MIAMI (AP) -- A memorable shot, a division championship and the

best record in the NBA. Things simply couldn't have gone better for

Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat on Friday night.

Wade had 35 points -- including a 65-foot heave to end the third

quarter -- and the Heat set a season high for points, clinched the

Southeast Division title and moved past Phoenix for the NBA's best

record with a 125-115 win over the Suns.

Wade had his usual array of spectacular aerials around the

basket -- but how he capped the third quarter was the big highlight.

He blocked Amare Stoudemire's shot with about 3 seconds left,

collected the rebound, let it fly -- and the ball went through with

a soft swish, putting the Heat up 94-82 entering the final quarter.

"It felt real good leaving my hands," Wade said. "Going all

net kind of surprised me a little bit."

He didn't score again. He didn't have to.

"It's always good to win something," said Wade, who missed

practice Thursday with a thigh bruise but still managed nine

assists and seven rebounds against the Suns. "Last year, we felt

like we didn't win anything. To win a division title with a lot of

games left, it's a great feeling."

Shaquille O'Neal had 12 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter

and Eddie Jones added 23 points and eight rebounds for Miami

(53-17), which won its 16th straight game at home and claimed its

first division title since the 1999-00 season.

Quentin Richardson led Phoenix (51-17) with 26 points, Amare

Stoudemire added 25 and Steve Nash had 19 points and 14 assists.

Phoenix lost for the first time in its last 10 road games.

"We didn't get enough stops," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni

said. "I thought we scored enough probably to be in the game but

we didn't stop them. They hit shots and Wade went off.

There was no celebration for the Heat afterward; Eddie Jones

didn't even know the game sealed the division. Clearly, Miami has

its sights on bigger goals.

"None of those titles mean anything to me unless it's the big

one. ... I want to end the date correctly. I want to end the date

with a smash," O'Neal said.

Miami led by as many as 19 in the final quarter, before

Richardson scored 10 points in a 15-2 Phoenix run that drew the

Suns to 117-111 with 2:52 left. But O'Neal slammed home a miss by

Wade with 2:25 left, and the Heat hung on in the battle of

conference leaders.

"You'd be lying if you said it was just one of 82 games,"

Richardson said. "Everyone knows there's pride on the line. We

want to show that we can play with them, especially late in the

season like this."

Miami opened on a 22-4 run, as Phoenix -- the second-best

shooting team in the NBA, behind only Miami -- missed 10 of its

first 11 shots. It was a total turnaround from the teams' first

meeting, where Phoenix set the tone with a 40-point first quarter

and cruised to a 122-107 win on Jan. 11.

"I thought we started the game in the first quarter and

probably played the best quarter of defense we played all year,"

said Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, whose team led 34-21 after one

period. "And we made that lead stand up with our offense the rest

of the way."

Steve Smith's 3-pointer with 5:55 left in the half put the Heat

up 46-34, before Phoenix took advantage of Miami fouls and sliced

deeply into the lead by halftime. The Heat were called for the

first seven fouls of the second quarter -- not including a technical

on Damon Jones for arguing one of those calls.

And Phoenix, which got 12 points from reserve guard Leandro

Barbosa in an eight-minute span of the quarter, went on a 15-4 run

late in the half to get to 50-49 with 2:46 left. But Wade hit

Miami's last four shots of the half, and the Heat took a 60-54 lead

into intermission.

Phoenix hit three free throws -- two by Stoudemire and one by

Nash after Udonis Haslem's arguing drew him a technical -- with 7:12

left in the third to tie it at 71. But Eddie Jones hit a 3-pointer

on Miami's next trip to start a 16-7 Heat run.

"Starting out so slow, it took a lot out of us to get back into

the game," Nash said. "Their 3-point shooting and Dwyane Wade, it

was just too much for us. It was a playoff-type game. We know

they're probably one of two teams that could come out of the East,

so if we make it to the Finals we could be playing them."Game notes
Damon Jones had no shots in 25 minutes. ... Miami has held

a double-digit lead in 14 consecutive games. ... Phoenix has scored

100 points in 20 of its last 21 games. ... Wade scored 30 or more

points for the 12th time this season. ... With the Nasdaq-100 Open

going on in nearby Key Biscayne, plenty of tennis greats --

including Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Boris Becker and Maria

Sharapova -- were in the crowd, as were football stars Willis

McGahee and Warren Sapp, plus hip-hop mogul Sean "P. Diddy"

Combs.