Heat’s O’Neal Almost Perfect

Shaquille O’Neal was nearly perfect. Aside from a defensive letdown during a 10-minute stretch, the rest of the Miami Heat was pretty good too.

O’Neal made his first 14 shots, finishing 15 of 16, and the Heat extended its winning streak to a season-best five games by beating the short-handed Seattle SuperSonics, 115-106, Saturday night at Miami.

The Heat led, 89-68, midway through the third quarter before Seattle rallied. Mike Wilks, acquired Thursday in a trade with Cleveland, made his SuperSonic debut and scored twice to cut the margin to one.

Dwyane Wade made four baskets down the stretch to seal the win.

“You can’t be happy with the whole disposition of our team in the second half, playing with a 20-point lead and not defending at all,” Miami Coach Pat Riley said. “We showed very little respect for all the hard work and good play. I’m happy we were able to win it at the end, but obviously we can’t play like that.”

O’Neal finished with 31 points despite making only one of six free throws. His only missed basket came on a short turnaround with two minutes left, and he made the follow for a 111-104 lead.

“He was absolutely great,” Riley said. “He did things I haven’t seen him do for a couple of years. He’s got a lot of energy and he’s taking two or three people to the rim. He’s picking people apart.”

The Southeast Division leaders have taken advantage of a soft stretch in the schedule, and their next six games are against opponents with losing records.

Seattle, which lost for the second night in a row, dressed only nine players. Bryon Russell and Earl Watson, acquired from Denver, won’t join the team until it returns to Seattle. Nick Collison was in Seattle with his wife, who gave birth Saturday.

Philadelphia 108, Chicago 102 -- Allen Iverson scored 38 points at Philadelphia to lead the 76ers to their third consecutive victory. The 76ers (28-27) haven’t lost since the All-Star break and moved a game over .500 for the first time since Feb. 4.

Washington 110, New York 89 -- Gilbert Arenas scored 46 points, including 33 in the first half, and the Wizards beat the Knicks for their ninth straight home win. Arenas made 13 of 16 shots, including seven of 10 from three-point range. He finished one point shy of his career high.

Dallas 115, Toronto 113 -- Dirk Nowitzki made an 18-foot fadeaway with a second left in overtime and finished with 32 points, helping the Mavericks rally from a 24-point second-half deficit and stretch their club-record home winning streak to 14 games.

Milwaukee 99, Atlanta 89 -- Bobby Simmons made a three-pointer to give the Bucks the lead for good at 79-76 with a little more than seven minutes left at Atlanta. They increased the lead to 88-81 on a three-pointer by Michael Redd with four minutes left.

San Antonio 92, Golden State 75 -- The visiting Warriors led by three points early, but the Spurs erased the lead for good with a 19-4 run late in the first quarter. Nazr Mohammed, in the opening lineup for the third straight game, had 15 points to lead six Spurs in double figures. Tim Duncan had only nine points, making four of 17 shots.

New Orleans 100, Utah 95 -- Rookie Chris Paul made two free throws with 25.2 seconds left to lift the visiting Hornets over the Jazz. With the score 95-95, he drove on fellow rookie Deron Williams and was fouled. He made both free throws to give New Orleans a split in the back-to-back games against the Jazz.