Miami Heat

Dwyane Wade accompanied the Miami Heat to Detroit yesterday. Whether he'll join them on the basketball court tonight remains unknown. Wade's strained right rib muscle remained so painful and tender yesterday that he wasn't able to participate in his team's light on-court workout. His status won't be determined until today, but teammates are preparing themselves for the prospect of playing without him in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. "He definitely didn't look like one of the top 50 beautiful people when he came in this morning," backcourt mate Damon Jones said, referring to Wade's recent inclusion on People magazine's annual list.

On the scoreboard and in the standings, the Miami Heat lost their lead. Tracy Murray scored a season-high 22 points and visiting Washington erased a 15-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Heat, 99-95, knocking Miami out of first place in the Atlantic Division. Miami, the division leader since Jan. 15, fell one-half game behind the New York Knicks. "Just a terrible loss," Heat forward P.J. Brown said, "probably the worst of the year. " Isaac Austin had a career-high 19 points for Miami, and teammate Jamal Mashburn also had 19. In other games: HORNETS 122, CELTICS 121 At Charlotte, Glen Rice scored a franchise-record 48 points and Anthony Mason had his second straight triple-double as the Hornets beat Boston in overtime.

The game was nearly over before the Miami Heat got the scoreboard at their new arena working the way they wanted. Miami overcame a 10-point deficit in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter and beat the visiting Orlando Magic, 111-103, in overtime last night in the first game at the $215 million American Airlines Arena. The game drew a sellout crowd of 19,600, but many fans departed before the wild finish. "We were dead in the water with three minutes to go," Heat coach Pat Riley said.

On second thought, free agent Dan Majerle will join the Miami Heat. Majerle will sign a three-year, $8 million deal with a team he rebuffed just last week because he wanted to return to the Phoenix Suns. Majerle arrived in Miami yesterday and indicated it was a done deal. "It was a big decision," he told WTVJ-TV in Miami, "but it's a class organization here in Miami. [Coach] Pat Riley's going to be great and the guys on the team, I think, I'm really going to like. " Majerle, who pulled out of an oral agreement last week between agent Kurt Schoeppler and the Heat, decided to sign with Miami because the team was offering more money, according to published reports.

Mookie Blaylock got hot and the Miami Heat turned cold, chilling their chances to make NBA history against the Atlanta Hawks. Blaylock shook a shooting slump and scored a season-high 29 points, helping Atlanta beat host Miami last night, 103-89, to force a deciding fifth game in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series. "Now it's over!" Hawks forward Kevin Willis said. Game 5 will be Sunday in Atlanta. The Heat, bidding to become the first No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed, shot 37 percent.

The Orlando Magic went south to face its Sunshine State rivals, and it was another cold night for the Miami Heat. Orlando routed host Miami for the second time this season, building an early 20-point lead and coasting to a 110-96 victory last night. Shaquille O'Neal played just 31 minutes but still led the Magic with 25 points, six below his NBA-leading average of 31.1 per game. Anfernee Hardaway added 12 assists and 24 points, including five three-pointers. "Once we got up, they started gambling, and that opened the door for a lot of easy baskets," Hardaway said.

TONIGHT, THE Miami Heat - featuring Dwyane Wade and free-agent acquisitions LeBron James and Chris Bosh - open their preseason at home against the Detroit Pistons. Let the Heatmania begin! Yesterday, there were tickets selling online for as much as $250 - even though the game wasn't sold out. And not one, but two, television stations are broadcasting the event. James, for one, is enjoying the buzz. "We're ready to play the game," James told the Associated Press.

Their winning streak finally over, the Miami Heat did on Thursday what they had planned to do all along. They took the day off. While the circus atmosphere around the team may slow down now - until the playoffs start, anyway - the way the reigning NBA champions go about their business over the final 11 games of the regular season probably will not. Miami's epic, historic, sometimes-mindboggling 27-game winning streak ended with a 101-97 loss...

Shaquille O'Neal expected the Miami Heat to endure some growing pains over the early portion of the season, as new teammates got used to each other's nuances. The Heat's trip along the learning curve might be over. Dwyane Wade scored 25 points and O'Neal added 20 to help the Miami Heat win their seventh straight game, 107-100, last night over the visiting Denver Nuggets - who lost forward Carmelo Anthony to a sprained left ankle. O'Neal, the NBA leader in field-goal percentage, made nine of 14 shots, plus 11 rebounds and a season-high seven assists.

Chances are, if the Sixers are fighting for first place in April, as they are in November, the battles won't be coming against the Miami Heat. And there's an equal likelihood that the Sixers won't be able to toss away 17-point leads in those later confrontations and still win. But the season and the Miami Heat are still young and the Sixers got away with one last night. They played a disjointed second half, right up until the moment that Miami drew within one point in the fourth quarter.