With the New Jersey Nets entering AmericanAirlines Arena sporting a 0-9 record and only eight healthy players, Saturday was the classic example of a trap game for the Heat.

Miami didn't take the bait.

Instead, Dwyane Wade took the ball. Cast as the emergency point guard for stretches, Wade led the Heat to an embarrassment-averting 81-80 win against the short-handed Nets.

And he did it with one-tenth of a second to spare. Wade's three-pointer over Trenton Hassell with 0.1 left helped the Heat (7-2) escape from becoming the first team this season to lose to the Nets (0-10).

Coming off its worst defensive performance of the season in Thursday's 111-104 loss to the Cavaliers, the Heat was in no condition to take even the Nets lightly Saturday.

``Just another day, another win,'' Wade sarcastically said after he finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, six assists and six steals. ``It would have been a bad loss for us had we lost this game. We had a lot of guys step up, make plays to give me an opportunity to hit my shot.''

Before Wade's winner, Quentin Richardson's three-pointer off the glass tied the game at 78 with 25.4 seconds left. And before Richardson's prayer of a shot was answered, Udonis Haslem tied his career high with 28 points and established a career high with 20 shot attempts. He added 12 rebounds in 38 minutes off the bench.

``He was tremendous,'' coach Erik Spoelstra said. ``He bailed us out of so many possessions offensively. He kept us alive.''

The Heat shot just 39.3 percent from the field and scored only 17 points in the first quarter and 18 in the third. Miami also trailed 78-75 with 42 seconds left. New Jersey took its final lead at 80-78 on Brook Lopez's tip-in with 4.1 seconds remaining.

And then came Wade's heroics.

``God blessed me tonight with that one,'' Wade said. ``And I'll take it. They're going to beat somebody. We lucked up tonight that it wasn't us.''

New Jersey came in with more players hurting than healthy. Among those missing were Devin Harris (groin), Courtney Lee (groin), Yi JianLian (knee) and Keyon Dooling (hip). What the Nets apparently had, however, was a sustained desire to end their longest losing streak to open a season. Lopez and Hassell each scored 17 to lead the Nets.

Wade was forced to shift from shooting guard to sharing a role at the point with Carlos Arroyo when starter Mario Chalmers left in the first quarter with a strained shoulder. Miami was also without starting center Jermaine O'Neal, who sat out Saturday with a bruised left hip.

It was hardly an unfamiliar role for Wade, who spent his rookie season at point guard and typically takes over as playmaking late in games.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had been concerned with what he called defensive ``slippage'' in his team's two previous games. But the Heat's offense was the major problem against the Nets.

On the final possession, Wade never gave the second defender a chance to arrive for help. Wade simply caught the inbound pass from Richardson, stepped back behind the three-point line and launched the shot.

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