Heat remains perfect, beating Washington for sixth straight win

Dwyane Wade led Miami to a 108-102 victory and a 2-0 series lead.
MIAMI (AP) -- Shaquille O'Neal wasn't at his best. Again, it didn't matter -- Dwyane Wade saw to that.
Wade controlled the game Tuesday night with 31 points, including a critical three-point play with 1:05 left, and added a career-high 15 assists, helping the Miami Heat stay perfect in these playoffs with a 108-102 win over the Washington Wizards.
Miami leads the Eastern Conference semifinal series 2-0. Thursday's Game 3 is at Washington, where the Heat have won 11 times in its last 14 tries.
"It's kind of like pick your poison," Wade said. "You can either let me shoot or you can give somebody a layup. And tonight they came up on me, so some other guys got layups."
Other Heat scorers
Eddie Jones had 13 of his 21 points in the first quarter for Miami. O'Neal scored 16 points, Damon Jones had 14 and Udonis Haslem had a 14-point, 13-rebound effort for Miami.
Antawn Jamison, playing with tendinitis in his right knee, had a playoff career-high 32 points for Washington. Gilbert Arenas added 28 for the Wizards, but the third member of their high-scoring trio, Larry Hughes, missed his first 11 shots and finished with 15 points on 5-for-17 shooting.
"We have ourselves a chance," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "And I would think that if we play that hard, maybe a little bit better, then we'll have a chance in our place the next two games."
Wade continued his brilliant postseason run by making 10 of 15 shots and grabbing seven rebounds. In the first three quarters, Miami had 29 baskets, 22 either made by Wade or set up by his passes.
And the Heat needed him to be especially sharp because the Wizards simply wouldn't go away.
Wizards kept game close
Jamison hit a floater from 12 feet with 1:24 left to bring Washington within five, but Wade answered with a three-point play 19 seconds later. He drove past Arenas, darted left, drew contact from Jamison, changed hands with the ball and scored. The free throw gave Miami a 105-97 lead -- and the Heat escaped.
"We didn't really have a lot go our way, other than Dwyane had a magnificent performance and Eddie had a fabulous first quarter," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But we were able to get a win."
Not including a buzzer-beating try to end the first quarter from halfcourt that barely missed, bouncing just off the front of the rim, Wade made his first six shots.
His first conventional miss came with 1:08 left in the half, but he atoned for it seconds later, stripping Juan Dixon of the ball and driving for a dunk that put Miami, 6-0 this postseason, ahead 54-45.
Set up teammates
Even more impressive than his shooting, though, was the way Wade set up teammates. He had assists on five of Miami's first six baskets, had six setups in the first quarter and nine by halftime -- two more than the entire Wizards roster had combined, and matching Washington's total output in Game 1.
"Wade set those guys up," Hughes said. "They were able to get open looks, get layups and get to the free throw line."
The game resembled the series opener during the first half, with Miami shooting substantially better than Washington (60.6 percent for the Heat, 39.1 percent for the Wizards), yet the period ended with the Heat holding just a seven-point lead because the Wizards found other ways to stay close.
Wizards played well
Washington had an 11-1 edge in offensive rebounds in the half, leading to an 8-0 margin in second-chance points. The Wizards forced eight turnovers in the first 17 minutes, turning them into 12 points. And Miami was abysmal again from the foul line, making 10 of 20 tries in the opening two quarters.
And still, the outcome rarely seemed in doubt.
Hughes finally made a shot -- two, actually -- early in the fourth quarter that brought Washington within 82-75 before Miami scored seven straight points and pulled away. Eddie Jones' fifth 3-pointer of the game helped fuel the burst.
With Kwame Brown suspended, the Wizards' frontcourt was depleted, and things got worse midway through the second quarter when Etan Thomas left with an abdominal strain.
Thomas appeared to suffer the injury with 6:55 left in the half. He grabbed an offensive rebound and scored, yet immediately began grimacing and was quickly ushered into the locker room. He did not return.
Then again, Thomas' injury may not have mattered much: he probably had no way to stop Wade, either.
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