San Antonio Spurs

Dwyane Wade snuffed out another Chicago Bulls rally and moved the Miami Heat one step closer to the second round of the playoffs. Chicago cut a 20-point deficit to four with 1:15 left, but Wade made two huge plays to ensure that Miami escaped with a 115-108 victory Monday night. The Heat holds a 2-0 lead in the best- of-seven first-round series. "I didn't have my athletic ability tonight the way I would have liked to have it," said Wade, still bothered by a calf that cramped in Game 1. "But I was able to make the plays I had to make with a couple of blocked shots and a couple of steals." Miami showed tremendous offensive balance to overcome Wade's physical struggles and the absence of Udonis Haslem, its starting power forward, who was suspended for Game 2 after throwing a mouthpiece toward Referee Joey Crawford in Saturday's series opener. Jason Williams and Shaquille O'Neal each scored 22 points. Wade had 21 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals. Antoine Walker, who played the first 40:20 without a rest, filling in for Haslem, added 17 points and 10 rebounds, James Posey scored 12 points and Gary Payton 11.

Before the playoffs began, Sacramento forward Ron Artest said the Kings were the team to beat in the Western Conference Championship.

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The Spurs won a Western Conference-best 63 games this season, yet San Antonio players commented that "they hadn't played that well." If that's not playing well, then opponents should hope the Spurs don't play to the standards they perceive as "playing well."

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The end-of-the-season run by the Orlando Magic has created quite a commotion around the NBA Championship Tournament.

It just won't be a perfect creation.

The playoff-bound Chicago Bulls saw to that Monday night by overcoming what had been a 16-point deficit early in the third quarter and defeating the Magic 116-112 in overtime in the final game of the season at the TD Waterhouse Centre.

The Magic, who were eliminated from postseason contention Sunday when the Bulls won at Miami, seemed well on their way to tying the franchise record of nine wins in a row and posting their 13th consecutive victory at home. But the Bulls rallied to register their ninth victory in 10 games since losing at home to the Magic three weeks ago.

"They deserved the win," Magic coach Brian Hill said after his team's first loss at home since an 89-84 setback to the Houston Rockets on Feb. 26. "They played hard. They made big shots when they needed them. And it probably wasn't one of our better offensive efforts from the standpoint of getting real good ball movement and taking care of the basketball."

In the National Basketball Association, the San Antonio Spurs earned the No. 1 seed and homecourt advantage throughout the Western Conference Championship playoffs when they beat the Utah Jazz, 115-82, at home on Monday.

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In Sunday's National Basketball Association action, the defending champion San Antonio Spurs held on to their slim lead ahead of Dallas for first place in the Western Conference championship tournament, with an 83-81 win over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies.

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Kirk Hinrich basketball player scored 25 points Saturday night while leading the Chicago Bulls to a 100-94 victory over the Boston Celtics.

NBA's players Luol Deng, Mike Sweetney and Ben Gordon each added 14 points and Andres Nocioni had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who have won four of their last five games.

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Game notes
Wizards guard Antonio Daniels, a former Spurs basketball player, went to the locker room with 2:35 remaining in the game after he suffered a cut near his left eye when he was fouled by Duncan. ... The NBA's basketball team: Wizards finished a six-game road trip and return home Tuesday against New York. But they still have six more road games among their 10 games remaining in the regular season. ... San Antonio has nine games remaining with six at home. ... San Antonio blocked 10 shots, which fell short of the season-best 12 against Golden State on Feb. 25.