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Heat-Wizards Preview

Jan 22, 2010 - 2:56 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Miami (21-20) at Washington (14-27), 7:00 p.m. EDT

If there's one thing the Miami Heat must strive for in the second half of the season, it's consistency - preferably in a positive way.

The Heat have a chance to get started in that direction Friday night as they try to bounce back from their worst loss of the season with a fourth straight road victory over the lowly Washington Wizards.

Miami (21-20) reached the halfway point by losing 104-65 at Charlotte on Wednesday. The Heat shot 28.9 percent - fifth-worst in club history - one night after making 56.3 percent of its shots in a 113-83 home rout of Indiana.

"It's in our heads," second-year forward Michael Beasley said. "Some games we want to, some games we don't. Some games we've got all the energy in the world. Some games, we just don't. I think if we stay consistent, there's no limit on how far we can go this season."

Though the Heat are sixth in the Eastern Conference, and has never been below .500 this season, they rank near the bottom of the NBA averaging 96.8 points since the start of the new year. Miami is 6-15 when opponents score at least 100 points, compared to 15-5 when it fails to reach that mark.

"There's a good side to us and there's this very ugly side that we need to do something about," said coach Eric Spoelstra, whose team has 11 double-digit victories while losing 12 games by 10 points or more. "This is not acceptable, we've got to look at everything from A to Z and see what changes we have to make."

Dwyane Wade, who was named an All-Star starter Thursday, has averaged 32.0 points on 58.8-percent shooting in his previous four games, but went 6-for-16 from the field and finished with 16 against the Bobcats - the NBA's top defensive team.

Beasley averaged 20.1 points in his previous seven contests, but was held to six on 3-of-11 shooting against Charlotte.

"We have to bounce back," Spoelstra said. "We've done this before. So we move on."

Despite a 94-84 home loss to Washington on Nov. 27, the Heat have won six of seven against the Wizards. Miami is averaging 101.7 points while shooting 49.6 percent during its three-game road winning streak in the series.

Though Wade had 18 points in the last meeting with Washington (14-27), he scored 41 in a 90-76 home win over the Wizards on Nov. 10, and 40 in a 93-89 road victory Nov. 4.

Antawn Jamison had 24 points and 13 rebounds during the Wizards' win in south Florida, and is averaging 21.7 points with 10.7 boards in his last six games versus Miami. Jamison, though, was held to seven in a 94-93 loss to Dallas on Wednesday that dropped Washington to 2-1 on its season-high six-game homestand.

Caron Butler finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, but had the potential game-winning shot blocked with 1.9 seconds to play as the Wizards fell to 3-6 since star Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely for bringing guns into the locker room.

"It shows the potential of this ballclub and what we're capable of doing," said Butler, who's averaging 21.0 points in his last four games. "If we give that same effort night-in and night-out and stay with it, anything can happen."

Randy Foye had a season-high 26 points Wednesday for the Wizards. He's averaging 19.5 over the last eight games since entering the starting lineup, but 3.3 points against Miami this season.