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                <p>MIAMI – LaMarcus Aldridge proved LeBron James right.</p>
                <p>The Miami Heat could have done without that confirmation.</p>
                <p>Shortly after James called Aldridge one of the top All-Star "snubs" in NBA history, he scored 26 points and led the Portland Trail Blazers to a 105-96 win over Miami — sending the Heat to their fifth straight loss.</p>
                <p>Gerald Wallace scored 22 for Portland, which won its seventh straight on the road and fourth straight overall. Brandon Roy and Andre Miller each scored 14 for the Blazers, who got 11 from Nicolas Batum and 10 more from Wesley Matthews.</p>
                <p>Dwyane Wade scored 38 points and LeBron James added 31 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists for the Heat, who are the 12th team in NBA history to have a 12-game winning streak and five-game losing streak in the same season.</p>
                <p>Chris Bosh was held to seven points on 3 for 11 shooting.</p>
                <p>The Blazers' bench outscored Miami's 41-8, easily more than enough to keep Miami's doldrums going strong. And it gets no easier for the Heat: The two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, now winners of a league-high eight straight, come in on Thursday night.</p>
                <p>Whenever Miami tried making any sort of run, Portland had an answer.</p>
                <p>James had a spectacular crossover with 4:11 remaining in the third quarter, notable for two reasons. One, it sent Batum flying backward. Two, it was the last time a Heat player other than Wade scored in 9 1/2 minutes.</p>
                <p>With the bench a non-factor and Bosh struggling, it was Wade and James against everybody at times — and it wasn't enough.</p>
                <p>The Heat made one late run from a nine-point deficit, starting with a 3-pointer by Mike Bibby and getting within two on a dunk by James with 4:35 left, but when the Blazers were up 103-94 and running out the clock with a minute left, many of the fans who remained were booing.</p>
                <p>Unlike three of the four games in the slide, the Heat didn't even have the luxury of a big early lead.</p>
                <p>The game was tied three times in the opening quarter, including at 25-25 when the period ended, though the Heat never took their first lead until Bosh made a layup to open the second. Miami's cushion, such as it was, grew to 39-35 before Portland's bench — one of the major story lines of the first half — started flexing its muscle.</p>
                <p>Granted, Wallace and Roy are not exactly ordinary bench players, having a combined 749 starts in 902 career appearances. But with Miami's bench struggling of late anyway, that Portland duo turned the reserve battle into a one-sided fight, outscoring the Heat backups 26-5 in the first half.</p>
                <p>Wallace and Roy each scored 11 in the second, and the Blazers led 57-51 at the break.</p>
                <p>Miami got within two points on five occasions within a span of 5 1/2 minutes in the third quarter — with Portland answering with two of its own every time, four of those scores coming on the very next possession. Wade tied it at 75 with a pair of free throws with 15.4 seconds left, only to have Patty Mills score to give Portland the lead again with 1.4 seconds left in the third.</p>
                <p>And after Wade opened the fourth with a dunk to tie it again, the Blazers peeled off the next seven, then took what was their biggest lead of the night to that point — 89-80_ on Wallace's three-point play with 6:59 remaining.</p>
                <p>Notes: Before this seven-game road winning streak, Portland had won seven of its last 23 away from home. ... The Heat fell to 14-17 when scoring below 100. They're 29-4 when topping it. ... Portland coach Nate McMillan signed a two-year contract extension earlier in the day. ... James has scored 25 or more points in eight straight games, one shy of the franchise record.</p>
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