Their bloodied superstar was in the locker room and the game was threatening to get away from the Heat.
Oh, but there was one piece of good news for Miami.
"I knew I was coming right back," Dwyane Wade said.
PHOTO: AP
Knocked out of the game briefly by an inadvertent elbow during a stretch when 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.
"Very, very unique player," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "He makes it look real easy and I know how hard it has to be. He's just a blessing for us and this franchise."
Shaquille O'Neal added 19 points and nine rebounds, and Antoine Walker scored 16 points for the Heat.
PHOTO: AP
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.
"We were just making silly mistakes on both ends," he said.
Richard Jefferson added 17 points -- none in the final period.
"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 news came as a tough surprise to the Nets, who learned of the penalty at around noon -- after Robinson had already taken part in the morning shootaround.
The teams traded easy victories in Miami, but this one was close throughout. Neither team led by more than nine points until the final minute.
Carter gave New Jersey its last lead at 81-80 with just over 4 1/2 minutes left, but Wade answered with a three-point play to put Miami ahead for good at with 4:22 to play. Gary Payton followed with a steal and layup before Wade made four straight free throws to give the Heat an 89-81 lead with 3:13 remaining.
New Jersey couldn't get closer than six points again. Wade was 6-of-6 from the line and added another basket in the final minute.
"We still had the opportunity," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said, "up one with I think 4:30 and change when Carter made the layup. And we just didn't help ourselves."
The Heat led 56-49 early in the third quarter after O'Neal's alley-oop dunk, but Nenad Krstic made a basket and Carter scored four straight points to bring the Nets within one.
Carter was trying to drive around Wade on the next possession when his elbow caught Wade in the face. Wade remained down with his hand covering his face while play continued on both ends of the floor, and he was taken to the locker room after Krstic's basket gave New Jersey a 57-56 lead.
After Wade left the floor, Jason Collins made two free throws, then Carter nailed a jumper and a 3-pointer to cap the 15-0 burst -- with nine points coming after Wade was elbowed -- and give the Nets a 64-56 lead with 5:52 remaining in the period.
"I felt like I was on the ground for five minutes, I swear," Wade said. "Once I went to the locker room and they said I didn't need any stitches, I was ready to come back out."
Wade returned seconds later and helped the Heat fight back to tie it at 72 heading into the final quarter after Payton's layup with 30 seconds to go.
"He's our guy," Heat forward James Posey said of Wade. "He does so much for us as far as creating for other players. When he came back, he was going to lead the way."
The game was tied after the first quarter, a welcome change after the first two games were basically over after 12 minutes. The Nets led 38-21 after one in their series-opening victory, and the Heat were ahead 41-19 in Game 2.
On Friday, Carter and Jefferson combined to hit nine of their first 10 shots and both scored 10 points in the first quarter, which ended in a 27-all tie.
O'Neal was limited to just four minutes in the second quarter after picking up his third foul, but Miami was still able to push its lead to 54-45 late in the period on Walker's 3-pointer with 1:20 left. Carter closed the first-half scoring with consecutive dunks -- the first a powerful slam over Alonzo Mourning -- to bring the Nets within 54-49 at the break.
"We had an opportunity to defend our home court and weren't able to get the job done tonight," Collins said. "It's obviously very important that we come
Suns 94, Clippers 91
At Los Angeles, Shawn Marion played the role of a big man and a little guy in the same game.
He was terrific on both counts.
Marion had 32 points and 19 rebounds, and hounded Los Angeles point guard Sam Cassell into a sub-par performance Friday night, leading the Phoenix Suns to a 94-91 victory over the Clippers and a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday at Staples Center.
The 6-foot-7 Marion made it impossible for the 6-3 Cassell to post up -- something he did successfully in the Clippers' 122-97 runaway win in Game 2. Cassell shot just 2-of-10 and scored six points on Friday.
"Sam's an old-school player -- I just tried to put a hand in his face, made sure I stayed in front of him," Marion said. "It's hard to adjust when you've got big people guarding little people. I guard everybody, so it doesn't really matter."
Cassell acknowledged his performance was hampered.
"I didn't shoot the ball well tonight; they put a bigger guy on me, which discouraged my shot a little bit," he said. "I'll be doing my homework and I will be ready for Game 4.
"They got all the spare change, we didn't, and that's why they're up 2-1 right now."
The Clippers, who shot 56.7 percent in the first two games, made just 42.2 percent of their field goal attempts in this one, while the Suns shot 37.2 percent.
The Clippers outrebounded the Suns 47-46 -- a far cry from Game 2, when they won the battle of the boards 57-26.
Marion said the improvement in rebounding was simply a matter of teamwork and effort.
"It's a lot of work for people to go in there and rebound," he said. "That's what we had to do -- go in there and be active."
The Suns had lost eight straight playoff games when scoring less than 100 points, and were 0-7 this season in games decided by three points or less.
"They can't shoot 60 percent all the time -- even with bad defense," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Shawn Marion had a huge night and we'll need that from him to move forward."
D'Antoni pointed to defense -- usually a Suns' shortcoming -- as the key to the game.
"We just grinded it out," he said. "I think there are times that we play good defense. You don't win 54 games by just outshooting people. We can play some good defense. We just do it in spots."
Some of that good defense came down the stretch, when the Suns won by outscoring the Clippers 12-6.
Marion got it started, making a 3-pointer with 2:58 remaining to tie it at 85. After a foul shot by Shaun Livingston gave the Clippers a one-point lead, Nash made two free throws and Tim Thomas added two more, putting the Suns on top 89-86 with 2:04 left.
Marion's three-point play with 49 seconds to go gave the Suns a six-point lead, but the Clippers weren't finished: Elton Brand's three-point play with 46 seconds to play and two free throws by Quinton Ross with 28 seconds left cut Phoenix's lead to one.
But the Suns ran the shot clock down before league MVP Nash, who shot just 3-of-9, made a 14-foot jumper with 3.6 seconds to go.
"The last shot was a lucky shot," Nash said.
"It was perfect timing for me. You always hope to get the last chance when you have a poor performance. I was happy to do something for my guys.
"We showed more guts today, but we did not play well."
Vladimir Radmanovic, who scored 14 of his 18 points in a span of less than four minutes early in the fourth quarter, missed a 3-pointer as time wound down, and Phoenix's Boris Diaw got the rebound.
"We had to fight back uphill after we had a little comfort, but we did not fold," D'Antoni said. "Steve struggled a little, but I'll take that anytime."
Thomas had 19 points and 14 rebounds; Raja Bell, who fouled out with 2:36 left, scored 14; Nash had 12 points and 10 assists, and Diaw added 11 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
Brand led the Clippers with 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, but scored only nine after the first quarter. He had a total of 67 points in the first two games, shooting 28-of-38, but went just 7-of-17 on Friday.
Cuttino Mobley scored 14 points and Chris Kaman had 11 points and seven rebounds.
"I tried to facilitate the ball, but we missed easy shots," Brand said. "Their defense was different from what we saw during the season. We let one get away -- they took it."
A basket by Marion in the first minute of the fourth quarter gave the Suns a 74-63 lead -- largest of the game for either team.
After a basket by Kaman, Radmanovic took over, outscoring the Suns 14-2 himself to put the Clippers on top 79-76. Radmanovic made four 3-pointers and a layup during the stretch.
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