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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Heat knock out Nets with sweep


Heat's  Eddie Jones, left, tries to steal the ball from Nets' Richard Jefferson. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press

Until Shaquille O’Neal’s sore thighs get better, Dwyane Wade is quite capable of leading the Miami Heat past anyone in the playoffs, even sweeping them.

Wade more than filled the void of O’Neal’s scoreless first half by scoring a postseason career-high 34 points and setting up the big guy for most of his 17 second-half points as the Heat completed a first-round sweep of the New Jersey Nets with a 110-97 win Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J.

“He’s been a superstar, even last year,” O’Neal said of Wade. “It’s just now you guys are recognizing it.”

Suns 123, Grizzlies 115

Joe Johnson scored 25 points, and the Suns swept the Memphis Grizzlies with a 123-115 victory in Memphis, Tenn., that put Phoenix into the second round for the first time since 2000.

They now get to rest and wait to see if they will play Dallas or Houston.

It’s the first sweep by the Suns in a best-of-7 series and their first since the 1995 playoffs when they took Portland 3-0 in a best-of-5 opening round.

Pistons 97, 76ers 92 (OT)

The Pistons survived another scare from Philadelphia, and headed home with a chance to wrap up their playoff series.

Chauncey Billups carried the Pistons in the final minutes of regulation, Rasheed Wallace hit a couple of clutch 3-pointers in overtime and Detroit overcame an inspired effort by Allen Iverson to go up 3-1 in its first-round series with a 97-92 win over the Sixers at Philadelphia.

Game 5 is Tuesday in Detroit.

Wells kept out of Grizzlies game

Memphis reserve Bonzi Wells didn’t dress for the playoff game against the Suns and was kept off the bench by Grizzlies coach Mike Fratello.

Fratello said Wells wasn’t hurt and added that the swingman didn’t take part in the shoot-around Sunday morning in advance of Game 4 of the best-of-7 series.

“Bonzi and I decided the best thing for the team would be that he would not be on the bench in uniform,” Fratello said. “Basically, the decision was made that in the best interest of the team, that’s the way we thought it would be best handled.”

“Memphis lost forward Brian Cardinal to a sprained left knee with 5:35 left in the second period and immediately went to the dressing room.