They got them in beating the Detroit Lions 24-20 Sunday in an NFC wild-card game – along with a key reversal on a pass interference penalty.

Tony Romo threw two touchdown passes to Terrance Williams, the second for 8 yards for the winning points with 2:32 to go. That brought the Cowboys (12-5) back from a 14-point deficit.

”You just have to stay in the moment and understand the game,” Romo said. ”It doesn’t end after the first quarter, second quarter. There’s a long way to go and it wasn’t going well, but usually things dissipate a little bit; it’s not quite as crazy as it is early. You just have to keep calm. I’ve played enough games to understand that.”

Next is a trip to Green Bay, their first visit there in the postseason since the Ice Bowl loss to the Packers in 1967.

The Lions (11-6) went 99 yards for one of two first-quarter touchdowns. They had the ball and a three-point lead in the final period when officials reversed without an explanation a pass interference penalty against Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens.

That led to a fourth-and-1 and Detroit punted. But Sam Martin’s kick went only 10 yards, and Dallas headed the other way to the decisive TD.

Indianapolis beat Cincinnati 26-10 in Sunday’s other game. The Colts head to Denver next Sunday.

On Saturday, Baltimore beat Pittsburgh 30-17 and will play at New England next Saturday. In the first game of the weekend, Carolina downed Arizona 27-16 and will head to Seattle for a meeting next Saturday night with the defending Super Bowl champions.

Colts 26, Bengals 10

With the Bengals as their opposition, the Colts didn’t need to be great. It’s the playoffs, after all, and Cincinnati simply doesn’t win in the postseason.

Andrew Luck threw for 376 yards and one touchdown, Daniel ”Boom” Herron ran for another score, and Indianapolis dominated the second half. The Colts made a fair share of mistakes, but nothing like the Bengals (10-6-1), who became the first team in NFL history to lose four consecutive opening-round playoff games.

They also are 0-6 in the postseason under coach Marvin Lewis, 0-4 with Andy Dalton at quarterback.

”In the big moments, the guys that are our big guys have to make the plays,” veteran left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. ”You see it every week. You look at the teams that win, their top guys make the plays that get them where they’ve got to go. It’ll be no different here. When we get in those situations, our big players have to make huge plays.”

When the Colts (12-5) head to AFC West winner Denver (12-4), Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning gets another shot at his former team and the QB who replaced him.

”On to next week,” Luck said. ”It’s the playoffs. There’s a difference. You’ve got to move on; you’ve got to keep that journey alive.”

All-Pro Adam Vinatieri made four field goals for AFC South champ Indianapolis.

SATURDAY

Ravens 30, Steelers 17

Joe Flacco continued his impressive postseason performances, throwing for two second-half touchdowns to beat the Ravens’ bitter AFC North rival. The Ravens (11-6) won in Pittsburgh for the first time in the postseason; Pittsburgh had been 9-0 in third games of a season against the same opponent.

The Ravens are 7-4 on the road in the postseason since John Harbaugh took over as coach in 2008 and Flacco was drafted.

”We’ve been on the road a lot in the playoffs,” Harbaugh said. ”Maybe that’s it.”

Now, it’s on to New England (12-4).

”Bring `em on,” linebacker Pernell McPhee said. ”We’re going to work hard in practice this coming week and go up there and play our best game. We’re going to play Ravens football. And with a great game plan, I know we’ll be ready for anything.”

Panthers 27, Cardinals 16

Just the second team with a losing record to win a division title, the Panthers (8-8-1) took their fifth straight game by ending Arizona’s season. It was Carolina’s first playoff win in nine years.

The defense held the Cardinals (11-6) and third-string quarterback Ryan Lindley to 78 yards, the fewest in NFL playoff history.

”We know who we are – menacing, stifling and we are going to get after you,” cornerback Josh Norman said. ”We know when there is blood in the water and when there is, our sharks are going to eat.”

They might not find such a meaty opponent next week when the AFC South champs travel to Seattle.

—

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

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Boston’s leading goal scorer during the regular season scored his first of the postseason with 4:20 left in the first overtime and the Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night in the first playoff game in 40 years between the Original Six teams.

“It’s always frustrating” not to score, Marchand said, “but there’s so many other areas of the game. It’s always nice to get the first one and you hope you just keep going.”

The win was Boston’s third straight in overtime, and New York’s third straight loss in extra time.

“I thought it was pretty even going into the overtime,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “But we got spanked in the overtime.”

Both teams advanced with Game 7 victories Monday night. The Rangers beat the Washington Capitals 5-0 behind Henrik Lundqvist’s second consecutive shutout. The Bruins overcame a three-goal deficit with 11 minutes left in regulation and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Patrice Bergeron’s goal in overtime.

“I really thought our guys turned the page on that historical game,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said.

Marchand scored on a pass from Bergeron. Marchand had carried the puck up the right side, passed it to Bergeron and kept going toward the net. Bergeron passed across the slot and Marchand tipped it past Lundqvist from the left side of the crease.

“I told Marchand when we were pretty close to each other on the wall to go backdoor,” Bergeron said. “It was good to see him score because I thought he had some pretty good looks tonight.”

Boston outshot New York 16-5 in overtime.

“I kind of knew he was coming in the middle, but I was just too locked in on the puck,” Lundqvist said. “Sooner or later when you face a lot of chances like that, you’re going to make a mistake.”

The Bruins carried the play throughout overtime. They applied constant pressure, but couldn’t score during a power play when Derek Dorsett was penalized for interference at 2:20 of overtime.

Boston nearly won in regulation, but Johnny Boychuk’s shot from the right point clanged off the left post with one-tenth of a second remaining. Then he hit the left post at the other end of the ice at 6:34 of overtime.

Zdeno Chara gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 12:23 of the second before Ryan McDonagh tied it with 1.3 seconds left in the period. Derek Stepan put the Rangers ahead 2-1 just 14 seconds into the third period, and Torey Krug tied it on a power play with his first NHL goal in four career games.

“For his first goal, he couldn’t have asked for better timing,” Julien said.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals is Sunday night in Boston.

On Thursday, the Bruins played without three injured veteran defensemen: Andrew Ference, Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden. Three rookies started on defense: Dougie Hamilton, Matt Bartkowski and Krug, who was called up from Providence of the AHL after Seidenberg was hurt early in the first period Monday night.

The Bruins ended Lundqvist’s shutout streak at 152 minutes, 23 seconds when he gave up a Chara’s soft goal. Lundqvist appeared to have a good view of the 50-foot slap shot from just in front of the middle of the blue line and got a piece of the puck, but it trickled by him.

That lead nearly held up through the second period. But when Boychuk passed it from in front of his net to Tyler Seguin in the right circle, Rick Nash hit Sequin’s stick and the puck went to McDonagh at the left point.

McDonagh’s rising slap shot soared over the right arm of goalie Tuukka Rask. Stepan then made it 2-1 on a 30-foot shot from the slot through Rask’s legs, two goals in 15.3 seconds.

Krug tied the game with teammate David Krejci in front of the net trying to screen Lundqvist. The shot from just inside the top of the left circle went under Lundqvist’s left arm.

Then Marchand beat Lundqvist to win in the extra session.

“It was a tough overtime period for us. They came hard,” Lundqvist said. “My record is terrible in overtime, but I’ve just got to stick with it, play my game and hopefully it’ll turn around.”

Game notes

Stepan’s goal was the sixth against the Bruins in the first two minutes of a period in their eight playoff games. … The teams last met in the playoffs in 1973 when the Rangers won the first-round series in five games. The previous year, they faced each other in the Stanley Cup finals, and the Bruins won in six. … Both teams’ leading goal scorers in the regular season had no goals in eight playoff games heading in. New York’s Nash stretched that unwanted string to nine, but Marchand’s goal won the game. . … Boston’s Jaromir Jagr, a former Ranger, is the only player on either team who had been born the last time the teams met in the playoffs on April 10, 1973.

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Another effort like this will seal it.

James scored 27 points and the Heat nearly matched a franchise record for fewest points allowed in a playoff game, pounding the listless and short-handed Bulls 88-65 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“We worked for it,” Heat forward Chris Bosh said. “I never like to say that things are easy.”

The Heat sure made it look that way, though.

The 65 points allowed were only two more than the all-time postseason low for a Miami opponent, and it was easily the worst offensive performance by a Chicago team in the playoffs.

Never before had the Bulls scored fewer than 69 in a playoff game nor 10 or less in a quarter during the postseason, but both those marks fell on a night when they were dominated on both ends of the floor.

Miami led by 11 at the half and put this one away in the third quarter, outscoring Chicago 17-9 in the period.

Now the Heat will try to wrap up the series at home Wednesday night, taking what they hope will be the next step toward a second straight championship.

It’s hard to believe the Bulls won the series opener the way the past three games have gone.

Miami pounded Chicago in Game 2, coming away with its most lopsided playoff victory while handing the Bulls their worst ever postseason loss — and the Heat continued to roll from there.

James had his usual complete game, with eight assists and seven rebounds Monday.

Bosh finished with 14 points after scoring 20 and grabbing 19 rebounds in Game 3, and the Heat won again despite another quiet night from Dwyane Wade (six points), whose right knee was bothering him again. He appeared to land hard on it taking a fallaway jumper in the third quarter but was able to return to the game after getting re-taped.

“It’s frustrating at times, but you just try to do what you can,” Wade said.

Norris Cole also struggled with seven points after back-to-back 18-point performances, but the Heat had more than enough in this one.

They shot about 49 percent while the Bulls set a franchise playoff low at 25.7 percent. Chicago was particularly bad from the outside, going 2 for 17 from 3-point range.

The Bulls again were missing ailing Luol Deng and injured Kirk Hinrich (calf), and a team that kept finding ways to win despite being short-handed all season simply appeared to run out of steam, even though coach Tom Thibodeau rejected that idea.

“No,” he said. “I think the thing is they’re [Heat] a great team. We have to come out with great intensity — but we also have to make shots.”

There’s no denying the Bulls have been in a tough spot all season with Derrick Rose recovering from knee surgery and just about every other major player sidelined at some point. They’ve been hit particularly hard in the postseason, too.

“They’re in a tough situation,” James said. “They’ve had some injuries and illnesses and whatever’s going on. They don’t have their full roster, but that’s not for us to worry about. They beat a very good Brooklyn team [in the first round] without their full roster.”

Carlos Boozer had 14 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double in the postseason but was just 3-of-14 from the field. Jimmy Butler scored 12 and Joakim Noah grabbed nine rebounds, but it was a miserable night for Chicago — particularly Nate Robinson. With Cole and Mario Chalmers harassing him and the big men helping out, he missed all 12 of his shots and did not score.

He said he fell hard on his left shoulder on a pick-and-roll at one point, although he couldn’t remember exactly when, and had it wrapped in ice afterward. Then he took off the wrapping and threw it hard to the floor.

“Go back to the drawing board and figure it out,” he said.

Richard Hamilton scored 11 points in a rare postseason appearance, and the former All-Star guard made it clear afterward he’s not thrilled with his reduced role.

“Lot of stuff in life you don’t understand,” he said. “This [playoffs] is what I was brought here for. To not be able play and help my teammates, it’s hard, it’s rough. But I try to stay positive. I don’t try to rock the boat.”

Hamilton said he and Thibodeau have talked. Then, he reiterated, “It’s hard to understand.”

James scored 15 points and Bosh added 12 in the first half to help the Heat take a 44-33 lead at the break, but that doesn’t even come close to telling the complete story.

Consider this.

Miami shot less than 53 percent, with the Bulls at about 27 percent. Chicago was also 1 of 11 on 3-pointers, and the only conversion from long range came from Hamilton.

“We’re kind of putting screws and bandages everywhere. It’s frustrating,” Bulls forward Taj Gibson said. “Every night and every day.”

Game notes

The Heat and Bulls were well represented on the NBA’s all-defensive first team, with James and Noah being selected. … Thibodeau had nothing to say about the $35,000 fine from the league for comments he made about the officiating in Game 3. Asked if he was surprised by the amount, he said, “I’ve got no comment on that. We’re just getting ready for Game 4.” … Deng was listed as active after initially being ruled out for Chicago. Hinrich and Rose were inactive.

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That’s never an issue for Sidney Crosby, who followed the lead of his decidedly less-heralded teammates to establish a bit of order to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first-round series with the New York Islanders.

Vokoun stopped 31 shots in his first postseason appearance in six years, Kennedy broke a scoreless tie with a sizzling breakaway and Crosby delivered another magical goal in a career stuffed with them. The Penguins beat the Islanders 4-0 in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Kris Letang and Douglas Murray also scored for Pittsburgh, which finally looked like the team that rolled to the best record in the Eastern Conference during the regular season.

Game 6 is Saturday in New York. Another 60 minutes like the Penguins put together on Thursday and a Game 7 won’t be required.

“They played harder than us,” New York coach Jack Capuano said. “The better team won tonight. They deserved the hockey game.”

One the Penguins desperately needed after the Islanders evened the series 2-2 with a wild 6-4 victory in Game 4 that appeared to have the top seed reeling.

Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma grew so frustrated watching eighth-seeded New York overwhelm goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury that Bylsma benched the Stanley Cup winner — who had made 79 consecutive playoff starts — in favor of Vokoun, a 36-year-old journeyman who has never made it out of the first round of the postseason in his career.

Vokoun is three periods away now after shutting out the Islanders for the second time this season. Not bad for a guy starting his first playoff game since April 20, 2007, while playing for Nashville.

“I was a little bit nervous the whole day; you wouldn’t be human if you weren’t,” Vokoun said.

It didn’t look like it once the puck dropped. Vokoun didn’t budge when the Islanders dominated the first period, turning aside 14 shots in the first 20 minutes as the Penguins tried to gain their bearings with a new lineup designed to cut down New York’s speed advantage.

Though Bylsma’s biggest change was inserting Vokoun in place of Fleury, he also scratched defenseman Mark Eaton and forwards Jussi Jokinen and Tanner Glass in favor of younger, quicker skaters Simon Despres, Joe Vitale and Kennedy.

The moves paid off handsomely.

Kennedy, squeezed out of the rotation by the influx of veterans brought in at the trade deadline, gave the Penguins the confidence boost they needed 7:25 into the second period.

The play began innocently enough in Pittsburgh’s end before Letang hit Kennedy with a pinpoint 80-foot stretch pass right up the middle of the ice. Kennedy greedily accepted the puck at New York’s blue line, then flipped a wrist shot over Evgeni Nabokov’s glove to give Pittsburgh the lead.

The score seemed to rattle Nabokov. Murray loped in a lazy wrist shot from the point that Nabokov tried to glove only to have the puck slip out of his left hand, over his back and into the net.

There was nothing fluky about Crosby’s third goal of the series, a masterpiece that ranks among the more dazzling plays of his already highlight-heavy career.

The Pittsburgh captain, still wearing a cumbersome mask to protect his broken jaw, took a pass from teammate Jarome Iginla at center ice, then effortlessly split New York defenders Lubomir Visnovsky and Thomas Hickey. Crosby crossed the blue line and poked the puck ahead as the defensemen closed in, lifting his stick before stepping through a pair of flailing poke checks.

Nabokov didn’t have a chance as the wrist shot zipped over the goaltender’s stick to push the lead to 3-0.

There’s a statue outside Consol Energy Center commemorating a similar goal by Hall of Famer and team co-owner Mario Lemieux. The bronze sculpture shows Lemieux slicing through two Islanders defenders in 1988 on his way to the net.

Crosby downplayed any similarities.

“His was much nicer than mine,” Crosby said. “He went through guys and stickhandled through them and stickhandled around the goalie, too. I had a few less moves and a pretty basic shot, but I’ll take the goal anytime it goes in.”

The Islanders never recovered. While they kept Vokoun busy, he was rarely outnumbered as Pittsburgh cut down on the turnovers that led to a seemingly endless flurry of odd-man rushes by the Islanders in Games 2-4.

“We didn’t do a great job of helping Marc out,” Crosby said. “We wanted to make sure we did a better job in front of our goalie.”

When New York did manage to get deep, Vokoun didn’t falter and neither did the guys in front of him as the Penguins were able to develop a consistent rhythm for the first time since a 5-0 romp in Game 1.

Nabokov never located one and found himself on the bench when Letang scored on the power play 5:43 into the third period. Nabokov finished with 23 saves but spent the final 14:17 watching backup Kevin Poulin kept the Penguins off the board. The Islanders will get a chance to regroup at home on Saturday in their bid to win a playoff series for the first time in 20 years.

At least Game 5 is over. New York hasn’t won a Game 5 of any playoff series since 1988.

“For us it’s two Game 7s right now starting on Saturday,” New York defenseman Mark Streit said. “We’ve just got to concentrate on our game, what brought us in this situation and what makes us successful. We know we have it in the room. We’re a confident group.”

Game notes
New York played without D Andrew MacDonald, who is dealing with an upper-body injury. The Islanders also scratched F Marty Reasoner and D Matt Carkner among others … Kennedy’s goal was his sixth winning goal in the postseason, sixth most in Pittsburgh history.

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Better to let them learn how to survive playoff pressure on their own, Babcock thought.

With help from an ill-timed penalty by Anaheim’s Sheldon Souray, the Red Wings figured it out and evened the series.

Gustav Nyquist scored a power-play goal at 1:21 of overtime, giving Detroit a 5-4 victory in Game 2 on Thursday night.

Johan Franzen scored two goals, and Damien Brunner had his first Stanley Cup playoff goal and two assists for the Red Wings, who survived their third-period collapse with a timely goal from Nyquist.

“We knew we had to get back to playing hard in the overtime, and we did,” Nyquist said. “We knew the playoffs were on the line.”

Game 3 is Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena.

Bobby Ryan scored the tying goal with 2:22 left in regulation for the Ducks, who also got goals from captain Ryan Getzlaf and Kyle Palmieri while erasing Detroit’s 4-1 lead with a phenomenal surge in the final minutes.

But Souray took a slashing penalty in front of his net with 38 seconds left in regulation after an exchange with Justin Abdelkader, and Nyquist was left unchecked in the left faceoff circle for his goal with just 2 seconds remaining on the power play. The 23-year-old Swede from the University of Maine was in his sixth career playoff game.

“I think it’s a great learning experience,” Babcock said. “You’ve got the win, and you stop playing. … You’re not settling them down, you’re putting gas on the fire. What are you going to do about it? You’re hoping your big guys are going to go out there and make a play.”

Ducks fans loudly booed the call against Souray, who joined Anaheim this season after a well-traveled career. He has been among the Ducks’ best defensemen with his booming slap shot and physical two-way play.

“I didn’t really see anything,” Souray said of the final penalty. “It was a tough call. Tough way to end it. We battled back hard. We didn’t start the game and periods as hard as they did, and they capitalized on that.”

Jimmy Howard made 28 saves for Detroit, which silenced the Anaheim crowd with two goals in the first 4:20 of the Red Wings’ third victory in four appearances at Honda Center this season. Abdelkader scored in the opening minute, and Pavel Datsyuk had two assists.

But the Red Wings also lost rookie defenseman Danny DeKeyser for the season with a broken thumb.

“He’s done,” Babcock said of DeKeyser, who played a standout game before apparently getting hurt in the third period.

Jonas Hiller stopped 27 shots and Saku Koivu scored for the second-seeded Ducks, who struggled through the first two periods before rallying in the hair-raising third. Ryan and Palmieri each had a goal and an assist in the third, and Koivu added an assist.

“When you do come back to tie it, and (then) lose it, (it’s) a little more disappointing,” Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I was hoping it would get done before overtime, because I knew they would gain their composure again, because the last 10 minutes (of regulation), they lost it. They were fortunate starting (overtime) on the power play, and that was it.”

Until the final period, Detroit had bounced back impressively from the Ducks’ 3-1 series-opening victory. Babcock put veteran Todd Bertuzzi in his lineup for the first time since Feb. 7, replacing Jordin Tootoo, but otherwise kept the same lineup — and the Wings responded with all the poise expected from a team with 22 straight playoff appearances.

While the Wings executed, the Ducks struggled until their electric third-period rally. Game 1 hero Teemu Selanne made an egregious turnover leading to Brunner’s goal, and Getzlaf passed up a breakaway shot in the third period for an ill-advised pass on a play that exemplified the Ducks’ struggles.

But the Ducks rallied when Getzlaf scored on a shot with his back to the net with 12:10 to play. Palmieri then scored his first career playoff goal moments after a power play ended, firing a short shot that Howard missed with his glove with 7:29 left.

Ryan nearly scored with 5 1/2 minutes to play, but his deflection in front just caught the outside post. He didn’t miss on his next chance when Cam Fowler found him driving to the net with a perfect pass for a quick shot past Howard, setting off a deafening celebration.

“I think we finally settled into a pretty good rhythm there,” Ryan said. “We didn’t do enough, though. … We gave them second and third chances to come up with the puck, and they’re a team that capitalizes.”

The Ducks attracted another large, towel-waving crowd to Honda Center after the festive atmosphere in their opener. But many fans weren’t yet in their seats when Abdelkader found space near the blue line and beat Hiller with a deceptive wrist shot just 48 seconds into the game.

Game notes

The 38-year-old Bertuzzi missed nearly three months with back pain and nerve problems affecting his right leg, even forcing him to walk with a cane at times. … The Ducks have won the series all nine times in club history after winning the first game. … Babcock considered putting veteran Mikael Samuelsson back into the lineup but held off. The member of the “Triple Gold Club” — an Olympic gold medal, a world championship and a Stanley Cup title — missed 41 games this season with injuries but is healthy again.

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Not their shots.

Not their injured All-Star.

Stephen Curry had 30 points and 13 assists, and the scrappy Warriors handed the Denver Nuggets their first loss at home in more than three months, a 131-117 stunner that evened their playoff series at a game each.

Rallying around injured David Lee, who cheered from the bench in street clothes, the Warriors got 26 points from surprise starter Jarrett Jack, a career-high 24 from rookie Harrison Barnes in his debut at power forward and 21 from Klay Thompson.

The sixth-seeded Warriors, who became the second road team to win in this postseason following Chicago’s victory at Brooklyn on Monday, wrested home-court advantage in the series from the NBA’s best home team. The series shifts to Oakland for Game 3 on Friday night.

“They were knocking down shots,” Denver’s Andre Iguodala said in an understatement.

Better than they ever had before in a playoff game, with a franchise playoff-record 64.6 percent (51-of-79) from the field.

“We are a very good shooting basketball team,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. “We’ve got guys that can knock down shots. You talk about Klay Thompson and Steph Curry, in my opinion, they’re the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game.”

The third-seeded Nuggets were an NBA-best 38-3 at home during the regular season but needed Andre Miller’s last-second shot to beat Golden State by a basket in the opener and extend their franchise-best winning streak to 24 games.

With Golden State losing Lee to a torn hip flexor and the Nuggets getting top rebounder and energizer Kenneth Faried back from a sprained ankle, this one looked like a mismatch, even Curry acknowledged.

And it was, but not the way the Pepsi Center crowd anticipated.

“We’re a resilient team, said that all year. When guys go down, other guys step up,” said Curry, who played despite a tender left ankle after turning it late in the third quarter. “We showed that tonight. Big road win for us. We’ve got to go home and protect our home court.”

Even without their All-Star, the Warriors outrebounded the Nuggets 36-26.

“We didn’t do much of anything very well,” Nuggets coach George Karl lamented. “I don’t think I ever coached a game when a team got three 35-point quarters, maybe in my career. Ever.”

The best anybody shot against Denver during the season was 54 percent, by the Los Angeles Lakers way back on Nov. 20, and the most points the Nuggets had allowed was 126 at San Antonio on Nov. 17.

Ty Lawson and Corey Brewer each scored 19 points for Denver, and Iguodala and Miller each had 18, but the Nuggets were playing catch-up from the middle of the second quarter and couldn’t keep up with so many of the Warriors’ shots falling, negating Denver’s league-best transition game.

Lee led the league with 56 double-doubles and had another before getting hurt in the fourth quarter of the series opener Saturday. The Warriors were 3-18 without him over the past three seasons, but Jackson mixed and matched his lineup to make up for his All-Star’s absence on this night, when Lee gave advice to his teammates during timeouts.

The Nuggets were hoping Faried’s return would help reverse their 10-point disadvantage on the boards in Game 1. But he was rusty, and the same problems that plagued Denver in the opener — missing too many open shots, getting outmuscled on the glass and giving up open 3-pointers — haunted the Nuggets once again and even more so.

Curry scored 15 points in the second quarter and hit four jumpers during a 14-5 run the Warriors used to grab control and take the air out of the Pepsi Center as they cruised into halftime with a 61-53 lead that would never be threatened in the second half.

Curry swished another sweet jumper to start the third quarter, and the Warriors opened up a 17-point lead they would stretch to 20 in the fourth quarter.

“The game plan tonight was to keep the ball out of Stephen Curry’s hands, but he came off [the pick-and-rolls] and had open looks and then he started finding people,” Lawson said. “After that, we started scrambling, and we can’t play like that.”

The Nuggets pulled within 76-69, but Thompson hit a 3-pointer from the right corner and Curry a 3 from the left to make it 82-69. Both were wide open, as Denver’s mismatched defenders were again running ragged trying to keep up with the Warriors, who handled the altitude just fine.

Denver got its deficit down to 115-105, but this time it was Jack’s turn to make a wide-open 3 with the Nuggets’ defenders scrambling around.

Faried finished with four points and two rebounds in 21 minutes.

The arena was half-empty by the time the horn sounded, a solitary fan yelling derisively, “Tacos!” when Evan Fournier’s free throw fell through the hoop to give the Nuggets 110 points, the magic number for a promotion in which fans get discounted tacos.

Game notes

The Warriors shot a sizzling 61 percent in the first half, when they outrebounded the Nuggets 21-14. … The Nuggets’ previous loss at home was 112-108 to the Washington Wizards on Jan. 18. … Denver had just eight fast-break points, compared to Golden State’s 14. … Curry’s 30-10 playoff game was the first for the franchise since Sleepy Floyd on May 10, 1987.

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Like a good teammate, Dwyane Wade swooped in for the saving tip, preserving the lead and keeping the Heat’s amazing win streak rolling.

James scored 27 points and the Heat became the fourth team to win at least 20 consecutive games in a season, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 98-94 on Wednesday night.

Against a struggling Sixers team that was revved up like a playoff game, the Heat just found a way to win.

And when it was done, they took the time to admire their mark.

“Twenty is special,” Wade said. “Win 20 games in a row, it’s awesome. You can’t get around it. We’re going to try to go for the next one.”

Wade scored 21 as the Heat needed big baskets in the final 2 minutes to top the Sixers for the milestone win. He stuck with the ball on James’ misses and scored the clutch tip that made it a three-point lead with 29 seconds left and squashed the Sixers’ upset bid.

“It shows you he, like many of our guys, are just willing to make winning plays at the end,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Only three teams have won at least 20 consecutive games in the same season: the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (33), the 2007-08 Houston Rockets (22) and the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (20). The Washington Capitols also won 20 straight, spanning the end of the 1947-48 season and the start of the 1948-49 campaign.

James and the Heat have started to acknowledge just how special this winning streak is in a season that has them running away with the Eastern Conference.

They opened a five-game road trip as 8½-point favorites over the slumping Sixers, a team they’ve defeated three times during the streak. They beat Atlanta on Tuesday for streak win No. 19, then made the flight to Philadelphia that put them in just before dawn.

“You get sleep when you can and do your job,” center Chris Bosh said.

Maybe fatigue played a bit of a role in Miami’s inability to truly put away the Sixers. Led by Thaddeus Young, the Sixers opened the third quarter on a 16-8 run that helped slice the lead to four. Miami led 71-66 at the end of the quarter.

The Sixers hung around in the fourth, too. Dorell Wright hit a 3-pointer to make it a six-point game and he followed with a steal and fast-break dunk to cut it 82-78. Sixers fans coming to see a slice of history were suddenly rooting for history denied. Philadelphia’s fans started going wild to the “make some noise” sign on the video board and started singing the catchy anthem, “1-2-3-4-5-Sixers!”

Jrue Holiday brought them back with a 3-pointer for an 83-82 lead with 5:26 left and had fans chanting, “Beat the Heat!”

Ray Allen silenced them with a big 3 in front of the Sixers’ bench for an 89-86 lead. Bosh scored to make it 91-89.

It wasn’t enough, at least not yet. Holiday, the All-Star point guard, showed no fear of the moment when he dunked on a leaping James for the tying bucket.

James came right back made one of two free throws for a 92-91 lead. Holiday dribbled the ball into Bosh’s leg, then off his own foot, leading to Wade’s tip after James missed twice at the rim. James drove from beyond the arc and missed from the right side, he put up his own rebound off the back of the rim, and Wade slid in underneath two Sixers defenders for the bucket.

“I miss two gimmes and D-Wade was able to tip ’em home,” James said. “It was just great of him not giving up on the play and putting us up.”

The Heat escaped with a scare — and No. 20.

“When you have a streak like this, you have to have some luck,” James said.

Unless they wear down, there’s no reason to think the Heat can’t keep the streak going toward 33. The rest of the road trip includes games at Milwaukee, Toronto, Boston and Cleveland.

“We just think about winning the next game and we’ll see where it takes us,” James said.

Young had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Sixers. Holiday had 21 points and Evan Turner scored 15.

“At the end, we just couldn’t come up with that one rebound,” coach Doug Collins said. “I thought we executed, got some shots at the end, and just couldn’t quite find a way to get over the top.”

Fans in Heat jerseys dotted the arena and dozens packed the baseline three rows deep snapping pictures of Miami’s pregame drills. James wowed them with some around-the-back reverses that served as a sneak peek for what was ahead.

James, the reigning MVP, turned the second quarter into his own dunk contest. It helped that he didn’t have any competition.

With flair, James threw down thunderous dunks about every time he touched the ball. His best came on a reverse he brought between the legs that had the sellout crowd of 20,398 “Oooohhhh!” in amazement. His dunk capped a 17-2 run that put the Heat up 10 and helped them cruise toward a 51-39 halftime lead.

But the first half wasn’t all about James’ dazzling dunks. The Heat had 14 assists on 19 baskets and Shane Battier came off the bench to hit a pair of lead-stretching 3-pointers. It’s the kind of teamwork that has the Heat rolling.

“You have to have a unique group that are willing to sacrifice, a unique group willing to keep perspective of what we’re playing for and not get caught up in all the noise outside,” Spoelstra said. “There are so many distractions, not only in this league, but everyday life.”

Spoelstra could talk to Heat president Pat Riley on how to handle the distractions that come with a record winning streak. Riley played for the Lakers team that won 33 straight games. But while the two talk daily, Spoelstra said Miami’s streak hasn’t been discussed. Not once.

Thanks to a fantastic finish, they’ll have another day to bring it up.

Game notes
New Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly had a lengthy chat outside the locker room with Spoelstra before the game. Kelly had previously made a pregame visit with Collins. … The Heat have beat the 76ers 14 straight times. … The Heat missed 15-of-20 3-pointers.

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Tebow tweeted Thursday that he canceled a scheduled April 28 appearance at First Baptist Church due to “new information that has been brought to my attention.”

“I will continue to use the platform God has blessed me with to bring Faith, Hope and Love to all those needing a brighter day,” Tebow wrote.

The Rev. Robert Jeffress, First Baptist’s pastor, confirmed in a phone interview that Tebow called him Wednesday night to cancel.

Jeffress said Tebow told him he would like to speak at First Baptist at some point, but “he needed to avoid controversy right now for personal and professional reasons.”

Jeffress has preached that gay sex is sinful, Mormonism is a cult and Islam promotes violence and pedophilia. He said Thursday that First Baptist was being mischaracterized as a “hate church,” and that the church’s teachings were consistent with historic Christian beliefs.

Tebow wasn’t going to speak about anything controversial, Jeffress said.

“We had planned for him to speak very positively about the difference Jesus Christ had made in his life,” Jeffress said.

Tebow won two BCS championships and the Heisman Trophy at Florida, but he has struggled to make it in the NFL. He barely played last season after the Jets traded for him from the Denver Broncos, where he started much of the season in 2011 and won a playoff game.

Tebow is a devout Christian who has built a large following through his faith. He has addressed church audiences before. Last year, he spoke to about 15,000 people gathered at an outdoor Easter service north of Austin.

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Gonzalez said late in the season he was 95 percent sure he would retire. He even moved that figure up to 97 percent after the Falcons won a playoff game against Seattle. After losing the NFC Championship Game to San Francisco, Gonzalez said he still intended to retire.

Dimitroff, who has been lobbying hard for Gonzalez to return for an 18th season, thinks Gonzalez’s chances of being back are a lot better than the veteran is letting on.

“Tony has done so much for us on and off the field, and I don’t believe, not stating that he would be lying to anyone, but I don’t believe the 95 percent,” Dimitroff said on “Pro Football Talk” on NBC Sports Network. “I want to believe it’s a lot closer to 50-50, to be honest with you, and we’ve had discussions.

“Obviously (Falcons coach) Mike Smith has had discussions with him. We’re all in a good place. Ultimately it’s up to Tony to decide if he wants to come back and potentially catch 100 balls again. I think it’s one of those situations that Tony was so effective for us down the stretch, and I can’t imagine that his appetite wasn’t sort of whet from his contributions in the playoffs.”

During Super Bowl week in New Orleans, Dimitroff said there was no firm timetable for Gonzalez to make a decision.

“We don’t have a deadline at all,” Dimitroff said. “But let’s face it that it’s important for us to know sooner rather than later because we have to move forward on all our decision-making.”

A 13-time Pro Bowler who will turn 38 years old on Feb. 27, Gonzalez holds NFL records for touchdown receptions (107) and reception yards (14,268) by a tight end. He had 93 catches for 930 yards and eight touchdowns last season.

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Agent Joe Linta, when asked in an interview with CNBC whether Flacco should be the highest-paid quarterback, simply responded, “Yes.”

Flacco, 28, is younger than Peyton Manning ($18 million) and Drew Brees ($20 million), and, as of Sunday, has as many Super Bowl titles as each of them. Linta said those are the numbers that matter.

“When you do a contract of this magnitude, you look at what is the player’s body of work presently,” Linta told CNBC. “And what are the expectations going forward over the next four, five or six years.

“Joe wins on both accounts.”

Flacco passed for 1,140 yards, 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions in the Ravens’ four-game postseason run, which ended Sunday with a 34-31 win against the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.

Flacco was selected by the Ravens in the first round of the 2008 draft and this season became the only quarterback to win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons.

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