Heat even series

MIAMI – Siovaughn Wade doesn’t necessarily enjoy when her husband leaves home for a late-night workout.

“Actually, she hates it,” Dwyane Wade said.

If those sessions always equate into this kind of result, well, she’ll probably learn to handle it.

Wade – who was practicing with Shaquille O’Neal into the wee hours of Wednesday morning – scored 17 of his 31 points in the first quarter, sparking the Miami Heat to a huge early lead that they rode to a 111-89 victory over the New Jersey Nets in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

O’Neal added 21 points for Miami, which outscored New Jersey 25-4 in the game’s first 5:49 and never looked back, ensuring that it wouldn’t suffer the ignominy of losing the first two games of a series at home.

Now, to reclaim homecourt advantage, the Heat will need to win only once in New Jersey, where the best-of-seven series resumes Friday night.

“Dwyane, you could almost sense it this morning that he was in a little bit of a different state,” Heat coach Pat Riley said. “He was very upset after the game the other night, as was everybody. We played probably the best quarter of the year. We needed it.”

Vince Carter had 22 points for the Nets, while Richard Jefferson – showing no ill effects from the ankle-and-heel bone bruise he suffered in Game 1 – added 16.

Jason Kidd had 15 points and Nenad Krstic added 14 for New Jersey, which matched the second-biggest margin of defeat in franchise playoff history. The Nets were beaten by 23 points twice during the 2002 postseason, once each by Indiana and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Jason Williams scored 14 points, Udonis Haslem had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Gary Payton added 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting for Miami.

It seemed like everything that went wrong for the Heat in the opener went their way Wednesday.