The Washington Wizards are done with the Miami Heat for the regular season, but there will be no celebration. Not after Dwyane Wade came back to MCI Center to remind the Wizards that he -- not Shaquille O'Neal -- is the Heat's leading scorer. Not after O'Neal fouled out in the final minute and left Wade and guard Damon Jones to finish off the Wizards.
Not after the Wizards blew a 10-point second-half lead, and a one-point lead with 33 seconds left, and lost to Miami for the fourth time this season -- and eighth straight time overall -- by 98-93 before 18,234 at MCI Center. "What is there to be happy about?" point guard Gilbert Arenas said. "Four of our eight losses are to them."
Miami's Dwyane Wade (29 points, 9 assists) scores over Jared Jeffries. The Heat has beaten the Wizards 8 straight times dating from last season.
(John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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WIZARDSINSIDER
WHO'S NEXT?
at Lakers
Friday, 10:30 p.m.
Comcast SportsNet
WWRC-1260
The Wizards won't be shut out from national television this season. With the team off to a 12-7 start for the first time since 1984, the NBA informed the team yesterday that its Jan. 6 home game against the Seattle SuperSonics will be televised by TNT.
"I think, for once, we're getting some respect," forward Antawn Jamison said. "We started the season without any televised games, but we've got to continue the dedication and hard work and hopefully some more will come of it."
It will be the first nationally televised game for the Wizards since Michael Jordan played his final game on April 16, 2003, in Philadelphia. Their last nationally televised game at MCI Center was April 2 of that season. The Wizards and SuperSonics replaced the originally scheduled game between Memphis and Detroit.
"It's good for the team. It's good for the organization," Coach Eddie Jordan said. "It shows that we're doing things right." . . .
The Wizards might finally have forward-center Etan Thomas by then. He strained an abdominal muscle the next-to-last day of training camp and has missed the first 20 games, but he said yesterday that he expects to be back soon.
"I think I'm getting close," said Thomas. "I'm getting better. I haven't been practicing, but I think I'm going to be practicing, I don't want to say when, but -- soon. I'm just waiting on the green light."
Thomas and point guard Steve Blake (left arch strain) will travel with the team for the four-game West Coast trip beginning in Los Angeles on Friday, which is the first day each is eligible to be activated. Blake said he expects to return to action during the trip. "That's my goal," Blake said recently.
Jordan said he didn't know whether Thomas or Blake would be available out west. "I know we'll have a healthier" Kwame Brown, Jordan said, "and that'll help us. I don't know about Stevie or Etan." . . .
Now that they are finished with the Heat, the Wizards will be the last Eastern Conference team to head west, where they will face the Lakers, Phoenix, Golden State and Sacramento. The Wizards and Miami are the only Eastern Conference teams with winning road records.
"We have to continue to play the way we've been playing . . . just play harder and play smarter," Jordan said. "We're the last team to go out west and we have to show the rest of the conference that we are for real."
-- Michael Lee
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Arenas was fuming over his blown assignment in the final seconds. He hit two free throws to give the Wizards a 93-92 lead. Then, Wade, who scored 14 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter, drove inside and the entire Wizards' defense swarmed toward him.
Wade kicked the ball out to Jones, who nailed a three-pointer to give the Heat a 95-93 lead with 21 seconds left. "I got sucked in on Dwyane Wade's drive," Arenas said. "He drags you right in there with him. He scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, of course he's going to draw you in."
Arenas, however, was supposed to stick with Jones, who hit 5 of 12 attempts from beyond the three-point line and scored 23 points. The Heat (17-7) improved to 6-0 since inserting Jones into the starting lineup.
The Wizards (12-8) haven't defeated the Heat since April 11, 2003. They lost for the first time this season while holding an opponent under 100 points. "Saying that this was a tough one to lose in an understatement," Coach Eddie Jordan said. "We were physical. We played unselfishly and we competed at the highest level. This is a tough one to lose.
"I'm glad I don't have to see them until the playoffs, maybe. And I don't want to see them then."
After the three-pointer by Jones, Wizards forward Antawn Jamison tried to tie the game, but former Wizard Christian Laettner blocked Jamison's floater with 12 seconds left. And, after Wade hit one of two free throws to give the Heat a three-point lead, Jamison rushed a three-pointer after a timeout that banged off the backboard.
"I claim a lot of responsibility. I took some bad shots," said Jamison, who scored a team-high 26 points but missed 16 of 26 shots. "They got the ball in my hands, with some great opportunities. Down the stretch, the people who are making the money have got to get it done. I didn't get it done."
Jordan didn't find fault with his star. "I'll live with his decision," Jordan said.
After scoring 40 points two nights before, O'Neal fouled out after scoring just 13 points. He had two points in the fourth, climbing over center Brendan Haywood's back to rebound a Udonis Haslem miss and send down a rim-rocking dunk to give the Heat a 92-88 lead with 2 minutes 5 seconds left. But O'Neal fouled out one minute later. "It wasn't even Shaq that beat us," Arenas said. "Everybody else beat us."
Especially Wade, who missed most of the teams' previous game in Miami after spraining his left ankle in the second quarter. Wade scored 37 points the last time the Wizards played at MCI Center, and he found the driving lanes as open as they were before.
The fourth quarter started well for the Wizards as Jamison drove into the lane, lost the ball in the air, caught it and flipped it off the glass for a basket to give his team a 77-71 lead. But the Wizards wouldn't score for the next three minutes and the Heat tied the game after getting three consecutive uncontested layups, the last two by Wade.
After combining to shoot 15 of 57 (26 percent) in Miami two days before, Jamison, Arenas and Larry Hughes had better offensive performances. Arenas scored 22 points with 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. Hughes had 19 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. But the outcome was the same as the rest of the games against the Heat. "If a team beats you four times, I can admit they're better," Hughes said. "But we plan on seeing them later on."
Jamison played most of the game with a bandage under his left eye, the result of a collision with Haslem in the first quarter. He had to receive five stitches and a scar will remain, but not from this loss. "As soon as I walk out of the locker room," Jamison said, "it's over with."
