Miami Heat's LeBron James (2nd R) slam dunks against the Milwaukee Bucks during the first half of their NBA basketball game in Milwaukee, Wisconsin February 13, 2012. Photo by Darren Hauck, Reuters.

MANILA, Philippines – LeBron James and the Miami Heat finally booked a victory over the Milwaukee Bucks this season, cruising to an easy 114-96 victory at the Bradley Center.

The Heat had lost their two previous meetings against the Bucks, 82-91 and 97-105, but James made sure that third time would not be the charm for Milwaukee.

James scored 35 points on 16-of-21 shooting from the field, and padded his output with eight rebounds and three assists. Dwyane Wade added 22 points for Miami, who have now won three straight games and will finish a stretch of three games in three nights tomorrow in Indiana.

The Bucks rode the hot hand of Brandon Jennings en route to a 27-19 lead in the first quarter, but the Heat took the lead for good with a 12-2 run in the second quarter, punctuated by two trifectas from Mike Miller and the go-ahead jumper from Wade.

“At the start of the game, we lost the first three or four skirmishes for loose balls, but from that point we really made a commitment to get into this fight,” Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said in NBA.com. “No one could spectate. We had to get our hands dirty, which we didn’t do in the first two games.”

“They played great fourth quarters and beat us and they held us under our averages offensively,” James said of their two previous losses against the Bukcs.

“So we made a conscious effort to try to get to our game. Like we played last night, we wanted to try to do the same thing tonight and we did that,” he added.

The Bucks shot 39% from the field and were nine-of-23 from beyond the arc. Carlos Delfino led Milwaukee with 24 points, while Jennings finished with 12 points, only four of which came after the opening period.

Sixers, Magic win

The Philadelphia 76ers sent the Charlotte Bobcats to their 15th consecutive loss, the worst losing streak in franchise history.

Lou Williams led all scorers with 23 points and Thaddeus Young added 20 to make up for Andre Iguodala’s off scoring night.

Iguodala had only three points and was one-of-six from the field, though he did have a team-high nine assists.

In Orlando, Dwight Howard lost his rebounding battle against Kevin Love but the Magic defeated Love’s Minnesota Timberwolves, 102-89.

Howard struggled with foul trouble and finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, only the fifth time this season that he failed to collect at least 10 boards in a game.

Meanwhile, Love led the Wolves with 19 points and 15 boards.

But Minnesota could not stop Orlando from beyond the arc as the Magic made 12-of-30 three-pointers, including back-to-back threes from JJ Redick and Jameer Nelson midway through the fourth period that gave them a 96-82 lead.

“We are not being as aggressive as we were,” Minnesota point guard Ricky Rubio said. “We expect things to come, and we have to fight for them. We’re waiting for the last quarter; we have to punch first.”

The Timberwolves have lost four straight games.