Dwyane Wade's sprained ankle held up fine. So did Miami's offense for the second time in five days against the Wizards.
Wade had 19 points and 10 assists -- and enough strength in his sprained right ankle -- to lift the Heat to a 94-87 victory Tuesday against Washington at the Verizon Center.
The Heat used a 14-0 run, including 12 straight points in the third quarter, to establish a cushion. But it nearly squandered all of its 14-point lead in the fourth when it went nearly eight minutes with only one field goal.
Daequan Cook and Mario Chalmers made key jumpers after Washington pulled to 73-69. But Miami made seven of eight from the free-throw line to close the game.
Wade sprained his ankle in Sunday's loss to Toronto and sat out Monday's practice. But he fought through the soreness by setting up teammates.
"I didn't have the spring I wanted, but I was able to play enough minutes to get it done,"
said Wade, who played 35 minutes. "It was a great team effort. It wasn't needed as much for me to score. It was needed for me to do other things."
Balance was the key for the Heat (6-5), which won for only the second time on the road this season after getting double-figure scoring from six players. Wade led the way, but Chalmers had 15 points, Cook scored 13, Udonis Haslem and Shawn Marion each scored 12 and Chris Quinn had 10. Joel Anthony's contribution came on defense, with six rebounds and three blocked shots.
The only Heat player who had a difficult night was second overall draft pick Michael Beasley, who never got going in his homecoming and finished with six points in a season-low 16 minutes.
Beasley said he put too much pressure on himself to have a big game after he purchased nearly 50 tickets for relatives and friends.
"The weight of that just gets you out of your elements a little bit,"
said Beasley, who entered the game averaging 16.3 points in 34 minutes. "A lot of people expect big things out of you. No matter how hard you try to fight it, it's there."
Antawn Jamison scored 25 for the Wizards (1-7). The Heat held Washington to only 41.3 percent shooting and scored 20 points off 15 turnovers by the Wizards. But Tuesday's game was far more competitive than the Heat's 97-77 win in Miami on Friday.
The Heat returns home to play Toronto on Wednesday, Indiana on Saturday and Houston on Monday before it heads on a five-game Western Conference trip.
Miami has been much more productive at home, where it has won four of five.
And that makes this three-game home stretch as critical as any in the season as the Heat tries to remain at or above the .500 entering December, a month in which Miami plays eight of 11 at home after returning from the trip.
"These next couple at home are a very important challenge,"
said Haslem, who finished with 11 rebounds to collect his fifth double-double of the season. "It's a good measuring stick to see if we've grown up the past few days. We understand the importance of winning at home."
The Heat returns to Miami with two key players coming solid offensive performances on the heels of slumps.
Chalmers, a rookie, displayed a deep shooting touch that had been missing this season. He made five of his first six shots Tuesday, including a pair of key three-pointers in the second half. He finished 5 of 7 from the field, but it was how he started the night that might have been more significant.
Chalmers arrived at the arena early and attempted 100 shots during a workout with assistant Dave Fizdale.
"That kind of worked out good for me,"
Chalmers said. "I had to work on my shot because I wanted to be in there in crunch time. You're going to go through a streak when you're not making them. Hopefully, I broke that streak and keep this one going."
Spoelstra said Chalmers, who entered the game shooting 38 percent from the field, including 28 percent from three-point range, never lacked confidence.
"He is a good shooter,"
Spoelstra said of Chalmers, perhaps best known for his clutch three-point shooting in Kansas' run to a national title. "He's proven to be a good shooter in college. That will come. Part of that has to do with thinking about trying to do the right thing."
Marion, playing his first game without the mask to protect his broken nose, was aggressive if not efficient. Several air balls didn't deter him on a night when he attempted a season-high 15 shots. Finding Marion on the weak side with extra ball movement was a priority entering the game.
"I was being active,"
Marion said. "And my team was looking for me."
