- The Washington Times - Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Before Wednesday night’s game against the Miami Heat at Verizon Center, Wizards coach Flip Saunders felt about as good as could be expected.

“We’re coming in with a little bit of confidence. We played pretty well on the road, even though we only got one win,” Saunders said. The Wizards went 1-4 on their recent West Coast road swing and are coming off an overtime win against the Jazz on Monday.

Still, he had some concerns about just how tough the Heat would be to play after their 102-90 loss to the Cavaliers on Tuesday.

“They know more than anything else that they’re fighting for playoff position,” Saunders said of the Heat. “Anytime you’re one of those top three teams, and you think you’ve got a chance with eight or nine games to go to get that No. 1 seed, you can’t afford to lose games to teams that people say you should beat.”

From the opposing bench, Heat coach Eric Spoelstra had his own concerns about his team after Tuesday night’s loss. They were alleviated some as his team pulled away late to beat the Wizards 123-107.

“We can’t let go of why [the loss] happened but we have to move on, and that’s what happens in this league. Often 24 hours later, you get another opportunity. There’s still plenty of time,” Spoelstra said.

The Heat still have a chance to catch and possibly pass the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls to win the Eastern Conference, and Spoelstra has no intention of letting his players become distracted.

“The focus has not changed, and that’s why it was disappointing [Tuesday] night. It has to be about us, about our energy, our disposition and our identity. We are focusing on bringing a much better effort against the Wizards,” Spoelstra said.

But Spoelstra had few concerns about LeBron James after his emotional return to Cleveland.

“He responds to adversity, he responds after tough losses. He takes it personally,” Spoelstra said.

“We know that we have a lot at stake while we’re trying to finish up this season, and that’s usually when we’ve been at our best, when we’ve been shocked into attention.”

Spoelstra and Saunders remembered the December game between these two teams, when the Heat escaped with a 95-94 victory. It was a game that very easily could have gone in favor of the Wizards.

“Not a lot of fond memories from that game. It was a spectacular ending, but we were outplayed,” Spoelstra said.

“They played harder than us, they played better than us, and they deserved the win. We were fortunate enough to squeeze it out in the end.”

Saunders clearly hopes that at some point, the Wizards will not only outplay an opponent, but also be the team that manages to squeeze out the win in the end.

• Carla Peay can be reached at cpeay@washingtontimes.com.

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