Wade Hurt but Scores 30

Their bloodied star was in the locker room and the game was threatening to get away from the Miami Heat. But there was a piece of good news for his team.

“I knew I was coming right back,” Dwyane Wade said.

He scored 30 points, half of them in the final 4 1/2 minutes, and had 10 assists and seven rebounds to lead the Heat over the New Jersey Nets, 103-92, on Friday night in Game 3 of the best-of-seven series.

Knocked out of the game briefly by an inadvertent elbow during a stretch in which New Jersey was threatening to take control, Wade helped the Heat come back to win the first competitive game in the series and take a 2-1 lead.

“He’s just a blessing for us and this franchise,” Heat Coach Pat Riley said.

Shaquille O’Neal added 19 points and nine rebounds, and Antoine Walker scored 16 points for the Heat.

Game 4 of the series is Sunday in New Jersey.

“Now that we’ve got this one, we don’t want to play around with these guys. We want to get the one on Sunday,” O’Neal said.

Vince Carter scored 43 points but had a few costly turnovers in the fourth quarter that helped the Heat finally shake the Nets.

Richard Jefferson added 17 points, none in the last quarter.

“I played terrible in the second half,” he said. “I couldn’t get anything going. My teammates and coaches expect better from me.”

Jason Kidd was also scoreless in the fourth, finishing with 10 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds.

New Jersey was without key reserve Clifford Robinson, who was suspended five games by the NBA earlier Friday for violating the anti-drug policy. The Nets learned of the penalty after Robinson had taken part in the morning shoot-around.