Heat cruise to victory in semifinal opener

They gave away a 17-point lead, turned the ball over 15 times, missed 11 free throws and received nothing resembling dominance from either Shaquille O'Neal or Dwyane Wade.

Didn't matter. The Miami Heat still won with ease at home.

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

"I think it was just being out of our rhythm," Wade said. "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, Eddie Jones scored 12 and Damon Jones 10 for the Heat, who've won five straight playoff games for the first time in franchise history and are 5-0 against Washington this season.

"Everybody's main focus is Dwyane and Shaq anyway," said Dooling, who was 6-for-9 on his 25th birthday and is 20-for-26 in his last four games. "So there's going to be shots and opportunities for everyone else."

Deadpanned Wizards coach Eddie Jordan: "We gave them a run for their money, 36-5. We always have an 'X' factor. Today we had a 'Z' factor -- zero."

Gilbert Arenas had 25 points on 8-for-21 shooting for Washington. Larry Hughes added 23, Antawn Jamison had 13 before leaving in the fourth quarter with a sore right knee, and Jared Jeffries and Brendan Haywood added 10 apiece. Etan Thomas, with five points, was the only Washington reserve to score.

Game 2 is Tuesday night, with the Wizards looking to snap 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.

Spurs 103, SuperSonics 81

Shortly after losing two of their best players, the Seattle SuperSonics had all but lost the game. And it wasn't even halftime yet.

The San Antonio Spurs didn't have the same type of Game 1 letdown they had in the opening round, taking a big first-half lead and holding it the rest of the way in a 103-81 home victory over Seattle t in the opener of their second-round series.

In the span of less than a minute during the second quarter, the Sonics lost Ray Allen and Vladimir Radmanovic to ankle sprains. The Spurs then went on a 17-2 run to make it 58-28 with about two minutes remaining in the half.

Allen, an All-Star who averaged 32.4 points in the SuperSonics' first-round series win over Sacramento, sprained his right ankle while driving to the basket with about eight minutes left in the first half. Radmanovic rolled his right ankle while defending Brent Barry and had to be carried from the court by teammates. He was later seen being pushed in a wheelchair.

It was not immediately known if either would be able to play in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Tony Parker matched his career playoff high with 29 points for the Spurs, who lost Game 1 of their first-round series at home against Denver after coming out slow and then shooting poorly in the fourth quarter. San Antonio then won the next four games to advance.

Tim Duncan added 22 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs, who shot 51 percent. Glenn Robinson added 16 points.

Rashard Lewis led Seattle with 19 points and Antonio Daniels scored 15.