James scores 35 as Heat beat Raptors

LeBron James

LeBron James reached his latest milestone in signature style. James scored a season-high 35 points, Dwyane Wade had 20 and the Miami Heat beat the Toronto Raptors 104-95 on Tuesday for their first road victory in three tries this season.

Ray Allen scored 14 points for Miami, which lost at Philadelphia on Oct. 30 and was beaten 101-100 at Brooklyn on Nov. 1.

James also had a season-high eight rebounds and handed out eight assists as Miami topped 100 points for the fifth straight game, extending their team-record run to begin the season.

With a putback dunk at 2:31 of the first quarter, James became the fifth player in NBA history to score 10 points or more in 500 consecutive games.

‘’When I see a stat like that, I’m like ‘Wow,’ because I know the history of the game, I know the guys who paved the way for myself and my teammates,’’ James said. ‘’To be in such a great class like that, it’s an amazing feeling.’’

James said he was humbled to join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (with streaks of 787 and 508 games), Michael Jordan (866), Karl Malone (575) and Moses Malone (526) as the only players to accomplish the feat.

‘’That’s apt company,’’ teammate Shane Battier said.

It was the 162nd time during the streak that James has reached 10 points in the opening quarter.

‘’I just go out and play every night and those are the results,’’ he said.

James has reached double figures in every game since being held to eight points at Milwaukee on Jan. 5, 2007. He scored 19 at New Jersey the following night.