MIAMI -- Dwyane Wade scored 24 points before taking the fourth quarter off, and the Miami Heat held Washington without a field goal for 9 minutes in the second half on the way to an easy 97-77 victory over the Wizards on Friday night.
Michael Beasley scored 19 points for Miami (5-4), which needed 20 games to hit the five-win mark last season. Udonis Haslem had 13 points and 12 rebounds and Shawn Marion -- who had missed two games with a strained groin -- added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat, who held a 51-33 advantage on the boards.
Antawn Jamison finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Washington, which fell to 0-4 on the road and an Eastern Conference-worst 1-6 overall. JaVale McGee and Nick Young each added 13 points for the Wizards, while former Heat standout Caron Butler was held to six points.
Wade was 8-for-10 from the floor, 7-for-9 from the line, and saw his franchise-record run of four straight games with at least 30 points end.
That was about the only disappointing element in this one from the Heat perspective.
Except for one little third-quarter Washington rally, Miami held control throughout.
The Heat made their first five shots and ran out to a 13-point lead by halftime, with Wade and Beasley combining for 25 points by the break.
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Beasley had perhaps the best moment yet of his young career, leaping to snare a miss by Chris Quinn with his left hand and dunking it all in the same motion for a 36-25 lead with 8:20 left in the half, and the margin eventually reached 15 on consecutive baskets by Marion.
And it could have been much worse.
Miami was 1-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half, and when the Heat offense stalled a bit in the third quarter, the Wizards got right back into the game. Butler made a back-door cut and took a perfect bounce pass from Darius Songalia for a dunk that got the Wizards within 56-50.
Wade decided that was close enough, and Miami immediately went on a game-deciding spurt.
The 2006 NBA finals MVP answered Butler's dunk with a reverse layup, starting what became a 20-1 Heat run. He made a 3-pointer -- only the Heat's second in 15 attempts -- then had a putback and conventional three-point play to further extend the margin.
The burst ended when Marion's layup with 38 seconds left in the quarter made the lead 76-51.
