When Dwyane Wade first brought his game to the NBA, the three-point shot was strictly an afterthought. He launched just 53 as a slashing rookie, then eight fewer the next season despite playing in more games.

Thirteen games into this season, Wade's 54 attempts already have exceeded those numbers. And he has knocked down some critical ones of late as the Heat fights through its current malaise.

First he beat New Jersey with a three-pointer that swished through with one-tenth of a second left. And though New Orleans kept him from any last-minute heroics Sunday night, two late threes put Miami in position for Udonis Haslem's banked winner.

Wade went 3 for 4 from long distance against the Hornets, improving his season accuracy to 29.6 percent.

``Some nights it's falling; some nights it's not,'' said Wade, who has two consecutive 30-point games after being held to a season-low 15 by Atlanta. ``But when it's going, I'm even more deadly. It helps my overall game out.''

It has been an evolutionary process for Wade, who has worked on expanding his range every year since joining the league. But it was only last year that he started concentrating on the three-pointer after two injury-plagued seasons.

``In other years, I was just about working on my midrange [jumpers],'' Wade said. ``Every year I've progressed and taken it farther and farther back.

``After taking a beating for so long, you start getting smarter in the game. You've seen all the ones before you do it. I've seen all the greats that have gone before me, the things they did to make their career go longer.''

The obvious example, of course, is Michael Jordan's transformation from an athletic dunk artist to a deadly jump shooter.

``It made him go from a great scorer to a great player,'' Wade said. ``That opened it up so much more for his teammates.''

Last year, Wade's 278 three-point attempts were more than twice his previous season high. His 88 makes quadrupled his previous high. And this year, he's on pace to cross the plateaus of 300 three-pointers taken and 100 made.

``It's a shot I have now,'' Wade said. ``It's just about the times I shoot them.''

GRABBING SPOTLIGHT

With Wade now an obvious target of late-game traps and double-teams, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra understands the need to call upon other options. Fortunately, he likes his choices.

Sunday night it was Haslem who stepped forward, hitting two jumpers in the final 45.7 seconds that lifted the Heat to a 102-101 triumph over New Orleans. He launched the shot only after James Jones and Mario Chalmers passed up open looks.

``I think [trapping Wade] is probably something we can expect,'' Spoelstra said. ``But we feel like we have more options and more balance now.

``We can throw it to Mario, or Michael [Beasley] when he's in there, or Udonis or Jermaine [O'Neal]. We feel confident we can get an open shot.''

BUMPS AND BRUISES

Chalmers and O'Neal sat out Monday's afternoon workout, Chalmers to rest his sore right shoulder and O'Neal to rest his tight back.

``If we had one practice between games, Mario probably would have gone,'' Spoelstra said. ``We still wanted to get some work done -- we went about an hour -- but we want to strike a balance between work and rest when we can take advantage of it.''

Quentin Richardson (back) was limited to treadmill work and still might be a couple of days from getting into a practice. ``We just want to make sure we get him feeling 100 percent loose before going into full contact,'' Spoelstra said.