Denver’s Kenneth Faried scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to spark the Denver Nuggets over the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat 111-107.
Darrell Arthur on Friday came off the bench to contribute 18 on 7-of-11 shooting to help the Nuggets give the Heat consecutive home losses for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
The Heat have lost five of their past six games overall.
“We haven’t been in a stretch like this since probably the 2010-11 season,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. “When we were in that stretch, we had to figure it out. It’s the same thing with this. Something is off with this team. We as a unit got to figure out what’s off.”
The Nuggets’ bench outscored Aiami’s reserves by a 57-40 margin on the night, with Evan Fournier netting 14 points and J.J. Hickson compiling 11 points and nine rebounds.
“It was a complete team effort,” said Nuggets coach Brian Shaw.
Ray Allen led Miami with 22 points, hitting 5-of-7 from 3-point range, while four-time NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James added 21 points and Wade contributed 19.
The Heat jumped out to a 38-24 edge early in the second quarter before Fournier scored eight points to spark a 22-4 run for a 46-42 edge.
James made two free throws to pull Miami within 107-104 with 17.1 seconds to play, but Randy Foye and Faried combined to sink four free throws to seal Denver’s victory.
The Heat had not suffered back-to-back home losses since February of 2011, while the Nuggets had lost three in a row at Miami.
In all, 20 Miami turnovers were converted into 22 points for Denver.
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