Once Dwyane Wade got rolling, things seemed almost easy for the Miami Heat.
Wade — virtually silent offensively for the first three quarters — had 18 of his 26 points in the final period and the Heat held San Antonio without a field goal for more than 7 minutes down the stretch on the way to beating the Spurs 100-85 on Sunday.
He was 3-for-9 from the field entering the fourth, then hit 7-of-10 shots in the final 12 minutes, falling two points short of matching the Spurs' offensive total in the stanza by himself. Miami outscored San Antonio 31-20 in the fourth.
"It was a great game until Dwyane Wade decided to take over," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "And then it was over."
Shaquille O'Neal had 16 points in 25 minutes; he didn't play in the final 15:44, partly because he's still coming back from knee surgery, partly because the smaller lineup the Heat used did well enough to not necessitate his return. Jason Kapono added his first career double-double, 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The win was Miami's fifth in its last six games and pulled the Heat within one game of the .500 mark again; Miami (25-26) can get there Tuesday when it hosts Portland in its last game before the All-Star break.
"We're just trying to continue to get better," Wade said. "If anyone knows basketball, they understand that we're not going anywhere, that we've been having a lot of injuries. But we're getting it back. That's our whole focus, to keep going this way."
Manu Ginobili had 26 points off the bench for the Spurs, who fell to 2-4 on their eight-game road trip. Tony Parker added 20 for San Antonio, while Tim Duncan finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds and Brent Barry scored 11.
"We're still not playing physically enough, tough enough," Popovich said. "We're playing soft for too many minutes in the game. Just hoping and begging."