Heat pummel Wizards
MIAMI – They gave away a big lead, turned the ball over often, got nothing resembling dominance from either Shaquille O’Neal or Dwyane Wade, and kept sending the Washington Wizards to the foul line.
And still, the Miami Heat won with ease.
Wade overcame a tough start to score 20 points and O’Neal added 19 to lead five Miami players in double figures, and the Heat defeated Washington 105-86 Sunday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal.
Keyon Dooling added 15 points, Eddie Jones had 12 and Damon Jones 10 for the Heat, who’ve won five straight playoff games for the first time in franchise history and are 5-0 against Washington this season.
Miami has also won 22 of 23 at home.
“Guys are hungry, man,” said Heat backup center Alonzo Mourning, who had seven points and three blocked shots in 16 minutes. “Everybody coming off that bench, they’re very hungry and prepared. They know what the goal is. Nothing but a championship.”
Gilbert Arenas had 25 points – on 8-for-21 shooting – for Washington, which has lost 12 of its last 14 in Miami. Larry Hughes added 23 for the Wizards, Antawn Jamison had 13 and Jared Jeffries and Brendan Haywood added 10 apiece.
Game 2 is Tuesday night.
While Washington’s starters played Miami’s first five pretty evenly, the Wizards got hardly any production from their bench – and that was the difference.
Miami’s reserves outscored Washington’s 36-5, led by Dooling – who was 6 for 9 off the bench for Miami; he’s 20 for 26 from the floor in his last four playoff games.
“We gave them a run for their money, 36-5” Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said sarcastically. “We always have an ‘X’ factor. Today we had a ‘Z’ factor – zero.”
The Heat, who hadn’t played since finishing off a first-round sweep of New Jersey last Sunday, quickly put to rest any notions of rust settling in during their week off.
Washington missed 17 of 19 shots during one stretch of the opening period, finishing the quarter 5 for 23 (21.7 percent) from the field. Miami, meanwhile, hit 12 of its 21 shots in the opening quarter, taking a 26-18 lead after the period.
“We just felt a little bit tight. You could just tell,” Jordan said.
And the Wizards probably felt fortunate to be down by only eight at that point. In the opening quarter, Miami was 0 for 4 from 3-point range, 2 for 5 from the line, O’Neal missed a dunk and Wade – who missed eight of his first 10 shots before warming up in the second half – managed only four points.
Miami hit five of its first seven shots in the second quarter and seemed poised to turn the game into a rout. Rasual Butler’s 3-pointer from the right wing with 7:27 left in the half capped a 9-0, 83-second run that pushed Miami’s lead to 39-22.
Jordan called a time-out, and whatever he said worked wonders.
Washington scored the next 11 points, including a pair of tough shots around the basket from Jamison and a 3-pointer – the Wizards’ first of the game – by Arenas. The Wizards turned Miami’s seven second-quarter turnovers into 11 points and ended the half on a 6-0 spurt, clawing within 49-47 at the break.
“Washington made a lot of comebacks throughout the year,” Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said. “Eddie does a great job when things are going bad. They change their defenses, the pick up their energy level. … Against a team like Washington, you’ve really got to stay the course. You need a 48-minute effort.”
Haywood’s three-point play with 11:15 left in the third drew Washington within 51-50, but the Wizards never took the lead – and Miami soon pulled away again, this time for good.
Seven straight points by the Heat pushed the lead to 58-50. And Miami ended the quarter on a 14-3 run, with Wade and Udonis Haslem combining for nine points, to take an 82-64 lead into the fourth.
“Third quarter, they just took control of the game,” Jordan said.