Apr 23, 2014 3 min read

MIAMI – LeBron James scored 32 points and added eight assists, Chris Bosh scored 20 points and the Miami Heat held on to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 101-97 on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Dwyane Wade scored 15 points, and had a steal in the final seconds to help seal the win for Miami. Mario Chalmers added 11 for the Heat.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 22 points for Charlotte, which got 18 points and 13 rebounds from Al Jefferson, who played through a left plantar fascia strain and shot 9 for 23 from the floor. Kemba Walker added 16 and Gerald Henderson scored 15 for the Bobcats.

Game 3 is Saturday night in Charlotte.

The Bobcats were down three with 10 seconds left, but never got a tying shot off. Wade stole the ball from Chris Douglas-Roberts with 3 seconds left, made a free throw and that was enough for the Heat who wasted a big first-half lead, then saw another one in the fourth quarter get whittled down to nearly nothing.

It’s hard to find any good news for Charlotte, between this two-game hole and the ongoing injury concerns revolving around their best player. Not only have the Bobcats lost 18 straight games to Miami, but the Heat have never dropped any of the previous 11 postseason series in which they’ve grabbed a 2-0 series lead.

James, between his time in Cleveland and Miami, is 11-0 in such situations.

Wade has been part of nine previous 2-0 leads with the Heat, and six of those series ended in no more than five games.

Miami’s lead was 91-77 midway through the fourth, and after blowing a big first-half lead it appeared as though the Heat finally had some breathing room.

A few minutes later, it looked a whole lot different.

Walker, Kidd-Gilchrist and Douglas-Roberts combined for all the damage in a 10-0 run, getting the Bobcats within 91-87.

But Bosh hit a jumper to stop Miami’s scoreless drought, the Heat followed that with a stop, and Bosh struck again on the ensuing possession with a drive that pushed the Heat’s lead back to eight with 3:36 remaining.

With that, it was Charlotte’s turn five straight points, with Jefferson scoring with 1:42 left to make it 97-94. And Douglas-Roberts had a chance to tie it with 1:09 left, but his 3-pointer bounced off the rim.

After a free throw by James, Walker hit a 3 with 11.9 seconds left to get Charlotte within one. But James swished a pair of free throws moments later, Wade came up with the steal, and Miami escaped.

Miami led 57-47 at the half, and the Bobcats who missed 17 of their first 22 shots were fortunate not to be in bigger trouble.