The Miami Heat took control of a close game last night by repeatedly feeding Shaquille O’Neal in the post and The Diesel responded by scoring 10 of his season high 23 in the fourth quarter, leading the visiting Miami Heat past a depleted Washington Wizards team, 92-83. With Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison out with injuries, the Heat ran multiple defenders at Gilbert Arenas all night, holding him to 15 points on 3-15 shooting. Arenas is shooting just 30% from the field in his last four games, all losses.
The Wizards started the game flat and quickly found themselves down 17 due to the hot hand of Miami’s Jason Williams, who outscored the entire Wizards roster 14-12 in the first eight minutes of the game. He finished with 23 points, shooting 5-10 from downtown, which opened up the lane for O’Neal and Udonis Haslem’s 12 points and 16 rebounds. The Wizards refused to double team Shaq in the post and he made them pay. Brendan Haywood could be heard in the showers after the game singing “All By Myself.”
The Wiz fought back in the second and third quarters, even taking the lead briefly, but they could never seem to come up with a bucket when they needed one the most. After Roger Mason Jr.’s three pointer with 6:37 remaining made the score 75-72 and cut the Heat’s lead to three, Washington went six possessions without a basket and didn’t score another field goal until just 56 seconds remained. At that point the Heat were in control and Washington was forced to continually foul to stop the clock.
Photos by Kyle Gustafson.
