A mixed bag of San Antonio Spurs bench warmers almost handed the defending NBA champion Miami Heat their first home loss of the season in a matchup that had been billed as a preview of the NBA finals on Friday.

The Heat appeared to be headed for a humiliating loss but they survived the mighty scare to beat the Spurs 105-100 behind a 20-8 closing run and 23 points from LeBron James at AmericanAirlines Arena.

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich did not have his top five scorers for their final game of their six-game road trip. That meant no Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili or Tim Duncan, all of whom stayed home to rest.

The matchup had been highly anticipated as one between two of the NBA's elite teams before Popovich decided to leave his stars at home.

NBA commissioner David Stern was upset with the move and said San Antonio would face "substantial sanctions" for resting so many star players at once.

"I apologize to all NBA fans," Stern said in a statement. "This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming."

Ray Allen hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 22.6 seconds left as the Heat came through over the short-handed Spurs.

Allen scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, while James finished with nine rebounds and seven assists to lead the Heat to their fifth consecutive win. Miami needed a 12-2 run over the final two minutes.

Dwyane Wade added 19 points and Chris Bosh finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat, who improved to 7-0 at home.

Miami Heat has also won 11 in a row at AmericanAirlines Arena dating back to last year's postseason.

Gary Neal had 20 points and Tiago Splitter finished with 18 for San Antonio.

Starting guard Danny Green was also held out for the Spurs, who had won the first five games of their six-game road swing.

The Golden State Warriors had to survive a video review after the final buzzer on Friday but prevailed 106-105 in a thriller against the Denver Nuggets in Oakland.

Denver forward Andre Iguodala's three-point shot at the end hit nothing but net, but upon review the ball failed to leave his hand before the buzzer and the basket was waved off, leaving the Warriors with the win.

The Golden State Warriors improved to 9-6 on the year, moving back into a tie for the Pacific division lead, thanks mainly to David Lee's game high 31 points and nine rebounds.

Klay Thompson added 21 points and Stephen Curry 20 in a see-sawing contest where the Warriors led by as many as 12 but also trailed by 16 at one point.

"It was an unbelievable victory and everyone played their part," Lee told reporters.

"We had an up and down game, it usually is between these two teams, we were double overtime last time in this building and now we have a similar game tonight so I'm just happy we came through.

"Our team top to bottom has had a will to win all season. We've had injuries, we've had distractions, but at the end of the day we came out and wanted to get victory more than the other team."

Agencies - Global Times