Heat 104, Bulls 94: LeBron James scored 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and Chris Bosh had 20 points and 19 rebounds as visiting Miami downed Chicago to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals.

Reserve Norris Cole chipped in 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Heat, who again defeated a Chicago team missing starters Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich. Game 4 is Monday in Chicago.

Carlos Boozer scored 21 points and Jimmy Butler and Nate Robinson tallied 17 apiece for the Bulls in what was another physical game. Chicago’s Nazr Mohammed was ejected with 9:29 left in the first half after shoving James to the floor.

Miami was nursing an 85-83 lead prior to Cole’s surge-starting basket with 4:01 to play. Chicago was within four after Marco Belinelli’s 3-pointer with three minutes left but James and Cole hit 3-pointers and James converted a key three-point play as the Heat took a 99-90 lead with 1:23 to go and cruised to the finish.

Chicago had a 37-30 lead with 8:03 left in the first half but Miami rallied for a 52-50 edge at the break. The contest was tied at 70 entering the final 12 minutes.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Deng (illness) has missed five straight games and Hinrich (calf) has sat out the last six. … Cole is 16-of-20 shooting in the series and has knocked down all eight of his 3-point attempts. … Bulls F Taj Gibson was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Friday for his tirade at a referee in Game 2.