood for decades, but might mandate an adjustment.

You don't tug on Superman's cape, spit into the wind or pull the mask off the Lone Ranger, and the Warriors learned Wednesday that you also shouldn't mess around with the king's crown.

Apparently, LeBron James takes that kind of stuff personally.

After losing to the Warriors in consecutive meetings in Miami, he clearly arrived in Oakland on a mission and made sure it was accomplished - drilling a game-winning three-pointer in the Heat's 111-110 victory in front of a national TV audience and the 64th consecutive sellout crowd at Oracle Arena.

"I tried to design something, but once he started to wind it up, I decided I better not break his rhythm and let a great player make a great play," Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said.

James stepped back from Andre Iguodala's solid contest defense, faded to his left and confidently drained the three-pointer from the wing with 0.2 seconds on the clock.

The Miami forward marched past half court, pounded his chest, motioned as if he was stomping down the pressure and then dealt out specialty handshakes to a swarm of teammates who greeted him to celebrate a victory that only seconds earlier looked to be heading the Warriors' way.

"We were willing to live with defense on him one-on-one once he caught it, and the defense was very good," Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said. "Andre did his job. He made a great shot, a great shot."

Stephen Curry drove right on Mario Chalmers and drew the foul as he banked in a runner with 14.6 seconds remaining. The Warriors' point guard made the ensuing free throw for the penultimate play in the thrilling final minutes of action.

Chalmers gave Miami a 104-100 lead with a three-pointer with 2:45 left, but David Lee made three of four free-throw attempts and then stole a pass from Chris Bosh to set up Iguodala's go-ahead bucket. He hit a tough turnaround jumper that put the Warriors up 105-104 with 1:22 on the clock.

But James came right back with a steely three-pointer, and Curry responded with a floater in the lane to tie the game at 107-107 with 47.7 seconds remaining. James missed the second of two free throws with 25 seconds left, opening the door for the Warriors.

The Warriors (31-22) have failed to win three consecutive games at any point during a 16-game stretch that followed their 10-game win streak and have fallen back into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference - 1 1/2 games ahead of ninth-place Memphis.

The Heat (37-14) have won eight of their past 10 games, and sent one last message before the All-Star break that they're engaged enough to make a second-half run at defending their back-to-back titles.

No one embodied that message better than James, who was aggressive throughout. He had surpassed his season average of 3.6 three-point attempts per game one minute into the third quarter and had surpassed his season average of 16.4 field-goal attempts per game by the end of the frame.

He finished with 36 points on 14-for-26 shooting, with 13 rebounds, nine assists and two steals. Bosh added 19 points, Michael Beasley came off the bench for 16 points, and Chalmers had 12 points and seven assists.

"He was expending so much energy on both ends of the court - multiple efforts (on defense) and generating so much offense for us on the other end," Spoelstra said of James.

The Warriors were down by as many as 21 points midway through the third quarter, but they made it close - mostly because of Curry. He scored 10 points in an 89-second stretch that spanned the third and fourth quarters to give the Warriors an 87-84 advantage.

Curry finished with 29 points, seven assists and five rebounds, Lee added 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Klay Thompson went for 17 points. But that wasn't quite enough on a night when James was determined to make a statement.

"Better offense beats better defense every time," James said.