Wade’s 37 Points Keep Heat Rolling

Dwyane Wade had career highs of 37 points and 12 assists to again overshadow Shaquille O’Neal, and the Miami Heat improved to 3-0 for the second time in franchise history with a 118-106 victory over the Washington Wizards on Saturday night.

Wade made 11 of 16 shots from the field, 14 of 16 free throws and outshone the Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Larry Hughes, who combined for 77 points and rallied Washington from a 10-point third-quarter deficit to tie the score late.

O’Neal, hampered by foul trouble and a strained hamstring, scored 13 points in 27 minutes while facing a team that started 6-foot-8 Michael Ruffin at center.

O’Neal committed three turnovers, made only three of 12 free throws and made most of his noise in the fourth quarter after Ruffin had fouled out.

Ruffin’s backup, Samaki Walker, also fouled out, forcing Washington to play forward Jared Jeffries at center for the last five minutes.

O’Neal scored nine points in the fourth quarter, including a short alley-oop from Damon Jones that gave the Heat a 106-102 lead. Eddie Jones scored seven of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and spurred a game-ending 16-4 run.

Second-year guard Wade has been the star of the Heat victories, totaling 86 points and 23 assists. Miami has won its first three games for the first time since the 1995-96 season.

Arenas had 27 points and seven turnovers for the Wizards. Hughes scored 26 points, and Jamison had 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Ruffin started at center because Brendan Haywood was serving the last game of a three-game suspension for a fight in an exhibition game, and Kwame Brown and Etan Thomas are on the injured list.

Wade was involved in the Heat’s first 11 points. He started the game with assists to O’Neal and Udonis Haslem for dunks, then dunked off a feed from Rasual Butler.

Wade then fed Eddie Jones for a layup, scored on a finger roll and made a free throw.