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Wade leads Heat over lowly Wizards

Feb 26, 2011 - 4:25 AM Miami, FL (Sports Network) - Dwyane Wade knocked down 18-of-27 shots en route to 41 points as Miami held off pesky Washington, 121-113, at American Airlines Arena.

LeBron James supplied 25 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while Chris Bosh bounced back from a horrible shooting night in Thursday's loss to Chicago to score 15 points and haul in eight boards for the Heat, who have won two of three since the All-Star break.

Nick Young made 12-of-19 shots, including 6-of-8 three-pointers, on the way to 38 points while JaVale McGee contributed 18 points and 17 rebounds for the Wizards, who slumped to 1-28 on the road.

Mike Bibby missed all four of his shots and did not score while handing out four assists in his first game with Washington since being acquired on Wednesday in a trade with Atlanta.

The Wizards have dropped four in a row and also played without forward/center Andray Blatche, who missed the game with a right hip strain.

"We are a team that is rebuilding," Washington head coach Flip Saunders said. "You really don't want to take moral victories, but how we played recently, we have to build on things. If we play this hard against other teams, we are going to win. The Heat are one of the top two or three teams in the league."

Washington's Rashard Lewis buried a three-pointer that tied the game at 73 with 7:22 to go in the third quarter. Miami led by as few as one and by as many as six over the remainder of the stanza and took an 88-84 lead into the fourth.

Wade's driving layup pushed the Heat's advantage to a seemingly comfortable 108-94 with 5:24 remaining but the Wizards would not go away. Young's triple trimmed the lead to 110-102 with 3:10 to play.

The Miami lead grew back to 11 but a Young jumper and McGee dunk sliced the margin to seven with 70 seconds remaining. Washington got as close as five but three free throws from James in the final 28 seconds sealed the win for Miami.

"We'll have to be better defensively," Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We only played on that side of the court in spurts tonight, just enough to get the win. The guys were a little bit fatigued but we got it done. We found a way to grind it, get some key stops and score a lot of points."

After the Heat scored the first six points of the game, Washington reeled off 16 of the next 19 to grab a seven-point lead just past the midway point of the quarter. Young scored 10 to help the Wizards grab a 25-20 edge after the first 12 minutes.

Wade scored Miami's first 13 points and 18 of its first 19 in the second quarter to help the hosts forge a 39-33 advantage with eight minutes to go.

The Heat extended their lead to as many as 10m, but two Young foul shots knotted the score at 54 inside of two minutes. John Wall's three-pointer with 21.8 ticks left brought the Wizards to within 63-61 at the half.

Game Notes

Wade added five rebounds but struggled at the foul line, going 3-for-9...James was 15-of-19 from the stripe for Miami, which made 34-of-45 foul shots...Mario Chalmers finished with 14 points in the win, Miami's 10th in the last 11 meetings...Former Heat center Alonzo Mourning was inducted into the Georgetown Hall of Fame Friday night...Washington connected on 10-of-23 shots from long distance, though nobody aside from Young made more than one...Wall ended with 24 points and 12 assists in defeat.