"Memo to Miami Heat operations department: Next time use more force with the NBA office to schedule LeBron James' birthday as a home game.

The AmericanAirlines Arena crowd deserves better than being deprived of such theatrics.

Once again offering his birthday best, this time on the day he turned 27, James helped the Heat overcome a gimpy Dwyane Wade and shaky foul shooting to match the franchise's best-ever start at 4-0, with a 103-101 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.

"They gave us everything we could handle," said coach Erik Spoelstra, who actually might have been the Heat's star of the game for the play he drew up for a sidelines out-of-bounds set with 6 seconds to play, a play that resulted in a James pass to the rim for a Wade layup that closed out the scoring.

"This," Spoelstra said of a second-consecutive last-seconds victory, "is a residual of last year, of going through so many of those heartbreaking end-of-game situations."

Entering averaging 35.3 points on his birthday, James this time burst out with 15 first-quarter points and closed with 34. Just about all were needed in the midst of a series of 3-point daggers from a Timberwolves team seeking its first victory of the season.

While this hardly was frosting on the cake for James, considering he entered averaging 32.7 points for the season, it was a reminder of what a motivated James is capable of.

"A terrific start to the season," Spoelstra said of his star forward.

It was necessary brilliance, with Wade nearly missing the game due to the bruised left foot sustained in Wednesday's one-point victory in Charlotte. Wade closed with 19 points on 8-of-19 shooting."