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 Caron Butler finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, Antawn Jamison had 16 points and 16 rebounds and Brendan Haywood added 12 points for Washington, which had lost each of its last eight trips to Miami and had dropped 15 of 16 overall to the Heat.
Chris Quinn scored a career-high 22 points for Miami, which saw its modest two-game winning streak end and lost for the seventh time in nine home games this season. Only Minnesota (2-8) has a worse home record.
Udonis Haslem had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Dwyane Wade added 17 points and Ricky Davis had 16 for Miami (6-16). Shaquille O'Neal finished with only seven points on 3-for-6 shooting in 26 minutes.
The Wizards improved to 12-4 when scoring at least 100 points; they're 0-6 when not reaching the century mark.
Miami got within seven three times -- on scores by Haslem every time -- in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the final quarter, only to see Washington answer before the margin got any smaller.
And eventually, the Wizards put Miami away.
Stevenson, who entered with 28 points on 32 percent shooting in his last four games, delivered the dagger with 4:41 left
-- a long 3-pointer, his sixth of the night, that made it 96-84.
Washington led for all but 38 seconds of the opening half, taking a 59-49 lead into the break after Stevenson hit five of his first six shots, including a 4-for-5 early show from 3-point range, for 18 points.
Stevenson scored 10 consecutive points during a 73-second span of the first quarter, staking the Wizards to a 24-11 lead, and Antonio Daniels' basket with 2:09 left in the period capped a 12-0 run that pushed Washington's early edge to 15.
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Washington's cushion grew to 17 on Roger Mason's 3-pointer with 10:39 left in the half, and was still 15 when O'Neal went to the bench with his third foul at the 4:59 mark.
So Heat coach Pat Riley went small -- very small -- with a lineup of Quinn, Wade, Daequan Cook, Davis and Haslem.
It worked. An 11-3 run immediately drew Miami within seven, and the Heat later closed the gap to 59-54 after scoring the first five points of the second half.
Butler took over for the next few minutes, giving Miami fans another taste of what they used to cheer him for before he left in the trade that brought O'Neal to South Florida.
He scored 10 points in a 16-2 Washington run that rebuilt the lead back to 75-56 with 4:12 left in the third, and the margin was 82-70 entering the fourth.
Notes: Washington has had five players in double figures in each of the last four games. Last time that happened? March 2004. ... Haslem's streak of 89 minutes, 55 seconds
-- nearly two full games -- without a rest ended with 9:56 left in the second quarter. He played the final 27:53 at the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday and all 48 minutes in Phoenix the next night. ... Stevenson eclipsed his season high in scoring with a 3-pointer with 2:13 left in the third. His previous best this season was 22 points against Philadelphia on Nov. 20. ... Newly signed Luke Jackson made his Miami debut with 2:58 left in the third. His first basket was a dunk with 1.7 seconds left in the period.
[Associated Press; By TIM REYNOLDS]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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