MIAMI, March 8 (Ticker) -- Rookies Junior Harrington and Nene Hilario helped end the Denver Nuggets' run of futility.

Harrington scored a season-high 19 points and Hilario added 16 on 8-of-10 shooting and four steals as the Nuggets halted their 14-game losing streak with a 98-92 triumph over the Miami Heat.

Denver also put an end to its 16-game road slide, winning for the first time in the last eight trips to Miami.

"It feels good to finally get a win," Harrington said. "Hopefully, we can start the good kind of streak tomorrow night (at Orlando)."

In a meeting of the NBA's worst offensive teams, Harrington and Hilario collected eight points apiece in the third quarter as the Nuggets put together an 18-6 run.

"In a lot of those (games) during that streak, we really played hard but couldn't get it done," Hilario said through an interpreter. "There was a lot of frustration. ... It was difficult to accept defeats all those nights, and tonight would have been no different. But we managed to pull it out."

Harrington capped the surge with a jumper to give Denver its biggest lead of the game, 58-49.

"I felt confident coming out in the third quarter and was getting some good drives to the basket," Harrington said. "I felt it helped us turn the momentum our way at that point. But even then, we had to battle right to the end."

Rookie Rasual Butler paced Miami with 22 points, but the Heat lost for the ninth time in 11 games.

"The game turned from a confidence standpoint in the third quarter," Miami coach Pat Riley said. "They started running more in the third quarter and that opened up the lead. We got back in it, but in the end they just wanted it more."

The Nuggets were trailing by a point when rookie Vincent Yarbrough nailed a 3-pointer with 2:35 left to spark an 8-0 burst and put them ahead for good, 89-87.

"I hadn't been hitting my shots tonight or playing well, for that matter, until that point," Yarbrough said. "I'm glad I was able to contribute at such a clutch point in the game. It's a good feeling to finally get the `W.'"

Donnell Harvey made a pair of free throws before Hilario converted a layup with 74 seconds remaining to increase Denver's advantage to 93-87.

Harrington made 1-of-2 from the line to cap the run and open a seven-point cushion with 37 seconds to go.

Miami's disappointing defeat came a night after perhaps its best performance of the season against the NBA's top team, a 91-89 loss to Dallas.

"We played hard last night but didn't seem to have the same adrenaline flowing tonight," Heat forward Brian Grant said. "We did have some good spurts but couldn't put them away. Anytime you let a team stay in the game, things like that can happen."