Miami Continues Its Mastery Of Wizards

MIAMI, March 8 -- If the Wizards needed a reminder of why it would be a good idea to finish no lower than sixth in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Miami Heat provided one Wednesday night.

No matter how well they play the Heat or even what uniform they are wearing, the Wizards just can't seem to get a win.

Miami, which has all but locked up the conference's second seed behind Detroit, extended its winning streak over the Wizards to 15 games with a 118-112 victory at American Airlines Arena. The streak includes a four-game sweep of the Wizards in the Eastern Conference playoffs last spring.

The loss dropped the Wizards, who were wearing throwback uniforms representing the 1972-73 Baltimore Bullets, to 9-19 on the road. Miami (40-20) has won 10 straight games and leads the Wizards by 10 games in the Southeast Division.

"We just need to win one against these teams," said Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas, who scored a team-high 28 points on 10-of-21 shooting. "Just one win to get the monkey off our backs. We've been playing them every game as hard as we can but we just can't seem to get over that hump."

As was the case in a stinging three-point overtime loss in Miami on Dec. 11, the Wizards were in position to win. Trailing 114-112 with 22 seconds remaining, forward Antawn Jamison (19 points, six rebounds) drove baseline and drew a foul on Shandon Anderson while shooting. The ball nearly rolled into the basket, which would have set up a potential three-point play, but it rimmed out.

Jamison, a 70 percent free throw shooter, missed the first and then purposely tried to miss the second and grab the rebound, but Miami's Dwyane Wade snagged the ball as it caromed off the back rim and drew a sixth and final foul on Jamison in the process.

Wade put away the game with a pair of free throws at the other end. Wade, who started after missing two games with a wrist injury, poured in 40 points and made 13 of 14 free throws in 43 minutes.

"He was energized with fresh legs," Wizards Coach Eddie Jordan said of Wade, who scored 41 points in the Dec. 11 win. "He's enthusiastic about coming back and that's what the great ones do. He ended up with 40, but we were in the game. We did enough to stay in the game against two great players."

Jordan rotated three defenders on Miami center Shaquille O'Neal and constantly changed defenses between man-to-man and zone. O'Neal mostly was held in check and finished with a hard-earned 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting, with 11 rebounds and two blocks.

The Wizards shot 47 percent and generally played better than they have in recent weeks but couldn't overcome a Heat squad that shot 52 percent and made the key plays down the stretch.

Two of Washington's biggest points came from an unlikely source. With 3 minutes 30 seconds remaining, Michael Ruffin, a 46 percent free throw shooter, stepped to the line after drawing a foul on O'Neal and converted a pair, giving the Wizards a 108-106 lead.