Heat Cruises Despite Lapses

The home team gave away a 17-point lead, turned the ball over 15 times, missed 11 free throws and got nothing resembling dominance from Shaquille O’Neal or Dwyane Wade.

Didn’t matter. The Heat still won with ease.

Wade overcame a poor start to score 20 points, O’Neal had 19 points in 26 foul-plagued minutes and the Heat beat Washington, 105-86, Sunday in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.

“I think it was just being out of our rhythm,” said Wade of the Heat, which hadn’t played since sweeping New Jersey the previous Sunday. “We didn’t go for the jugular.”

The Heat’s depth was a key factor, with Miami’s reserves outscoring Washington’s, 36-5.

Keyon Dooling had 15 points off the bench for the Heat, which has won five playoff games in a row for the first time in franchise history and is 5-0 against Washington this season.

“Everybody’s main focus is Dwyane and Shaq anyway,” said Dooling, who made six of nine shots on his 25th birthday and is 20 for 26 shooting in his last four games. “So there’s going to be shots and opportunities for everyone else.”

Gilbert Arenas had 25 points for Washington. Larry Hughes scored 23, and Antawn Jamison had 13 before leaving in the fourth quarter because of a sore knee.

Game 2 is Tuesday night, with the Wizards looking to end a nine-game losing streak against the Heat.

“We have a locker room of guys that love the challenge,” Hughes said. “We’ve been down. We don’t feel like we’re out. We feel like we can win a basketball game any given day we step out there.”

For a while, it seemed this might be one of those winning days for the Wizards.

Miami’s 17-point lead was trimmed to one early in the third quarter, but the Heat never lost the lead -- and Wade got rolling just in time. He had 11 points and four assists in the third quarter and keyed a 14-3 run to end the period that pushed Miami’s lead to 82-64.

“I look at the first half and the second half as two different games,” said Wade, who had five points and four turnovers in the first half, 15 points and no turnovers in the second half.