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Wizards, Heat aim to bounce back

Dec 29, 2007 - 2:50 PM Miami (8-22) at Washington (14-14) 7:00 pm EST

WASHINGTON (Ticker) - The Washington Wizards return home to host superstar Dwyane Wade the slumping Miami Heat on Saturday.

Washington comes in fresh off a three-game road trip that concluded with Friday's 109-106 setback against the New Jersey Nets, despite 55 combined points from Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler.

"We just didn't play smart down the stretch," Jamison said. "We didn't get stops when we needed to and we did not get the quality shots we needed. This was a winnable game. We just didn't find a way to get it done and they did all the correct things to win the game."

The Wizards have been struggling since putting together a four-game winning streak, dropping four of five games including two straight at home.

Washington defeated Miami in the first meeting on December 13 in South Beach behind DeShawn Stevenson, who poured in 26 points in the win.

The Heat wasted a huge performance from Wade in Friday's 121-114 overtime loss to Orlando. The 25-year-old matched a career-high with 48 points, including 11 rebounds and seven assists.

"It's a little demoralizing to play my most complete game yet and to really have a feeling that we were going to win this ballgame," said Wade, who scored 20 of his points in the fourth quarter. "To lose it in overtime, it hurts."

Miami center Shaquille O'Neal will sit out his second game in a row due to left hip bursitis. The perennial All-Star started complaining about the soreness following Wednesday's loss to Philadelphia.