Wade stays on tear

SEATTLE – Dwyane Wade recorded his second triple-double in two weeks with 15 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 14 assists, and the Miami Heat beat the Seattle SuperSonics 117-104 on Friday night.

Wade shot just 4 of 14 in his third career triple-double. He had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on Jan. 4 against the Hornets.

After dropping the first two games of their season-high, seven-game road trip, the Heat have won the last three, this time with an impressive offensive performance against the league’s worst defense.

Shaquille O’Neal finished with 16 points, including four dunks, and was 6 for 7 on free throws. James Posey tied a season high with 19 points, and Jason Williams also had 19. Antoine Walker and Alonzo Mourning added 15 and 12, respectively, off the bench. Mourning had five blocks.

Rashard Lewis followed up his 45 points on Wednesday with 33 for Seattle and Luke Ridnour scored 21.

By the end of the third quarter, some Sonics fans started looking ahead to today, briefly chanting “Let’s Go Seahawks!”

Seattle showed early signs of putting up a significant fight in its first game without leading scorer Ray Allen.

The All-Star was suspended for three games after getting into a fight with Orlando’s Keyon Dooling. Allen and Dooling wrestled into the first row on Wednesday night, each trying to land punches.

Allen will miss today’s game at the Los Angeles Clippers and Monday’s game at Golden State.

Without Allen, Seattle started perfectly. The Sonics made their first 11 shots, capped by Vladimir Radmanovic’s 3-pointer to put Seattle up 26-14 less than 6 minutes into the game.

But Seattle went cold, making just 10 of its next 33 shots to close the half. Meanwhile, Miami continually scored at ease against the Sonics’ porous defense.

Nine Heat players scored in the first half, five in double figures. The 71 points were a season high for any half, topping the 67 in the second half of their 128-113 win over Washington on Dec. 30. Miami scored 39 in the second quarter, matching the franchise record for that quarter.

Down 41-36 early in the second quarter, Miami went on a 21-6 run to take control. Gary Payton’s jumper gave Miami its first lead at 42-41 and the Heat never trailed again.

The 71 points in the first half tied the most allowed by Seattle this season. Washington scored 71 against the Sonics on Nov. 11.

Miami built the lead to 19 early in the third quarter, but Seattle twice crawled within nine points at 84-75 and 95-86. Both times, the Sonics missed shots with a chance to pull closer.

Note

SuperSonics coach Bob Hill has reached agreement with the team on a restructured contract, he said before the game against Miami. The team did not release any details of the contract and Hill would not elaborate further. General manager Rick Sund declined comment as well. “It’s nice to have it out of the way,” Hill said. Hill was an assistant under Bob Weiss, and took over as head coach after Weiss was fired on Jan. 3.

Heat 117, SuperSonics 104

Percentages: FG .500, FT .926. 3-Point Goals: 8-22, .364 (Posey 5-9, Walker 2-7, J.Williams 1-5, Payton 0-1). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 15 (15 PTS). Blocked Shots: 10 (Mourning 5, Wade 2, Haslem, O’Neal, Payton). Turnovers: 14 (Wade 5, Haslem 2, Walker 2, O’Neal, Mourning, Fitch, Posey, J.Williams). Steals: 4 (Wade 2, Simien, J.Williams). Technical Fouls: None.

Percentages: FG .443, FT .767. 3-Point Goals: 3-16, .188 (Lewis 2-5, Radmanovic 1-4, Murray 0-2, Wilkins 0-2, Ridnour 0-3). Team Rebounds: 15. Team Turnovers: 8 (11 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4 (Collison 2, Swift, Petro). Turnovers: 7 (Ridnour 3, Lewis, Potapenko, Collison, Wilkins). Steals: 9 (Ridnour 3, Radmanovic 2, Murray 2, Wilkins, Petro). Technical Fouls: Defensive Three Second, 11:01 first.

A—17,072 (17,072). T—2:29.